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.
It will take public outcry to prevent what now seems inevitable: the desecration of hard-won food and environmental standards, in a desperate scrabble to sell financial services.
By Guy Singh-Watson - 11th June 2020
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Hopefully, there will be some rain over the next two months to establish the critical June and July planting, but there are a lot of nervous growers watching the weather forecast.
By Guy Singh-Watson - 27th May 2020
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Being all things to all people is the supermarkets’ task. This time of forced change has brought us an opportunity to reflect, reinforcing our resolve to stick to what we’re good at.
By Guy Singh-Watson - 18th May 2020
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With coronavirus on top of Brexit, finding enough pickers could have been a problem, but Vicky, who looks after our 40 new recruits, describes them as 'very good'.
By Guy Singh-Watson - 6th May 2020
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There is a wonderful contented satisfaction (going on smugness) to be found lying in bed listening to long awaited and much needed rain.
By Guy Singh-Watson - 29th April 2020
3
Most farmers self-isolate by choice anyway (it comes with the job); add to that the new-found appreciation for food, and I reckon we are the lucky ones.
By Guy Singh-Watson - 15th April 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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