Urban Greenies: 70% of Londoners want organic produce

Being a bit of a foodie, my weekly delivery from Riverford Farm is a personal culinary highlight. I've only
been ordering from them for a few months but it has changed the way that we eat at home. As the weeks go by and the seaons change, so do the contents of the box.
You can add on additional fruit, veg, dairy products, jam and chutney orders which all come from the Farm Shop.
Guy Watson who started up the Riverford Farm collective did so after a particularly awful conversation with one of the large supermarket chains about 15 years ago. Watson felt that the way the supermarkets were squeezing every last penny out of their farming suppliers was appalling. The Riverford box scheme was started in 1993 to loosen the supermarkets' stranglehold. They now deliver over 16,000 boxes a week and do not supply supermarkets anymore.
The quality is great, the prices are cheaper than the big supermarkets and (if I am forced to be honest) you get to feel a bit warm and smug about being a decent "ethical consumer." Apparently I am not alone in wanting organic, locally sourced produce. A recent IDG report showed that 70% of Londoners want to buy organic fruit and veg (interestingly Vs only 34% of people who live in the country, what do they know that we don't?) Every-time I go to the one of the London farmers markets I am amazed and thrilled by how busy they are. There seem to be new markets opening all the time, the latest being the Friday and Saturday market at Exmouth Market in Clerkenwell.

The report by Jules Peck , Let Them Eat Cake , is required reading on the subject of ethical consumerism and the opportunities it presents for brands and marketers.

Anyway, if Riverford deliver to your area, check on the site, I would really recommend giving them a go. You do not need to set up a weekly standing order you can just go on-line and order one box. It may just become a habit.