The Farmers’ Union of Wales (FUW) is urging shoppers to keep their Christmas shopping local to show support for rural and local businesses, especially as the Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted how vital local shops are.

FUW Deputy President Ian Rickman said:

As we speed towards Christmas, I would urge you to think about your rural businesses and see if you can buy local, either for the upcoming Christmas dinner or even gifts for family and friends.

“This year we have seen how important the local shops and businesses are.

“Many of us relied on them to help out with delivering food and other essentials during the lockdowns and now is the time to repay that favour by supporting them.”

Local meat

Rickman further encouraged people to speak to their local butcher about meat for the Christmas period and to see what the local farm shop has to offer.

I promise you will find many of the ingredients you need for your Christmas dinner right on your doorstep. There are also plenty of small shops around that offer Welsh craft and locally designed gifts and of course the choice for local food gifts is aplenty.

“It really is worth having a look. These are small decisions we can make that will have a big impact on our rural economy, and we need to support our rural businesses who have suffered this year because of the Covid-19 pandemic,” he added.