Backing British Farming on Suffolk Food Friday

Suffolk Food Friday is an NFU initiative designed to highlight the importance of home-grown produce and the contribution that farming makes to Suffolk’s countryside and the rural economy. NFU members gave away free recipe booklets, offered tasting samples and gave people the chance to win a hamper of British food.

NFU County Chairman Colin Clifton-Brown said: “Suffolk Food Friday was a fantastic opportunity for people to meet the farmers who produce their food and to find out why farming is so important in the county.

“Only 60 per cent of the food we eat in the UK is currently home-produced, so there are huge opportunities to grow more British food, with public support. This will become even more important as we leave the European Union.

“We also wanted to raise awareness of the Red Tractor logo, which shows that the food you buy has been produced on a British farm and meets comprehensive standards from farm to fork.”

At Tesco in Beccles (above), farmers teamed up with Ladies in Pigs, to offer tasty samples of Red Tractor sausages.The store also arranged an impressive display of Red Tractor produce.

At the Arc Shopping Centre in Bury St Edmunds (below), members of the public tried chocolate brownies made with bacon and Thurlow Nunn Standen supplied a branded Massey Ferguson Red Tractor. Jo Churchill MP came along to show her support for British farming as well.

 At Waitrose in Sudbury, visitors included Geoffrey Van Orden MEP and James Cartlidge MP, pictured below with Group Secretary James Batchelor-Wylam and NFU Regional Director Robert Sheasby.

The final location was Morrisons in Sproughton Road, Ipswich, where activities included strawberry sampling and the chance to try an oilseed rape press supplied by Hillfarm Oils.

NFU Suffolk County Adviser Rachel Carrington said: “We’d like to thank everyone involved, particularly the members who came along, during such a busy time on farm, to fly the flag for local food and farming.”