Regionalsourcingandthelocaleconomy-RacetotheTop.docVIP

Briefing Paper Communities Module Vicki Hird and Merav Shub, Sustain: the alliance for better food and farming Note. This paper is a position paper designed to present the case for increased scrutiny and benchmarking of supermarkets’ policies and performance in relation to their impacts on the local economy and local communities, and to present methodologies for how that benchmarking may be carried out. It is written by the coordinators of the Communities Module and does not necessarily represent the views of members of the alliance of organisations involved in the Race to the Top project, or the project’s Advisory Group. It is a working document which is being regularly updated. Introduction to the ‘Race to the Top’ project Why is this project needed? Questions are increasingly being asked about the integrity and safety of our food, the impact of its production on the environment and animal welfare, and the fairness of trade between consumers and workers along the food chain. In the UK and across Europe, there is an opinion that society should be much more directly involved in setting the farming and food agenda, rather than leaving it solely as the domain of government policy and market forces. Supermarkets exert a huge influence on the rural economy in the UK and overseas, by setting farming standards and by seeking ever greater efficiencies for customers, competition and shareholder value. Their product range and siting policies affect the health of our communities and the environment. Customers trust the supermarkets to look after the environment and be good corporate citizens. How will Race to the Top work? The aim is to track the social, environmental and ethical performance of UK supermarkets, and catalyse change within the UK agri-food sector and beyond. An alliance of farming, conservation, labour, animal welfare and sustainable development organisations has developed several indicators of supermarket performance. These will provide compar