Consumers are being urged to buy seasonal food produced by local farmers in a new initiative launched in west Wales.

Whitland-based Gareth Jones, who launched Seasonarians with Izzabella Fisk and Surrey Hartshorn, says while anyone who wants to eat a plant-based diet can identify as a vegan or vegetarian, there is little structure for those who want to eat meat and dairy but who also want to do their bit for the environment.

Seasonarians, he says, is a conduit for promoting the eating of seasonal, local and sustainable food.

“Our philosophy is that it is better to consume dairy and meat that is produced locally than to fly fruit and vegetables halfway around the world,’’ says Gareth, who works in the dairy industry.

With company officers based in both west Wales and Somerset, the community interest company already has members throughout the southern half of the UK.

To help consumers identify where their food comes from, Seasonarians has devised a traffic light system with four bands – green plus is local and green for the UK while amber is for Europe and red the rest of the world.

“Our labelling is now going in to fruit and vegetable shops, butchers, farm shops, restaurants and on to milk vending machines.’’

A calculator has also been developed which gives a score for each month of the year: local and home grown food scores 0 whilst food produced outside of the EU scores 4.

The website can be found at seasonarians.co.uk

“The uptake has been brilliant,” says Gareth. “Our membership is growing every week as more and more people identify with being a Seasonarian.”