From Field To Fork | January 2023

Greetings from the Dales and Fells. Last month, we gave you a sneak preview of our traceability scheme, and two weeks ago we launched publicly, heralded by the unveiling of a huge QR code in our friend and supplier David Harrison's field, just north of Ripon and close to the beautiful Yorkshire valley of Nidderdale.

Now, with every whole cut, you'll be able to see the farm your meat came from through short films, learn about the food miles, find information about the breed, and download exclusive recipes written by Jeff Baker specifically for that cut.

In brief, every customer will have complete oversight of where their food has come from, and you will be able to trace the connection between our farms and your food.

The response has been immense, and we have been bowled over by the interest, both among you, our customer base and in the media. Please do keep writing to me, I always make time to read your comments

Our traceability project has been ten years in the making and is a solution to further demonstrate the provenance of our food and lead the way for British food. It's been a Herculean effort. When you're processing thousands of orders, involving thousands of products, to say with certainty where every part is from, how old it is, and what breed it is, what we have done is no mean feat. It's been made possible by new technologies of course, but ultimately pushed through by the hard work and problem-solving skills of my team.

As an online retailer, (although we do have a bricks and mortar shop too), and really still a new kid on the block in relative terms, the irony is that we are able to restore the connection to food far better than some of the long-established competition found on the high street. It does seem to me that most retailers' efforts to reassure their customers of their food's provenance have been to turn food aisles into something resembling the Last Night of the Proms. Never mind how the food is produced or the farmer treated, so long as it has a Union Jack on the label.

We're often asked why this is important and it's a fair question: if the people buying that food don't care, why bother?

Food is so important, to our well-being, society, culture, and environment, that we must hold ourselves and our food suppliers to higher standards. If we fail to scrutinize the origins of our food and how it has been made, the result is an abdication of responsibility and standards - the like of which gave us the horse meat scandal in the first place.

We need to remove the fantasy, as Rebanks describes it, and demand authenticity. Only then can we give people the ability to make much informed choices and appreciate their food more.

As ever, please do send any thoughts, feedbacks, or comments to [email protected]. We always make time to read your comments.

Thank you,

The Farmison & Co Team