Guy Singh-Watson has over the last 30 years taken Riverford from one man and a wheelbarrow delivering homegrown organic veg to friends, to a national veg box scheme delivering to around 80,000 customers a week.
Tired of meetings, brands and the assumption that greed is our predominant motivation, Guy converted the business to employee ownership in 2018, using the proceeds to buy a small farm and return to growing organic vegetables. In common with many of Riverford’s new co-owners, Guy is an advocate of using business to shape a part of the world, however small, to be kinder, more considerate and sustainable; more like the world most of us want to live in.
His weekly newsletters connect people to the farm with refreshingly honest accounts of the trials and tribulations of producing organic food, and the occasional rant about farming, ethical and business issues he feels strongly about.
Sign up for the newsletter and receive the five latest stories, once a week. Wicked Leeks magazine is published by organic veg box company Riverford.
Community highlight
I frankly hate the corporate monopoly of the food system. But I want to see regenerative farmers supported - if the only things they do are improve soil health and sequester carbon, perfection it may not be, but progress it is.
I frankly hate the corporate monopoly of the food system. But I want to see regenerative farmers supported - if the only things they do are improve soil health and sequester carbon, perfection it may not be, but progress it is.
Sarah Glenn on Regenerative farming: Transforming the system or preserving the status quo?