NFU urges farmers to fly the flag for British food

The National Farmers Union (NFU) is urging farmers throughout the country to fly the flag for Great British food – literally.

It wants producers to display large #buybritish banners at prominent places on their land in order to grab the attention of the British public and encourage them to buy British produce.

NFU president Peter Kendall said: “This is a fantastic opportunity to promote the Buy British message and we hope farmers and growers will be proud to support the campaign.

“Farmers have continually produced great British food, despite facing incredibly challenging weather and economic pressures in the last 12 months, and this campaign is a bid to keep up support from British consumers.”

Horsegate debacle

The campaign is also being supported by the National Pig Association. Its chairman Richard Longthorp said: “With all the shortcomings that the horsegate debacle exposed in some supply chains, we now need to press home hard the message to consumers that British food can be trusted and has the full and functioning traceability systems to back that up. Banner campaigns, as the NPA has seen before, can be highly effective in doing just that.”

Meanwhile, Mintel predicted that the horsemeat scandal could have a positive legacy for UK food manufacturing.