Buying local food is way forward, Miliband says.

(From Western Daily Press)

The new Secretary of State for the Environment declared buying local to be the way forward for farming and the planet on a visit to Devon yesterday.

David Miliband was speaking after meeting farmers and landowners and talking to scientists at the Met Office's Hadley Centre about global warming.

Following a lunch of local food hosted by Taste of the West at the offices of Devon landowner Clinton Devon Estates, he said farmers did not need new initiatives from his department, but "support for good ideas".

He urged people to be patriotic by buying local food, saying it cuts down on food miles and enables farmers to …