Every generation wonders if the next will cope with what the world throws at it.

But now as almost everyone must surely know, there is the added dimension of a perceived impact of climate change, which is being translated on conference platforms into food miles, fair miles and - the latest trend - carbon footprints.

In this sense, last week’s Re:fresh Conference was no exception, and produced a mixture of some fairly radical thinking and justification for the spider’s web of distribution patterns that holds the industry together.

It is the first time that I have heard an academic view of the future as far as the industry is concerned. So the idea from Surrey University that airfreighting fruit and vegetable exports from Africa could actually be counterproductive to the producers’ climate in the long term, came as something of a shock.

Most opinions can be counterbalanced, in this instance by Sainsbury’s, whose buyer pointed out that growing flowers in Kenya - an example which is held up as a model of how to do the right thing to support a mainly agrarian economy - is more caring than producing the same product in Europe by burning fossil fuels.

While no one really seems to know what will happen, there are those who are convinced the human race will devise systems based on energy saving which will save the planet from destruction. And if this sounds like a horror film scenario, to make it worse most of the delegates in the room will not be around to find out.

Meanwhile, back to the present. I am always interested in what is going on in the retail scene across the Atlantic in the US. Churchill observed that we were two nations divided by a common language, and as proof of this, I was intrigued to hear that local communities whose aim is to use retailers who stock as much local produce as is seasonally possible have been dubbed “locavores”.

And while this term may never make the move over to this side of the Atlantic, I’ve got a feeling there was more than passing interest amongst the audience of how Wegmans Food Stores on the East Coast of the US has got to grips with a problem which still seems to beset our own retail trade.

The area in New York State and its hinterland throughout which Wegmans’ 72 stores are spread is certainly no bigger than the UK, yet the retailer’s store managers can call producers directly for a top up, and even use this strategy to sell.

While performance is monitored to avoid over-enthusiasm, as well as quality control laid down by head office, by operating zonal pricing including delivery for each store, everyone knows where they are.

And apart from spreading the messages of freshness and good health, there is also an environmental benefit.

I am not suggesting that the combined views and actions of the speakers suggested that we are returning to the dark ages - they gave examples that are already shaping the future of our trade.

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