Breadcrumbs
What was Eat the View?
Eat the View was a Countryside Agency programme which ran from 2000 to 2006 to increase awareness of the links between sustainable local products and the countryside. This website remains the archive for the initiative.
Our decisions as consumers can have a big influence on the way land is managed, because the character of the landscape and the quality of the environment are directly linked to the way the land is used to produce food and other goods.
Sustainable land management systems can provide quality products whilst maintaining environmental quality and the diversity of the countryside. Products processed and marketed locally can provide improved income and employment opportunities, help to strengthen the links between land managers and the local community, and reduce the unnecessary transportation of food and other goods. Consumers can help to secure and enhance the countryside by choosing these products. The more that are bought, the stronger the market becomes and the more economically viable sustainable land management systems become.
On 30 March 2000 the Prime Minister charged the Countryside Agency with a new role to "assist consumers to understand the connections between the food they buy and the countryside they value, and to work with others to develop projects to achieve this aim and to improve the market for regional produce." The 'Eat the View' initiative was the Countryside Agency's response to this challenge. Through its own actions and in partnership with others, the Agency worked to raise public awareness and secure a more favourable market to enable and encourage farmers and other land managers to diversify and adopt more sustainable practices. There has been a big increase in interest in sustainable local products during this time and the market for these products has expanded, illustrated by the rise of farmers markets and growth in the organic sector.
