Price and the Prince

Retail and royalty rarely mix, but the Prince of Wales does take a close interest in food retail and, since the retirement of Sir Stuart Hampson, his JLP colleague Mark Price has taken over as Charles’s favourite retailer. Not surprising really, as like the Prince, Mark cares passionately about the countryside and agriculture, and of course bailed out the Prince’s Duchy Originals brand last year.

This morning I went to St James’s Palace where Mark and the Prince were launching something called the Prince’s Countryside Fund, designed to help rural communities reliant on farming, and to develop understanding of the pressures on people in the countryside among city dwellers. Mark will be chairing the fund’s board. I knew times were tough for many farmers, but I didn’t realise that some upland hill farmers make as little as £6,000 a year, and I bet not many shoppers do either.

As well as Waitrose, which Price runs, Asda, Marks & Spencer, Morrisons and Booths are backing the fund, and Mark said he’d had discussions with Tesco too. Let’s hope they and Sainsbury’s get on board, and they should because this isn’t just about doing the right thing, but is increasingly going to matter to shoppers.

More and more people care where there food comes from, and as Morrisons is trying to do in its latest advertising campaign, selling British produce is now being seen as a competitive advantage. Not before time, and hopefully the Fund will help accelerate the renaissance of British agriculture and our farming communities.