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.
Perhaps it is not inevitable that half our food is imported, that what we do grow is picked by imported hands, and that culinary fulfilment is dependent on vast choice.
By Guy Singh-Watson - 9th April 2020
10
The nation seems to have found a magnanimity and can-do attitude in a way that gives me hope for humanity and for our planet.
By Guy Singh-Watson - 3rd April 2020
0
If there is a silver lining to this cloud, it may be that we learn to value more what is close – be that vegetables or people.
By Guy Singh-Watson - 26th March 2020
9
I am determined that Riverford will never stoop to the bullying and abuse that supermarket buyers routinely practiced on me before I started the veg box scheme.
By Guy Singh-Watson - 12th March 2020
3
Sometimes you need a jolt to shake you out of a rut; to quote Walt Whitman, you need to “re-examine all that you have been told and dismiss that which insults your soul.”
By Guy Singh-Watson - 4th March 2020
9
Just like Michael Gove, the reality is that oil company CEOs can say whatever they want, without any fear of being held accountable for their promises.
By Guy Singh-Watson - 19th February 2020
0
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
2
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
12
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
2
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
0
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
9
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
1