The Farmers’ Union of Wales (FUW) has recently welcomed calls from the Welsh Conservatives’ Shadow Minister for Climate Change, Energy and Rural Affairs – Janet Finch-Saunders MS – for a review into public sector procurement practices.
Other political parties, such as Plaid Cymru also have a long-standing commitment to addressing the crisis in the food industry in Wales, which they say starts with a local procurement policy. Welsh Labour AM Jenny Rathbone has also previously questioned the Government on what progress it has made in reshaping public procurement to enable more fresh food for schools, hospitals and nursing homes to be procured locally.
The FUW has long called for changes to be made to public sector procurement policies in Wales and discussed the issue only a few weeks ago with a panel of experts in our food supply chain virtual seminar. It is therefore positive to see that cross-party support for this issue is growing and gaining momentum.
Welsh schools, hospitals, armed forces and all other public services deserve access to the nutritious, quality food grown here in Wales and farmers deserve recognition for what they produce. When it comes to procurement policies, it’s essential that price doesn’t get placed above all other factors when it comes to sourcing that food.
Food procurement policies must be introduced which protect domestic food security, preserve the food supply chain and ensure the longer term viability of Welsh food producers and their businesses.
During the covid-19 pandemic, our home producers filled a gap when supermarket shelves were empty. One of the biggest lessons to take away from this is that localism and the resilience of local communities is key in moving forward and public procurement has a key role to play in that.