We are constantly reminded that the countr y is in a recession and that businesses are suffering, but the question on everyone’s lips is ‘how do we get out of a recession?’.

Ludlow Food Centre, which was designed, built and largely funded by The Earl Of Plymouth’s Estate in Bromfield, has maintained a policy for more than two years that buying local is best.

The Food Centre has a unique policy of buying 80 per cent of its produce from the four counties of Shropshire, Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Powys.

In doing so, the centre supports local farmers, growers and producers who are finding it difficult to sell their products in these economically challenging times.

Recent studies have shown that from each pound spent at Tesco, only 36p is redistributed to the local economy. In stark contrast to this, a pound spent in a independent shop such as the Food Centre is worth £1.76 to the local economy, almost five times more.

This is achieved by using a network of local businesses to get a product from field to plate. It keeps money in the locality, reduces food miles and means the food is fresh because it hasn’t travelled from the other side of the world.

Recently, the Duke of Edinburgh has spoken out about the demise of rural economies and the way that the retail sector has changed.

“Villages used to have to be more or less self sufficient: they had a butcher, a baker, a shoemaker...

Now that has all gone because of the way retailing is concentrated in big centres and multi-stores,”

said the Duke, in a recent interview for Shooting Times.

The Food Centre’s business model has achieved a microcosm of the traditional village high street by creating eight units, including a butchery, dairy, bakery, production kitchens and even a coffee roasting and grinding room. The centre employs more than 80 local people who run the retail shop and the production units.

It is so important that we stop encouraging the supermarkets to drive prices down and work together to benefit our local economy.

If we stop buying products from supermarkets that are unnecessarily imported, we can get out of recession more quickly.

TOM HUNT, Ludlow Food Centre.