THE choice between buying local or exported produce is a “total no-brainer”, according to the woman behind one of the UK’s best-known organic companies.
Josephine Fairley, co-founder of chocolate-makers Green and Black’s, is looking for Kent suppliers for her new bakery, and believes buying local is becoming the logical option for shoppers everywhere.
“Deciding whether you want produce from the local farm or from 3,000 miles away is total no-brainer.
“Everything we do is 100 per cent organic, and we try to buy local wherever possible.
“Organic and local is absolutely the buzz at the moment, and I think that is being reflected on the market. It is just logical.”
Ms Fairley, who grew up in Bromley, has made her fortune championing the use of all-natural and local produce.
In 1991, she set up Green and Black’s organic chocolate with her husband, Whole Earth founder Craig Sams, and became on of the first manufactures to champion the use of fair-trade cocoa.
Last year, the company was sold to Cadburys-Schweppes for a reported £20million, though Ms Fairly stresses she and her husband only took only a small portion of this as they only had a few shares.
The couple now run a bakery shop, Judges, in their home of Hastings, using only organic and local produce where possible, and are keen to find a Kentish soft fruit supplier.
She said: “We already get fantastic potatoes from Tenterden, and there are so many great suppliers in Kent.
“I am appealing for someone from the county who does organic soft fruit to supply to our bakery, that we can use in our cakes and tarts or just in the shop itself.”
POSTED: 08/12/2006 09:35:14
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