#FeedTheNation: Farmer’s crop circle drills home ‘buy local’ message

A huge crop circle has been created in a farmer’s wheat field to drill home the value of locally produced food to the UK economy.

The crop circle was created on Antony Pearce’s field at Moat Farm, Stoke Mandeville, Buckinghamshire.

Aerial pictures perfectly capture the size and detail of the circle, which took nearly two days to create.

Mr Pearce is a grower for Weetabix and the company said it wanted to demonstrate its commitment to source all of its wheat in Weetabix Original biscuits from within 50 miles of their mills in rural Northamptonshire.

Mr Pearce said: “As a British farmer, it’s comforting to see some positives emerge from the first half of the year with people looking to support local businesses more and seeking to have a greater understanding of where their food comes from.

“We have grown the highest-quality wheat to meet Weetabix’s high standards for 10 years and are proud to be one of the farms that fall within the 50-mile radius of their factory.”

Survey

Weetabix ran a survey that revealed almost one-third of UK consumers admit the coronavirus pandemic has made them realise how important locally sourced products are to the UK economy, with 48% of Brits actively looking for locally sourced items in the supermarket.

A further 51% believe that by buying local they are helping the economy, and 45% hope to reduce their food miles.

More than one-third said they check the food miles of items when shopping, by looking up the country of origin, believing the benefits of buying goods with fewer food miles include a lower carbon footprint (64%), helping preserve UK farms (54%) and less pollution (57%).

The poll was conducted by OnePoll on 19-21 August with a survey of 2,000 people.