The Food Futures panel are members of the public with no preconceptions or knowledge of farming or the food industry. The Panel consists of 600 participants, sampled to be broadly representative of the UK population. Topics covered include: Food systems, Buying British, Trade-offs in future food systems, Understanding consumer priorities for food innovation; and reports have now been published.
The reports provided some interesting findings about the public’s perception of farming and food, including:
When deciding what to eat:
• Health, value for money & ‘what my family likes’ are the main motivations of the consumer
• Less than a third said ‘Whether food is of British origin’ affected choice, there seems to be more interest in buying local (supporting the local economy) rather than buying British
• Environmental considerations are only relevant for 16% of consumers. Consumers are rarely willing to accept higher costs associated with lower environmental impacts. Reducing food waste, buying local produce and seasonal eating were more likely to be seen as acceptable changes to behaviour (but aren’t perceived as being environmental considerations)
Also, the public think that:
The financial interests of farmers, particularly in the UK, should be protected (often expressing disquiet at the imbalance of power that exists between supermarkets and farmers)
Farmers should use environmentally friendly technology but should not be expected to bear its purchasing cost alone
The more common perception of the public was that farmers have a stewardship role in relation to the land they farm and the food they produce, with participants assuming that farmers would act in the interests of environmental sustainability wherever possible.