I don’t much like big businesses but somehow we have become one. I like making worthwhile things happen but I am a bit mixed up about the need to control and own them. One such worthwhile thing is the South Devon Organic Producers Co-op (SDOP), conceived in a pub 20 years ago when I couldn’t keep up with demand and saw an opportunity for organic vegetables to be grown on other traditional mixed family farms. Through such co-operation I felt perhaps we could get the benefits of mechanisation and scale, while resisting the march towards ever larger farms.
There are advantages to growing veg as part of a long rotation on mixed, ecologically diverse farms, but had I stopped to appreciate the scale of the challenge, I would have stayed at home. We made a lot of mistakes in the early years, struggled to find reliable markets and to meet the exacting specification of supermarket buyers but, with the energy of youth, determination and an EU grant, we survived. Things got easier as we found the right crops for each farm, our skill levels rose and we bought the right machinery, but I think all members would agree that we would have gone under without the reliable market provided by the growing Riverford box scheme. In my more idealistic moments I like to think of the box scheme as a partnership between those farmers and you, with Riverford as the facilitator which has allowed 14 family farms to survive, and supported the conversion of thousands of acres to organic farming. It has also brought a group of farmers together and thereby made a challenging profession a little easier and less lonely.
Last week I visited Antony Coker, a founder member and now SDOP chairman. He recently bought a solar powered robot to help weed and sometimes plant his crops; I want one. He and his wife Mary showed us their crops of runner beans, courgettes and beetroot, all of which will be in your boxes soon. His staff seemed happy, skilled and engaged and my QC team tell me their quality is reliably good. 20 years on we have come a long way and the foundation and survival of the SDOP is perhaps the achievement which I am most proud of. The biggest challenge is now finding the next generation to take the reins.
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