LOCAL
TRACEABLE
ECOFRIENDLY
NATURAL

We are David & Sue Tucker, our Silver Wedding anniversary is history - but we can't believe it, our children are adults, have left home, one is married and we are grandparents! We think that newspaper print is getting smaller and our arms - shorter!

Our backgrounds have been in Information Technology and Management Consultancy but in 2001, we sold up and moved to Holsworthy in West Devon predominantly a farming area. We were both shocked at just how little the farmers and their families had to live on. We know many Devon farmers and in every case the wives have to work, and in many cases the farmers themselves have second jobs just to survive with average incomes of around £12,000 a year.

 We also discovered that ten years ago these dairy farmers were receiving 28.5p for their milk but their payment for May, was just 18.5p yet energy costs have soared over this period, as has the cost of water, one of the essential requirements for a dairy farm.

In our last year in Devon, five dairy farms alone went out of business and that was just local farms. Every week the local newspaper had advertised auctions of farms and farming equipment but, perhaps even more sadly, their herds and animals. We now live in Somerset and in our village there are two farms although one has had to sell its dairy herd.

Farmers tend to be in it for life, one generation passes the farm down to the next generation and they onto the next. They have a love of the land, their animals and that is what they know, they can't simply look in the 'Jobs Vacant' section of the newspaper and leave and get another job. Farming is their livelihood, it is in their DNA - it is in their very makeup.

So, what could we do to help? We have suggested to our farming friends that wherever possible they should try to 'add value' to their produce but for impoverished farmers even the purchase of a creamery, or cheese-making equipment is often simply financially out-of-the-question.

What could we do that would help the farmers across the country? We really wanted to help, but our skills are strictly business-based with both of us coming originally from IT. What we really needed to do was to get the consumer to buy directly from the producer – the farmers themselves. There is a growing demand for fresh, honest, produce and for produce that hasn't flown 20,000+ miles, been harvested raw, sprayed with chemicals and/or vacuum packed in plastic.

Then in May it struck us that farmers can sell their produce from their gates, something we discovered when we had hens in Devon. So what if we could build a database of farms that would do just this? - Then all the consumer would need to do is to look-up where their local farm or small-holding is and they could then purchase their produce directly from there. If they did that then their food would be local, traceable, natural, fresh and even eco-friendly with a negligible carbon footprint and minimal food miles – so unlike most of the supermarket produce.

As we discussed it, we realised that this was one way in which we could really help the farmers and, by doing this, everyone should be able to locate a farm, local producer or small-holding, close to them where they may source great, fresh produce. It had to be cheap for the farmers and simple to use for everyone else. So we purchased FarmsDirect.org, begun designing a simple-to-use website and were then surprised to receive a call from the BBC asking us to do an interview about us, why we were doing it and all about www.FarmsDirect.org .

This is not about us and it certainly isn't about making money, we only planning to charge £1 a month to be on the site, we are semi-retired and so are in a position to be able to give our time, and some investment, into something that will hopefully benefit an industry that so deserves everyone's support.

This is all about helping farms and the farming community in a practical way and trying to link the Consumer with the Producer and by doing this the Producer or farmer receives a small, but useful income and the consumer receives locally grown traceable, natural, fresh and eco-friendly produce with a negligible carbon footprint and minimal food miles.

Now to succeed we need the farmers and local producers to provide us with their details and you - the consumer to use FarmsDirect,org to find locally produced food and support your local producers.

So, please spread the word, and support your local producers and let's make a difference - Fair Trade is fine but we also need to think Farm Trade - FarmsDirect - Farm Fresh

Should you wish to contact us:

David & Sue Tucker
FarmsDirect.org
Springfield House
Stocklinch
Ilminster
Somerset
TA19 9JG

Tel: 01460 52791

 

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