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.
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
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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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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
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Most British strawberries today are grown in coconut fibre under acres of polytunnels and the season has been extended far beyond summer, writes Louise Gray in her latest Roots to Fruits column.
By Louise Gray - 23rd July 2021
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UK fruit is at its peak of ripeness and flavour; juicy sun-warmed fruits that make for blissful eating whether enjoyed as they are or in one of these show stopping recipes.
By Becky Blench - 22nd July 2021
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Market forces have driven agriculture towards specialisation and scale; the increased yields have reduced the price of food over the last 70 years, but with catastrophic environmental costs.
By Guy Singh-Watson - 22nd July 2021
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British farmers are trialling alternatives to soya in animal feed, known to cause deforestation in the Amazon.
By Jack Thompson - 19th July 2021
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As the summer holidays approach, Anna Turns tries a new green cooking book with her daughter and finds a wealth of education and creativity.
By Anna Turns - 19th July 2021
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‘The Angry Chef’, aka Anthony Warner, tells Jack Thompson why food doesn’t have an ‘easy answer’ and why feeding the masses is a forgotten side of sustainability.
By Jack Thompson - 16th July 2021
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