For some time now, the message has been drummed home to consumers that it is more important than ever to buy local, reduce food miles and champion the cause of British farming.
So the stance taken by the Daily Mail’s article last week on Kent-based hydroponic glasshouse project Thanet Earth seems bizarre, to say the least. Headlined “Welcome to the Frankenfarm”, the piece accused the project of promoting “factory vegetables”, claiming “they are as far as you can get from ‘natural’ home-grown food”.
Perhaps I am missing something. Are we not supposed to be broadly welcoming initiatives like this, that are set to help create a sustainable future for food production in the UK, as well as reduce transit times?
Apparently not. One minute the media likes to proclaim what we ought and ought not to be eating, and where it should be from - but the next it appears eager to slam any kind of solution the farming industry puts forward to make UK production more sustainable. Whether you are for or against the type of large-scale growing model Thanet Earth represents, it is surely evidence that the industry is displaying a flair for innovation and forward thinking.
Just for once it would be nice if the nationals decided to put forward the facts on a food-related issue - rather than focusing on a sensationalist headline and ill-informed opinion.