SHOPPERS got a taste of the future this week when supermarket giant Asda unveiled an exciting new local food venture, reports Gillian Cowburn.

Engineered with the help of visionary Levens farmer John Geldard, the Plumgarths-Asda Local Sourcing Initiative gives small producers a shot at the big time.

In fact, one of them is blazing such a trail with consumers, it is leaving best-selling national brands in its wake.

Bringing together "The best of the Lakes" is the end result of a long-standing partnership between Mr Geldard, who last year founded Plumgarths, the Lakeland food park and farm shop on the outskirts of Kendal, and Asda, which set up the local sourcing initiative in response to growing customer demand.

The supermarket chain is such a vast organisation that it does not have the machinery to deal with small producers.

That is where Plumgarths comes in; Asda will use it as a one-stop shop for all its local food requirements.

The partners have spent an exhaustive year-and-a-half sampling just about everything produced in the county and as a result have signed up 19 suppliers who together offer an impressive package of more than 80 products ranging from Lakeland lamb and Borrowdale tea bread to organic milk from Ulverston and Flookburgh potted shrimps.

The suppliers have all been guaranteed three months in-store promotion by Asda which, if the scheme is successful, intends to roll out the local sourcing initiative across 256 stores nationwide.

Giving the Plumgarths-Asda partnership his blessing at its launch on Monday was special guest Sir Donald Curry, chairman of the government's policy commission on the Future of Food and Farming, who said he welcomed any idea which built on the public's current enthusiasm for food "with a clear regional provenance".

"This is an important initiative and is a model which can be rolled out nationally - hopefully beyond just Asda," he told guests at Plumgarths.

"There are benefits for farmers and consumers alike."

The local sourcing initiative has certainly proved successful for Kendal-made English Lakes Ice Cream, which is selling better than the national brands, according to store manager Joe Hurst.

As for Appleby-made Jeremy's Soups and Plumgarths Cumberland sausage, the shelf-stackers had their work cut out thanks to overwhelming demand when 'Best of the Lakes' hit the supermarket on Monday.

Asda's local sourcing manager Karen Todd said: "Local food has been the number one request from customers over the last year and we are sure that these kinds of products will go straight to the top of our customers' shopping lists."