LOCAL food isn't just about posh sausages'. It's about food for every day fresh, affordable food, for example; food which hasn't notched up a few thousand food miles' because it has had to travel halfway around the world to get to your plate; food which takes account of this county's rich culinary heritage; and food which is produced in harmony with the environment.

Offering inspiration on this front at Cumbria Rural Forum was Adrian Banford, from the Cumbria Fells and Dales Leader Plus funding programme, who outlined a range of positive initiatives, and not just in this country.

In America, Community Supported Agriculture' schemes encourage whole communities to buy food as it is actually being grown.

"They come up with a wish list of what they want to see grown. The farmer gets his money up front and he has a guaranteed market for his product," explained Adrian.

Other examples of good practice include encouraging children to have five-a-day' fruits and vegetables which leads to better behaviour in schools, better health, and better performance in the classroom.

And working on the principle that the more people buy of something, its price will come down, in Denmark, a procurement' company purchases vast quantities of organic produce in order to make sure it enters the national food chain.

Then there's Verona The Legano Hospital decided to source all its food locally. Not the cheapest choice but the resulting improvement in food quality, nutrition, customer satisfaction and thumbs up from staff was worth every lira.

"This scheme has made a significant difference to the growers in that area," said Adrian.

Good Food on the Public Plate, a manual for sustainability in public sector food and catering, lists annual spends in the UK for hospitals (£500 million); Ministry of Defence (£95 million); prisons (£60 million); and Social Services (£85 million).

"But the British farmer isn't the real beneficiary because there are so many people in between," said Adrian. "The environment doesn't benefit either, nor does the nation's health. We need to reclaim our local food and to reclaim our local food production. At least now people are beginning to say things in political circles which gives us encouragement."

The rural forum also heard that in October last year Voluntary Action Cumbria commissioned market research to see if hill sheep farmer groups could supply the catering trade.

"We also made 200 visits to hotels and restaurants in Cumbria and the North West," explained Veronica Waller, of Leader Plus, which co-funded the research with Rural Regeneration Cumbria.

A trial to test potential and demand for such a scheme, as well as set quality standards of supply, was launched last week and will run until May.

"Many of the outlets felt they could charge a premium for local speciality products," explained Veronica, who said that only high quality hotels and restaurants had been approached during the market research.