Support Oxfordshire farmers, non-profit urges university colleges

A non-profit group is calling on university colleges to support local farmers and become more sustainable.

Good Food Oxfordshire has released a video as part of its campaign to encourage Oxford University colleges to sign up to its OxFarmToFork project.

The scheme aims to bolster local food producers and fight climate change by providing local and sustainable food.

18 of the university's 43 colleges are currently purchasing produce through the project.

Ben Gibbons, head chef at St Anne's College and master of the City of Oxford Guild of Chefs, said: "At Saint Anne's we're very big on wanting to do good for the environment, good for the local economy and I want to do the best for their customers because I'm a chef and I want to cook the best food."

"The good thing about this is it comes on a Tuesday and could've been picked the day before or the day before that, whereas with a national supplier may be in a warehouse for a week," he said.

The initiative, which is under a year old, currently has 10 suppliers signed up to the scheme.

George Bennett, who manages Sandy Lane Farm near Thame, said the project was "really about connections".

He added: "I think if you buy locally, what you're doing is you're helping a more sustainable food network. The benefit for buyers is that they're getting really fresh produce, and it has all the environmental credentials with it too."

Jess Kopp, Good Food Oxfordshire's network and communications lead, said the next steps for the project was to "to grow this platform and make it accessible and affordable for hospitals, for schools and for wider public institutions."

"We know that we can start to build up a big platform and then enable more public institutions to benefit."

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