Over recent years people have been showing more support for their local community and local businesses by shopping locally. Some motivated by community spirit others by ethical and environmental concerns.1 Here at Upper Ballaird Farm Coop we love shopping locally, whether from our nearest town, city, region, or throughout Scotland.
As part of our farm ethos we have three main areas of focus; community, workers, and the environment. We would like to share with you what it means for each of these groups when people shop locally.
Community
Goods that are produced locally tend to be created by smaller businesses that have a focus on being open, fair, and building trust with those who buy from them.
Buying locally supports the local economy. Money spent locally has a social return2 and generates more for the local economy than an equal amount of money that has been spent in a supermarket3.
Local food systems improve accessibility to food, contributing to local economies, healthy diets, and household food security.4
Workers
When people buy locally there is more opportunity for local employment.
Businesses get a fairer price for their product (direct sales).
As Upper Ballaird Farm Coop is a workers coop these fairer prices translate directly to fairer wages.
Environment
Local shops have short supply chains, products such as food and flowers travel directly from business to customer, therefore the environmental impact is smaller.
Shopping locally can reduce food waste. The majority of food waste comes from retailers rejecting produce, poor stock rotation, and inflated orders to make shelves look fuller.5
The carbon footprint of vegetable and flowers is quite significant when you compare fresh produce grown locally to those imported from other countries.
These are just some of the reasons we believe in shopping locally.
2 Jones M, Pitt H, Oxford L, Orme J, Gray S, Salmon D, Means R, Weitkamp E, Kimberlee R & Powell J (2016) Food for Life: a Social Return on Investment Analysis of the Locally Commissioned Programme. Bristol.
5 Mena, C., Adenso-Diaz, B., & Yurt, O. (2011). The causes of food waste in the supplier–retailer interface: Evidences from the UK and Spain. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 55(6), 648-658.
Why buy local?
Over recent years people have been showing more support for their local community and local businesses by shopping locally. Some motivated by community spirit others by ethical and environmental concerns.1 Here at Upper Ballaird Farm Coop we love shopping locally, whether from our nearest town, city, region, or throughout Scotland.
As part of our farm ethos we have three main areas of focus; community, workers, and the environment. We would like to share with you what it means for each of these groups when people shop locally.
Community
Workers
As Upper Ballaird Farm Coop is a workers coop these fairer prices translate directly to fairer wages.
Environment
The carbon footprint of vegetable and flowers is quite significant when you compare fresh produce grown locally to those imported from other countries.
These are just some of the reasons we believe in shopping locally.
1 Ethical Consumer. (2022). Markets Report 2021. https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/
2 Jones M, Pitt H, Oxford L, Orme J, Gray S, Salmon D, Means R, Weitkamp E, Kimberlee R & Powell J (2016) Food for Life: a Social Return on Investment Analysis of the Locally Commissioned Programme. Bristol.
3 New Economics Foundation (2002), Plugging the Leaks: Making the most of every pound that enters your local economy 2891 NEF handbook redone (neweconomics.org)
4 Scottish Government. (2021). Publications: Local food for everyone- a discussion: consultation https://www.gov.scot/publications/local-food-everyone-discussion/pages/4/
5 Mena, C., Adenso-Diaz, B., & Yurt, O. (2011). The causes of food waste in the supplier–retailer interface: Evidences from the UK and Spain. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 55(6), 648-658.