Could Highland Council do a bit more to support the local food industry?

When you consider the business rates that some food producers must pay into the Highland Council coffers then perhaps they could be forgiven for thinking that the Council is perhaps not doing doing enough to support them in return.

The LibDems have called on councils in Scotland to source more food locally. Here's some figures from an online article:

"The information revealed how much councils spend on local food, with East Lothian spending 34.3% of its fruit and vegetable budget locally and 83% of its meat budget locally.

Aberdeen spent 29% of its food budget locally while Highland Council spent 16% within the local authority boundaries."

If Aberdeen can manage 29% then surely Highland Council could do a little better within its own boundaries or is it the case that the Highlands just doesn't produce the right sort of food for the Highland Council? To be fair to them, it must be said that they have made efforts (their action plan can be seen here). It will be interesting to see if these figures are picked up by the local press and whether any statement is forthcoming from the council. When one considers the subject however, just how much local food do we as individual consumers buy?

Further details on the Spalding Guardian website.
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