A little late this week, but I blame Christmas for that – where did all those customers come from?!

We heard last week that Rumwell Farm Shop, Taunton is the first shop in the UK to receive The Genuine Own And Local (GOAL) certificate from the Farmers’ Retail & Markets Association (FARMA).

The accreditation is awarded to shops selling their own farm produce, and was introduced to help consumers identify ‘real’ farm shops. Clearly this is a very worthwhile cause and certainly not an "own-goal" by FARMA. There are several imposter "farm shops" that have sprung up within the last year or so, even since it was announced that farm retail was the fastest growing retail sector in the UK at 17%. So there is most definitely a need to recognise the genuine farm shops based on a farm and selling their own produce, whether that be meat, fruit and veg or herbs.

However, is this scheme really worth spending money on? I would have thought that the average farm shop customer would have enough intelligence to recognise what is a genuine farm shop and what is not. Noticing tractors and animals when driving up to the farm shop are normally a bit of a giveaway, as are signs pointing to pick-your-own fields. Conversely a garden centre surrounded by roses, fushias and other herbaceous things for sale having a "farm shop" just before the checkout might be a clue that the products sold there aren’t grown or reared in the garden centre! Maybe we should credit our customers with a bit more intelligence. Those consumers without the intelligence to recognise a genuine farm shop are probably at home lying on the sofa, drinking Stella, eating their ready meal watching Eastenders, so probably don’t darken our doors anyway!

I understand FARMA wanting to protect its member’s interests and their motives are highly commendable. However, we ought not to be too harsh on those independent food halls that are springing up all over the UK. Okay, some of them are calling themselves farm shops, and this is probably ill-advised. Let’s say to them, call yourself a food hall, but as a supporter of farm shops, I would not want to discourage places like this from opening up. After all they are probably selling genuine produce from local farms (even though it might not be their own) and other gourmet food products that are of far higher quality than the products at the local supermarket. I, for one, would never want to knock an independent food shop that by its very nature would be educating consumers in their food choice simply by existing.

I am writing this a week before Christmas Eve – so the busiest week of the year for fine food retailers. You may be so busy that you might not have time to read this, but Happy and Prosperous Christmas to you anyway!