AN initiative is making it easier for small-scale producers to get their products on supermarket shelves in North Yorkshire.

Asda is the first to take regular deliveries of local food and drink from Yorkshire Farmers Market Ltd, which has been set up by Adrian Potter.

His family own Yorkshire Farmhouse Eggs, at Catton, near Thirsk, and deliver 30,000 dozen free-range and organic eggs a week to supermarkets and other outlets throughout the Yorkshire area.

Asda and the Yorkshire and Humber Regional Food Group asked him to establish a central purchasing, storage and distribution hub.

Mr Potter has 21 producers supplying everything from award winning sausages and pies to pickles, preserves, fish and bakery products. The hub buys from the producers and delivers the goods direct to the supermarkets alongside their eggs.

Mr Potter said: "Our goal is to promote and support the region's foods and make available, in every Yorkshire supermarket, a wide range of quality, seasonal products."

Richard Pearson, Asda's head of local sourcing, said the supermarket was dedicating 14 retail bays to local produce in all of its stores, backed by a £100,000 marketing campaign.

The Yorkshire Farmers Market brand is available in six stores - including Harrogate and York - and will expand to all 14 Yorkshire stores next year.

Mr Potter has a further three producers, but is keen to hear from any others interested in signing up. Call 01845-578376 or visit www.yorkshirefarmers market.co.uk