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.
I am immensely grateful to our crop programming team; with extraordinary prescience, they calmly set about increasing the volumes we had planned with existing growers.
By Guy Singh-Watson - 8th October 2020
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With scant resources, but plenty of determination, Wicked Leeks has gained a loyal following while still in its infancy.
By Guy Singh-Watson - 25th September 2020
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We see the most vital benefit as not marking our own homework; regular assessment will highlight areas for improvement, and help us balance competing demands.
By Guy Singh-Watson - 21st September 2020
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Recently we suffered the most devastating soil loss that I have seen in over 50 years of farming.
By Guy Singh-Watson - 10th September 2020
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Behind the detail of the organic standards lie the simple principles that you must put back at least as much as you take.
By Guy Singh-Watson - 26th August 2020
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If a fraction of the research that has gone into GM crops had gone into developing perennial versions of our main food crops, we could solve soil loss and enrich the environment.
By Guy Singh-Watson - 20th August 2020
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The agri revolution led to a focus on crop yields above all else – but researchers are beginning to look again at nutrition in our food.
By Jack Thompson - 9th April 2021
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The Netflix documentary has been welcomed for spotlighting damage from large-scale fishing while its claim that no fish is sustainable is disputed.
By Nina Pullman - 8th April 2021
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More than just reefs and rainforests, habitat diversity also covers the heaths, woodlands, fens and bogs closer to home. Here's how you can help protect and visit some of the habitat restoration…
By Becky Blench - 8th April 2021
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Charity Surfers Against Sewage hopes to galvanise 100,000 Brits to clean a million miles of rivers, beaches and green spaces to counter the rise in single-use plastic since the pandemic.
By Nina Pullman - 8th April 2021
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I found it hard to disagree with the main conclusion of Seaspiracy: that there is almost no sustainable fishing, and the labels claiming sustainability fall a long way short of delivering it.
By Guy Singh-Watson - 8th April 2021
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The pandemic has brought a fresh perspective on the power of community and feelings of injustice: let’s channel this anger positively and build dignified food security for all, writes David Markson.
By David Markson - 6th April 2021
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