Riverford: UK business needs long-term policies and stability | FT Food Revolution
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- čas přidán 1. 10. 2022
- The FT's Tim Hayward and Daniel Garrahan visit Riverford, the organic vegetable delivery box company, to learn about its commitment to regenerative farming, how Brexit has hit the labour market and why businesses need long-term policies and stability.
#business #sustainability #farming #agriculture #food #nature #environment #brexit #covid #uk #truss #trussonomics #politics #coronaviruspandemic #ukrainewar #russia #inflation #prices
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I am so proud to have been a riverford customer for around 10 years now. Their support during COVID was amazing and i totally wish more people thought like Guy. Everything is delicious....always!
So exciting to see FT reporting on local regenerative agriculture. This type of farming can be used on every farm! Which would eventually lead to a huge increase in biodiversity, soil health, and carbon sequestration.
About 20 years ago I lived in Auckland, NZ (pop 1.5 million), and was pregnant with our twins. Every week a grower delivered a box of organic veggies. He delivered over 150 a week. But these guys are on another level! Riverford is an amazing company, run by passionate, dedicated people. More power to them.
What an inspiring story of agroecology and commerce being mutually beneficial. Its lovely to see that not all successful human beings are driven by profits margins. Agreed the video was not long enough, I ❤wanted to hear more details of the practices and data models.
That founder is so wise.
I left the UK in 2017, for France and truly the only thing I miss are the weekly Riverford boxes and the excellent meals at the Field Kitchen, Wash farm.
Also, shame we don't have more business leaders like Guy Watson-Singh.
Great episode. Thank you! Really hope there's a follow up on this. 13 mins barely scratched the surface!
Thanks, good video. Always nice to see an enigmatic founder!
Cheers
Farmers are already reducing fertilizer cost over 70%, increasing yield and fertility and reducing soil toxicity with the “SNX30 fertilizer supplement”. It’s backed by agronomists, NCGA Corn Yield Winners and other farmers.
Yeh, but this man needs better equipments. Labour is one thing, but still, you do need some sophisticated machines to farm with. I have seen some of the Japanese tea leaf farmers... and they do use sophisticated machines to farm with. With organic, you do need actual good nutrients to farm and nourish the soil with? We have SO many universities IN this country, so how can we not have discovered this already? We should already be applying those to ALL farms across the country too? With the fall of ICI.. what really should've been done, is to utilise some of those data and info.. to be incorporated into the British soil. Why did it get patents and privitised so much so that, this is not even here? So if those data existed, then shouldn't those be used via the public libraries and to recreate those specific natural fertilisers... and replaced and used back on these soil ??? I feel like Guy is fighting that impossible fight... And, soy sauces? Why is he selling soy sauces for???!!! Keep the good things that are available from the UK ! Use marmite !!! It's still vit B!
@@MeiinUK He can get better equipment when he gets his best ROI with SNX30 at farming.help.
Ft needs to talk about Ecosia they are a search engine that plants trees
Policies is what killed European farmers in the first place... More policy is just going to be the final blow and all land will be managed by corporations if we continue down this road of more and more choking bureaucracy and policies...
I don't think that he was that starter. I mean, farming have already existed. And many estates.. grew their own veggies, and that they sold directly to their local communities... So he isn't the first. Maybe where he lived was like that, but a lot of farmers, and people near where I grew up had always had this. Allotments, and both private and public farms.... What I can see is that, London do not have access to food, and that is why they always continued to import food, and goods. Well.... competition is extremely tough right now.... so high... When I found the word "organic" , I almost fell off my bandwagon. Cos I had always thought that "farm to table" was normal. But apparently, this is not normal.. and that it had never existed. I don't believe that it did not exist. I did exist, but the entire country was still a soveign land and soveign states.... so democracy didn't truly existed. So if elites held back their land, then they are entitled? Now, that is something which I find hard to believe. Or I have come to learn to acknowledge and to accept.
After the second world war, Japan had trouble feeding their own people, and they needed to buy from the USA, and from other countries as well. So... I had always thought that was a holding plan only. Only ever to be temporary... and not more. I find this whole thing a bit odd. Cos there isn't the really ethos of the people that desire to stay and to maintain the land. Isn't people meant to be quite nationalistic!? Even the real nationalistic people that continual to protest, DOESN'T put their actions where their mouth is !!! So you have time to protest, but you don't have the time to actually DO the work?! This is the inconsistency of the world today. In Japan, they farm their own food, their school children farms a small farm in their local community. Maybe it is time that Guy literally consider SELLING his well grown produce, and then replant them into school mini farms, and then let THEIR kids learn where veggies come from? So you don't do this box scheme thing, but you can definitely nurture a really big and well produced set of produce... and focused a lot more about maintaining the nutrients of the farm itself? One thing I will say is that, this country is so bureaucratic that is absolutely unbelievable...
People are spoiled, and businesses like this cater to their spoiling. Everyone, every single citizen needs to take some time out of their busy days to contribute to the growing of their food. People are already driving to supermarkets, why should farms have to create these veg box schemes and deliver right to peoples doors? Get in your bloody car, and drive to a small farm, buy your veg straight from the farmer, touch the soil, greet a chicken or a cow. Fresh air, farm life. I envision a new model where small family mixed farms are a u-pick operation. People get out to the farm, pick their own fruit, veg, milk, cheese, meat, eggs ... meet the farmer, and in the end you will be saving costs since that farmer didn't have to do the picking, washing and packaging. Less wastage, value added for the consumer, it's a win win. We're moving into the direction of separating consumers from their food and consumers wonder why they are getting unhealthy food, because they don't see what's behind the curtain. Get out and find the farmers who are doing things right, healthy, regeneratively ... your support means they thrive, and we all benefit.
This is a great business model. The next step is to get consumers set up to grow their onions, celery, herbs and greens in a growing appliance, the size of a refrigerator. Then supply the produce that takes more room to grow. You almost don't need a refrigerator if you grow basic veggies and adopt a more plant based diet.
that guys getting soaked
No definition of regenerative agriculture given here. Does not.appear this farm is in any way regenerative
See Understanding Ag or Gabe Brown for a definition
Have you heard of the Save Soil movement before?
I think you'd find it intriguing
#SaveSoil #ConsciousPlanet
@savesoil3133 do you know about regenerative agriculture? It is about regenerating poor soil. Saving isn't enough. Must improve our degraded soils to survive on planet..
Riverford killed my farm shop.
They should have bought you out. Can't you get a job with them?
Luckily the guys from FT eat money so don't really need to get involved with this organic food nonsense. Nice to have a jolly outside London to see how the carrot crunchers are doing though...
Here's a long term policy: The politicians screwoff and stop meddling in business they have no clue about.
I wish politicians would support policies that help small businesses rather than cater to mega corporations whose only moral is to maximize profits.
@@LCamp-cr7fs The best thing they can do for any business is to stay out of it. Government should be as separated from business as it is from religion. The reason for this is, as you point out, everything they do benefits big business at the expense of small business whether that was the original intent or not.
@@nonyadamnbusiness9887 I have to vehemently disagree. I want and need laws that prevent businesses from polluting my air and water, poisoning my food, selling me bad drugs, cheating me out of my money, treating me as a second class citizen, ignoring minimum safety standards, etc. Everybody should actually want to live in a society that works for the welfare of people, not the only „moral“ value corporations have: maximize stockholders‘ returns at all costs.
@@LCamp-cr7fs So, your solution is to put 536 narcissistic sociopaths in charge. Smart move.
@Nonya Damnbusiness Your solution is to put corporate narcissistic sociopaths in control. The difference is that we elect the politicians and can through them out with elections, while there is nothing you can do about the corporate elite. Now that is really smart. Think!
Loool ... Long term stability with cognitive dissonant Truss and her clown butler ... Yeah. All right. Next!
If Truss wants growth and stability she can rejoin the EU!
Problem solved
Many of our problems pre-date Brexit, and are rooted in the financial crisis, from which we have never recovered. Unlimited migration is just Ponzi scheme and solves nothing long-term, and the EU does not have large numbers of labourers available - most European nations have worse reproduction rates than us and in Germany's case 1 - its labour force is now in decline and soon its population will be. But remoaners never look beyond Brexit, lack the mental machinery I guess.
And this guy from Riverford just talks in cheap slogans and has not got a clue.
@@dnmurphy48 excellent poin
@@dnmurphy48 : To be fair, who does not know that Guy used to be a management consultant, and so that he knows exactly what is going on. But... What do I find annoying now?I find the current whole "food delivery app" thing extremely ignorant, AND annoying. So many of us, who were raised in take aways, and knows the supply-chain inside and outside, is still working in the food sector.. more or less... to hold the supply-chain up as well... if we don't do this... and continue the good work, then who would? I find it funny, that so many people, across the country, often poaches people like us..."I want you to be a labourer in....Spain... will you come?".... No... he said.. everybody wants to be the Chief, but nobody wants to be the Indian. Well.... My mother had her own garden as well. Even many people now have their own garden. So.. universal income it is? It probably is looking that way ! And then gazillion builders and property developers still expect that people will buy their properties. But in truth, nobody is buying it. And in Europe... soveignty is held on tight, and they do not want to give it up ! SO..... The only country that is sustainable is The Netherlands... and now, their politicians are apparently trying to screw their hard work up, for the sake of the union. Wow... I would definitely flip. I don't see the America Irish, or the America Scottish, coming back to the UK to farm and to help....