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*UK supermarket chain Tesco is making considerable moves to increase local sourcing across the country with plans under way to implement the programme in more of its 2,000 stores across the globe. *

It foresees local sourcing being as important to the company as organic (now worth £400 million in the UK) and being worth £1 billion in retail sales by 2011. In the past year, for instance, the south-west region has sourced 200 new products from 40 new suppliers.

Local buyers have been employed in each region to make strong links with smaller suppliers, such as Little Town Dairy and Nichol’s Farm in Kent, to bring new ranges into the stores which will be known and supported by local shoppers.

Each region has specialist produce: Essex-based Fairfields Farm making specialist crisps using its own potatoes and Sweet Thai chillis from the The Chilli Company. Hill Farm Oil Heaveningham is making cold pressed rapeseed oil with omega-3. Gloucestershire supplier Bottle Green Drinks has extended its well-known Elderflower to launch its Blossom Hill range of Elderflower, Morello cherry and lemon barley to local stores.

The idea is to make local sourcing mainstream, not just gourmet, with the phrase 'Everyday local sourcing' the basis of the new campaign. The most obvious areas are eggs, juice, meat, cheese, milk and vegetables, with black-and-white photographs and details of various farmers appearing on-pack.

The company was spurred on after a trial in Padstow, Cornwall, when it noticed that consumers had a different mindset when looking at prices for products from local suppliers. It then set up a local office to deal with local issues and help small suppliers meet the necessary health and safety criteria. In some cases, it supplies just one store.

According to Head of Local Sourcing Emily Shamma, Thailand already has local sourced produce, as do Tesco Stores in the Czech Republic and Ireland (where it's particularly strong). On the basis that this move has been consumer led – meeting demand from consumers across the globe – we're unlikely to see a trend reversal.