A newspaper that has campaigned for farmers and the wider rural community during the devastating foot and mouth crisis has opened its campaign on a new front.

The Western Morning News has launched a massive campaign to achieve a huge increase in people’s consumption of local produce.

The hero of the hour is Jeff the Chef, a character designed to encourage people that the West is best.

Stickers, posters and a buy local website all form part of the campaign.

The paper devoted ten pages to the launch of the campaign that is expected to run for years rather than months.

In a page one comment, editor Barrie Williams said: “We can, every one of us, play an important part in turning the devastation of the foot and mouth disaster into a major economic recovery and a new dawn for our beleaguered local industries.

“How? Simply by insisting that we buy and eat locally produced food.

“Every man, woman and child in the Westcountry can join in and make a real difference by demanding local produce in supermarkets, shops, restaurants, pubs, office and works canteen and school dining rooms.

“If we do that – and stick determinedly to it – we can not only save agriculture as we know it from extinction and make our farms profitable again but also create jobs in other local industries, inject significant local sums of money into our local economy, from which we all benefit, and build a substantial future for ourselves and for Westcountry generations to come.”

He backed up the arguments with figures and ideas that showed how public participation could kick-start the economic revival.