Riverford Organic Farmers Ltd is an

organic farm Organic farming, also known as ecological farming or biological farming,Labelling, article 30 o''Regulation (EU) 2018/848 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2018 on organic production and labelling of organic products and re ...

and

organic Organic may refer to: * Organic, of or relating to an organism, a living entity * Organic, of or relating to an anatomical organ Chemistry * Organic matter, matter that has come from a once-living organism, is capable of decay or is the product ...

vegetable box delivery company founded by

Guy Singh-Watson Guy Singh-Watson (born Guy Watson, 1960) is a British farmer and founder and creator of Riverford, an organic farm and UK-wide organic vegetable box delivery company. Biography Singh-Watson was born in Totnes. He was brought up on Riverford Farm ...

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

, England, but with sister farms in three locations around the country. __NOTOC__

Background

Riverford Farm was taken over by the Watson family in the 1950s and followed the normal pattern for British farms until the mid-1980s, when

(then Guy Watson) decided to convert to organic farming. By the late 1980s this had been achieved. Singh-Watson aimed to find an effective way of distributing his produce. His idea was the weekly vegetable box scheme, the box being delivered direct to customers' doors with locally grown produce. Riverford chooses varieties for flavour rather than appearance and delivers earthy vegetables, which improves storage and taste. Starting from a weekly delivery of around 30 boxes to family and friends, in 2018 Riverford delivers around 45,000 boxes per week to households nationwide, sending its own meat and vegetables as well as organic fruit, dairy, wine, store cupboard staples and more. To achieve this they have formed a mutual cooperative of British

farmer A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people who do some combination of raising field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, or other livestock. A farmer mig ...

s - not all in

. The weekly boxes come with a newsletter explaining the content of the box, giving farm news from Riverford and providing appropriate recipes.

History

In March 2005, before celebrity chef

Jamie Oliver James Trevor Oliver MBE OSI (born 27 May 1975) is an English chef, restaurateur and cookbook author. He is known for his casual approach to cuisine, which has led him to front numerous television shows and open many restaurants. Oliver reache ...

's school dinner project, Riverford obtained the catering contract for lunches at a local

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...

. On 2 December 2007 Riverford appeared at number 92 in the ''Sunday Times'' Fast Track 100, a list of the 100 fastest growing companies in the UK. In 2009 Riverford won the award for best ethical business at the ''Observer'' ethical awards and in 2015 Riverford won the award for the Ethical Product of the Decade Award from the Observer. in 2016 Riverford Organic Farms rebranded to Riverford Organic Farmers with a refocused objective of placing the growers and vegetables at the heart of the business In 2018 Singh-Watson gave 76% of ownership to an employee owned trust. In 2020, Riverford Organic Farmers teamed up with bicycle courier company Pedal & Post to have their fresh fruit and vegetables delivered directly to the doors of customers. Amid the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, the delivery services being offered by Riverford Organic Farmers were said to have experienced 'unprecedented demand' for their fresh food.

References

External links

* {{Official website, https://www.riverford.co.uk Companies based in Devon Employee-owned companies of the United Kingdom Food manufacturers of England Organic farming in the United Kingdom Environmentalism in England