Interpretation of organic issues, marketing structures and local produce

Summary

In order to develop policies for increasing the contribution of the farm base to the local economy, increased knowledge of the channels through which locally-grown organic produce passes into the local economy is required. This study will aim to identify issues relating to the uptake of organic produce with reference to data produced by a postal questionnaire of consumers (undertaken as part of a separate MAFF-funded project, code RE0107). The last 2 questions of this survey collected information relating to numbers of businesses selling organic produce and their reasons for doing so; information was also collected on reasons for not selling organic produce. Potential exists within this information and other information in the survey to carry out more detailed analyses searching for trends and theories within the complete data set relating to organic produce. The survey analysis will focus on the relationship between business type and sale of organic produce issues and the relationship between local produce and organic sales; interpretation of results will lead to the setting of hypotheses addressing each relationship. These hypotheses will be tested through validation of individual survey responses from 18 respondents (6 respondents from each of the 3 study regions: Cumbria, Kent and Wiltshire). Results of the study will be drafted into a report for MAFF, who will be consulted to determine the possibility and resource implications of disseminating the report to a wider audience.