The Campaign to Protect Rural England has stepped into the food debate in the wake of the horse meat scandal.
It has warned that Britain’s biggest supermarket could and should take greater action to offer a fair deal to farmers – and reduce the risk of the repeat of the scandal in which horse meat was discovered in products labelled as beef.
The organisation wants supermarkets to take into account the fluctuating costs of production, such as for fertiliser, diesel and animal feed when paying farmers for their produce.
The CPRE also wants stores to stock and promote more ‘countryside friendly’ food sourced from a 30 mile area.