SADLY, the expression food poverty is in common usage these days. Despite claims that we’re all better off now the economy has picked up, the reality for many is different.

Food poverty affects some four million people in and even prosperous regions such as North Yorkshire are not immune.

Now an initiative called the Yorkshire Harvest Campaign seeks to address the problem by urging us all to buy and donate a few extra items when doing the weekly shopping.

This sort of thing might have been unthinkable a few years ago, but food poverty and related health issues, such as the rise in rickets, is not going away.

We would ask everyone who can afford it to play their part and help replenish the stocks of our charities and anti-poverty projects, because together we really can make a difference.