Dr. Stoate: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) what steps his Department is taking to support the UK mushroom farming industry;
(2) what steps his Department is taking to encourage the major multiple retailers and other food retailers in the UK to stock locally grown mushrooms in their stores.

Jonathan Shaw: DEFRA supports the mushroom industry by funding research to address problems of concern to growers and to ensure a sustainable industry in the future. In particular, the most serious problem that has affected the industry in recent years—Virus X—has been addressed by a DEFRA-funded project carried out by the mushroom research unit at the facilities at the Warwick-HRI research centre. This project, which finished earlier this year, cost in excess of £900,000.

Food From Britain, using the additional £1 million per annum funding DEFRA has provided under our regional food strategy, has been facilitating meetings between a number of retailers and the regional food groups aimed at getting more quality regional and local foods on to supermarket shelves. A number of successful local sourcing activities have resulted from this activity, which complements the work being carried out by retailers themselves.