Website Press Release - Developing Sustainable Food Chains Project
South West Food & Drink (SWFD) is looking forward to working with more than 850 food and drink supply chain businesses to make local produce more available in the region’s major towns and cities.
SWFD’s Developing Sustainable Food Chains Project has attracted more than 90 applications for individual schemes which have been carefully evaluated to select just nine of the best.
SWFD’s Executive Director Christine Marshall said they had been hugely impressed by the high quality of the proposed projects.
“Unfortunately we cannot fund all of them!” she said. “We have a limited budget and must direct it to those that offer the greatest benefits to the local economy both now and in the longer term.”
Funded by South West Regional Development Agency, the whole project brings together a wide range of producers and related businesses which champion the benefits of local food and drink to consumers as well as to the local economy and environment.
“Funding will only be awarded to proposals which are ineligible for this specific project work through any other form of grants to ensure best value for public money and to avoid duplication. Some of the proposals link into existing projects and will make them more effective. All the proposals when looked at together demonstrate a coherent, integrated approach which will not only benefit all seven counties but leave a lasting legacy,” added Christine Marshall.
All the successful projects will provide a tool kit for other businesses to use in the future which will help to seed further economic activity.
Letters have been sent to unsuccessful applicants and individual feedback will be provided in the next few weeks. Also SWFD will look at each application to see if other funding routes can be identified.
Successful applicants will be contacted shortly for further discussions to ensure value for money and facilitate total integration with the project. A full list of projects will be published shortly.
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Notes:
- SWFD’s £6 million investment in regional food and drink during the last seven years has generated up to 1,900 jobs and £18 million worth of business.
- Developing Sustainable Food Chains Project will develop reduced carbon impact food supply chain projects, with the principal aim of increasing the supply of locally produced food and drink into the region’s major urban centres.
Projects could look at:
- research into the current and emerging market opportunities within the region’s urban centres
- awareness raising events, seminars and workshops on the demand and supply side
- capacity building of the sector
- work to develop sustainable distribution models and the production of a series of case studies and toolkits for wider dissemination within the SW
- The learning and experience from all supported projects will be collated by SWFD to form a suite of case studies, toolkits and business models that will then be disseminated to the wider food and drink sector in the South West.