In today’s political climate, I might argue that perhaps more than ever, it is important to commit ourselves to some imported purchasing in order to combat the more isolationist and xenophobic tendencies of the rhetoric coming out of some staunch local consumers and producers.

It seems to me that there is a danger in the rhetoric surrounding the buy local movement that helps to support these xenophobic tendencies, where it is presumed that the local people you know are going to produce better and more ethical products than strangers from across, or even the other side of the world.

If our baseline assumption is that we should be purchasing the most ethically produced products, then there is just as much of a likelihood that a company in Europe could be carrying out practices every bit as ethical or more so than a local Manx company.

And a two-way flow of imports and exports is important because, for example, our island processors wouldn’t be able to operate if we didn’t have the export market for our premium products such as our award winning Manx cheese that is sold all over the world. The same can be said about our award winning shellfish and indeed, with no market through international trade, the majority of the boats are currently tied up until this is all over.

Suggesting that you are not going to buy imported and only buy local is absurd, since even the local products you buy will likely have some imported component, fertiliser, seed, machinery, packaging, advice or labour at the very least.

Most of your locally grown vegetables, for example, are ultimately supported by or produced with imports. So, by default, you must at least at some level ’buy imported’.

If everyone turned to eating Manx we don’t have enough: very simply, we couldn’t do it.

By volume of local consumption the Isle of Man is around 140% self-sufficient in lamb; 89% self-sufficient in beef; 10% self-sufficient in pork; 40% self-sufficient in flour; around 400% self-sufficient in dairy products; 20% self-sufficient in vegetables, and about 1058% self-sufficient in shell fish. (Obviously this is if we ate everything we currently produced first.)

Basically, the more of something a Manx farmer can produce, the more the cost of production goes down. And for the consumer, that means they pay less money.

This is why large companies succeed where small farms struggle. So the Manx farmers are forced to charge higher prices in order to make some money and that’s why local artisan food costs more than commercially mass produced processed foods in the supermarket.

Manx farmers don’t expect everyone to eat Manx because it’s Manx, but because they want to; for low food miles, local production, a Manx carbon footprint and keeping the Manx pound going round.

We also know everyone can’t afford to eat Manx and we wouldn’t expect you too, everyone works to a budget, farmers work to a budget, if your budget doesn’t stretch to Manx that’s ok, no one should ever feel shamed into it.

It should be an aspiration that when you can afford to eat Manx you will make that choice because you want to.

However, if those who can afford to eat Manx all committed to only eating Manx we would be selling enough to reduce the cost of production and then be able to reduce the selling price: this would make it more affordable and more people could afford to eat Manx.

Eventually we would reach that tipping point where the Manx cost of production is equal to the imported food cost of production and then it is just a matter of choice.

Eating locally also means eating seasonally: buying out-of-season produce, like strawberries in December, lowers your eco-credentials. As does eating lamb and apples that have been flown halfway round the world in a freezer container, wrapped in layers of plastic, when you could buy Manx but only when it’s in season.

When you shop Manx all the food has a short field-to-fork journey. Along with supporting Manx farmers and the local economy, it means the food is better, not because we believe we produce a better quality product but because it has a lower carbon footprint and makes you a better person.

We could change our eating habits back a generation and make do. During the Second World War the island grew nearly 3,000 acres of potatoes and we had a diet of meat, cabbage, turnips, dairy, fish and potatoes. We now grow just 250 acres of potatoes across the whole island and the reason for this is that, in 2020, the land is being farmed to what it is most suited for and most of our island is suited to growing grass to rear livestock.

The Isle of Man has more than enough of the right type of land to increase our vegetable production to supply the local market with seasonal produce but we grow predominantly grass and the big thing about grass is that it is so versatile.

A ruminant eats that grass and turns it into protein by way of meat or milk that humans eat. So we produce what we are good at producing and export our surplus.

We need to think of Britain as one big farm and regions as fields.

The Isle of Man is a field that is used predominantly for livestock; Wales is also a field that is used predominantly for livestock; the south of England is a field best suited to growing fruits and cereals; central England is a field used for vegetables, and so on.

With a conscious move away from production support over the last 10 years all across Europe, Manx farmers can only support profitable ’new production’, any increases must be supply chain led and profitable.’

So you can accept imported products and support local at the same time or change your diet and eating habits completely: it’s all one big balancing act.