A LONGTOWN business woman is calling on Herefordshire Council to stop dragging its feet over promoting local produce.

Mrs Jean Carter of Olchon Court, Llanveynoe, has written to the council saying it was rather surprising that a county with so much good local produce should have lagged so far behind in starting a Farmers' Market, the first of which was held last month.

"It seems at odds with Hereford Tourism which is doing its best to put Hereford's delicious food on the map," she claims in the letter to the local authority.

"Long may the Farmers' Market continue - our farmers need all the help they can get." She told the Hereford Times that she considered the council had shamefully lagged behind other areas with regard to the Farmers' Market. "It could be that, without some pushing, the Farmers' Market may have been a one-off event."

Mrs Carter runs a bed, breakfast and dinners business and is a member of the Golden Valley B and B Group, and the Herefordshire County Diners Group, which promotes local food. "We have very good local food and the council doesn't seem to be doing their very best to promote it. We have local beef, lamb, pork and other produce and the small producers do need backing.

"When visitors come to Herefordshire they think they have stepped back into another world. But tourism is not the only slant. We should be producing our produce and not buying from the supermarkets. Local people themselves want to buy more local produce."

A council spokesman said the local authority was in the middle of a one-year trial on Farmers' Markets and the results of consumer evaluation were being compiled. She admitted that progress had been slower than had been hoped but with a number of different operators involved in the market it was a balancing act. A meeting was being held this week.

She pointed out that markets were being staged each week in the county. "The signs are encouraging but it is not as easy as one might think. We have data coming from consumers, stallholders and retailers and good support from organisations like the NFU." Hereford's next Farmers' Market is on Thursday, July 20.