On the bank of the road outside GogMagog Hills farm shop is a sign which says: "Please compare our prices with the supermarket: you'll be pleasantly surprised." It's working. Customers don't always bother to compare prices; they just head straight into the farm shop and discover all the goodies inside. And then they keep coming back.
Antony Davison, who tells me this story, has been following the fates of Britain's farm shops for over a decade. His Big Barn website lists hundreds of farm shops and local food outlets around the country, and he is optimistic about the future for small retailers. "It's a really exciting time for vegetable boxes and farm shops because people are worrying about food being cheaper," he says. And through farm shops you can buy better quality food for less money.
"My uncle – he's a farmer – came to see me recently and said he'd worked out that the onions he was selling to Tesco for £120 a tonne were being sold on by them for £850 a tonne (about 37p a pound). Now, when he sells those onions directly through the farm shop, he can sell them at £400 a tonne (about 17p a pound) and the customer is paying less, and he is making twice as much."
But is that message getting through to the public? In fact, although the problems that the organic sector is suffering have been well documented, the good news about the whole ethical sector is less well known. Fairtrade-certified goods, for example, continue to boom. In 2008 Fairtrade's total estimated UK sales had risen from £493m to £712m.
"People really do care about other people," says Martine Julseth of the Fairtrade Foundation which monitors Fairtrade certification and promotes it to the public. "They want to know that what they're eating doesn't mean that someone has had a rough deal." She thinks that Fairtrade customers also tend to be very loyal: "We were originally founded by Oxfam and Christian Aid and that's a very big support base."
The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), which certifies fisheries using sustainable fishing techniques, tells a similar story: it celebrated its 10th birthday this year by growing 67% since 2008. When the MSC last counted, 12% of the world's wild fish harvest destined for human consumption was either certified or undergoing the process of certification, which is an astonishing climb. It helps that MSC customers don't have to pay extra – most MSC-coded fish is bought by supermarkets and large chains who incorporate it into their labels. But what helps most of all is the fact that customers are demanding it; the state of the world's fish is exciting enough anxiety to get customers looking for the small blue tick, recession or no recession.
So the big certification schemes – apart from the Soil Association which saw falling sales at the end of 2008 – are feeling good. But what about the small businesses which promised to be at the dawn of a shopping revolution, which signalled a more intimate, direct shopping experience in the place of the supermarkets that had increasingly been dominating our landscapes? After a decade of steady growth, how are farm shops, veg box schemes and farmers' markets faring?
The answer to that question is perhaps not quite so positive. Rita Exner of the National Farmers' Retail and Markets Association is happy with the way that farm shops are weathering the storm. "There's no great expansion, but there's no big drop in customer numbers either," she says. "People are spending a little less though, up to 10% less, so that is making a difference to the shops. But there are still new people discovering them all the time." The same seems to be true for vegetable box schemes, which fell off a little as supermarkets began to offer organic fruit and vegetables, but mostly are now holding steady. Louise Murdock at Barcombe Nurseries in East Sussex explains they've seen fall-off, but it has not been nearly as bad as they sometimes feared. "Our customers say they don't want to give up the freshness of our vegetables. Whenever we get new customers they can't believe the flavour, and you just get used to that."
But there is one sector which is worrying everyone, and that is farmers' markets. "Farmers' markets are fragile," admits Exner. "Farm shops have an advantage because they're open six or seven days a week; they're there with a sign hanging out. Farmers' markets happen once a month. Farmers' markets seem to have lost their browsing customers, the ones who came along to have a look. But they still have incredibly loyal customers, the ones who have got used to buying from farmers and local farm shops."
As far as Exner knows, no farmers' markets have shut down yet. And Christmas shoppers may make the difference. Interestingly, after years of neglecting the country's markets, the government has just set up a working group to watch over them; the Working Group for Traditional Markets (which includes farmers' markets) will include representatives from a range of government departments including: Communities and Local Government, Business Innovation and Skills, Health, Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and the Food Standards Agency.
The market world is incredibly excited to have the chance at last to put their case in the way large supermarkets have been able to do for years. "There has been a revolution in the way we shop," says Exner firmly. "It's our task to keep that revolution going."
guardian.co.uk/green-shopping; bigbarn.co.uk; fairtrade.org.uk
Shopping for an ethical Christmas
There's something very appealing about giving ethical or green presents for Christmas; it eases that slightly queasy feeling that the sight of so much food and presents sometimes causes.
For those of you who are plan-ahead types, and who don't go out and get the whole lot in a giant panicked splurge on Christmas Eve, there are many online shops such as Natural Collection which specialises in gorgeous organic or ethically sourced goods: solar garden lights, the eco-duck (a wind-up toy duck which is battery free and still looks like good fun), a Greenpeace 2010 calendar, or a funky Orla Kiely reusable water bottle (good to see big-name designers getting into this area – more please!).
Nigels' Eco Store is another long-established great one-stop shop; lots of practical goodies here, such as the eco-kettle, heatkeeper radiator panels, or the ever-popular wind-up and solar radios. You could pick up a sun jar – these lovely jars, which are lined with solar panels and which glow gently on their batteries for about five hours after sunset – are really wonderful for camping trips.
What about the traditional gifts? If it's bubblebath you're after, you can't get much more ethical than Lush which uses less packaging than any other cosmetic company, and uses organic fruit and vegetables, funds environmental campaign groups and campaigns against animal testing. Bath bombs? Or solid shampoo?
If you're looking for chocolates, there's lots to choose from. The family company Montezuma makes luscious organic chocolates and is doing appetising advent calendars this year, too. Cheese is another great option that will support small businesses and our British cheese industry. For £38 (which pays for a selection box) you can make someone a member of the Teddington Cheese Club which sends out wonderful British selections every month.
Don't forget that you can always make direct donations to charities on people's behalf – and claim gift aid (most charities will explain how to do this) which makes every £1 worth £1.28 to the cause. Or explore the world of the Good Gifts catalogue (there are other similar schemes around; they are not all quite as upfront and straightforward as this one, however) and give your beloveds a yak, destined for Tibetan villagers rather than the back garden in the UK, or a peace espresso, which will help set up coffee plantations in Rwanda. Guaranteed to ease post-dinner indigestion …
naturalcollection.com; nigelsecostore.com; lush.co.uk; montezumas.co.uk; teddingtoncheese.co.uk; oxfam.org.uk
The outlook for ethical fashion
"I don't know anyone who hasn't been affected by the recession," says Jennifer Ambrose (pictured). "It's a terribly difficult time to be running a business when you are selling your own products."
Two years ago, when the ethical fashion surge was at its height, Ambrose's company Enamore, and her flirty, gorgeous underwear (the fact that it was made from environmentally friendly hemp-based fabrics was just a lucky plus) were in every newspaper and magazine. It seemed as if the good times would never end. But since then, like many small businesses, she has been caught in the backwash of the banking tsunami. She is keeping going through extremely popular classes in sewing ("Everyone wants to know how to sew at the moment!"), still selling the underwear through her website, and plans on digging in until things get better.
And other ethical designers tell a similar story. Gav Lawson, whose Hemp Trading Company at one point employed eight people selling his funky skateboard-cool T-shirts, has similarly seen a few dark days and has had to downsize. But, like Ambrose, he is determined to stick it out. He has just started working with some new companies, and is beginning, for the first time in a little while, to feel pretty optimistic about the future.
At the Ethical Fashion Forum, they are determinedly upbeat, too. Josie Nicholson, one of the EEF's co-founders, says that the fashion industry as a whole is taking a big hit, and ethical fashion designers are having just as hard a time as everyone else.
"But actually people's spending habits are really changing, and I think that in hard times people are a bit more considerate, and a bit more empathetic. People are so bogged down with all the bad news that they like to hear a good news story about their T-shirt."
In the past six months EFF has had more interest from the press than in its entire history: "It's been incredible. In the past ethical fashion was all about negative choices: don't buy this or that. But now there are more and more designers coming through, like MIA or Lalesso, who are offering ethically sourced clothes which people really want."
Some of the larger companies seem to be thriving, too: People Tree has been trying out pop-up shops in different locations around the country, while Edun, the label started by Ali Hewson and Bono, has been bought by luxury brand LVMH.
A report by Mintel in February found that "adverse economic conditions are likely to have only muted effects on the ethical clothing sector. Existing buyers are tied by emotional attachment to ethical practices, while more exciting ranges and improved availability are further stimulating sales."
Nicholson is optimistic. "When the recession ends, hopefully people's spending habits will have changed and hopefully that will stick." An awful lot of people will be crossing their fingers that she's right.
