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Asda expands farmer direct deliveries
In a bid to cut food miles and boost sales of local produce, Asda has extended its scheme where farmers deliver fresh produce direct to their local stores.
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| Asda: reduction of food miles and boost to local produce |
The supermarket already receives direct deliveries of locally produced strawberries during the British growing season, which has helped boost sales of the strawberries by 48% this year. The scheme, first launched in Kent five years ago, has been rolled out to 80 stores in Yorkshire, Scotland, West Midlands and the West Country and Cornwall.
The supermarket claims the new trial in Cornwall, in which it will accept deliveries from a group of farmers direct to its local stores instead of via a distribution centre hundreds of miles away, will save 6,000 road miles a month and has the potential to save a further three million road miles a year if the scheme is rolled out across the UK. Initially three farms will take part in the two-month pilot scheme and supply their local Asda stores with strawberries, potatoes, cabbages, cauliflower, broccoli, leeks and curly kale. All of the produce will be clearly labelled Produce of Cornwall.
Each of the participating farmers will deliver their produce to a single farm near Hayle in Cornwall, where the owner, local strawberry grower Neil Hosking, will then pack and transport the produce to Asda stores in Falmouth, St Austell, Bodmin and Plymouth.
Currently the farmers produce is collected by lorry and transported to an Asda depot in Bristol 140 miles away before it is driven back to stores in Cornwall and Devon. Chris Brown, Asdas head of ethical and sustainable sourcing, said: We are committed to cutting the number of miles our food travels before it reaches our stores.
Rather than send it up the motorway, our farmers in Cornwall will deliver it direct to their local stores. That way we can ensure our fruit and veg is as fresh as possible, and well minimise the impact on the environment.
Additionally, locally grown plums are also being delivered direct to 22 Asda stores in the Vale of Evesham and in Kent. The supermarket will also be selling locally produced Kentish cobnuts from the end of August in its stores in the region. The next local food range to launch at the supermarket is called Locally produced in Sussex. From 15 September, five Asda stores across the region will start selling more than 60 local food products.
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