The Island of Bute on the west coast of Scotland is benefitting from a Leader project that provides affordable supplies of fresh food for local people in an environmentally-friendly manner, and also creates work and training opportunities for the small island community.

Remote and isolated rural areas can experience relatively high costs of living for basic commodities such as food and other essential goods that often need to be imported long distances by road, rail, sea or air. Transportation costs can thus significantly influence the quality of life experienced by rural residents, as well as affect the competitiveness of rural businesses. Strengthening the supply of locally-produced goods and services in Europe’s countryside can help reduce dependencies on imported goods and so help reduce the cost of living, or running a business in rural areas. Improvements in quality of life can result from this sort of rural  development activity and other benefits are created at the same time since less transportation leads to less greenhouse gas emissions, less traffic congestion and less wear-and-tear on rural road networks.