Riverford

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Riverford is an organic farm and UK-wide organic veg box delivery company founded by Guy Singh-Watson in Buckfastleigh, Devon, England, but with sister farms in three locations around the country.

Video Riverford

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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 Guy Singh-Watson (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 veg box scheme, the box being delivered direct to customers' doors with locally grown produce.

Riverford states that having four farms around the country permits economies of scale that approach those of supermarkets, whilst reducing the delivery time from field to kitchen and ensuring fresh food. It 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, by early 2010 Riverford was delivering around 45,500 boxes per week and sending its own meat and dairy products as well as vegetables and fruit to 60,000 households nationwide. To achieve this they have formed a mutual cooperative of British farmers - not all in Devon. The weekly boxes come with a newsletter explaining the content of the box, giving farm news from Riverford and providing appropriate recipes.

In March 2005, before celebrity chef Jamie Oliver's school dinner project, Riverford obtained the catering contract for lunches at a local primary school.

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.

Singh-Watson has always seen profit as a means not an end. Rejecting numerous investor approaches, he always vowed not to allow Riverford to become an enterprise driven purely by the bottom line, or controlled by outside investors. He stuck to his word and on June 8th 2018 sold 74% of Riverford to its employees, at about one third of the market value. He wants to prove that business can be a force for good, and is confident that staff ownership will protect and develop Riverford's model of sustainable food production and lock in place the values on which the business was founded.