Organic vegetable box deliveries

[Debster]

Can anyone recommend a company/farm that does this? I am especially interested in ones that are local to the Brighton/Sussex area but am willing to go national if necessary.

What experiences have people had? What sort of veg do you get? How much does it cost etc etc?

I'm an A&C fan too; but you could also check the soil association website, which should have lists of organic suppliers in your area. A&C does import but presumably by sea freight - and also tries to get as much fair-traded produce as possible.

From a fair trade - as opposed to an environmental - perspective, I think the problem is that organic stuff can be produced under pretty exploitative terms - you're talking about the way the veg is produced, not the labour conditions of the producers (so you get islands bought up to produce fruit/veg for supermarket chains - although I couldn't give you the exact ref for this). Conversely, fair-traded produce may well be produced with fewer pesticides anyway, because it's less likely that the growers will have been showered with nasties.

I'm afraid I don't know the link for the Fair Trade Foundation but it's worth checking out.

HTH!

I have recently started getting an organic veg box from a local producer - Riverford Farms. It has been fantastic, they do milk, bread and lovely yogurts too. I spend £20 a week on a veg box, bag of apples, bag of bananas, 2 big loaves, 6 pints of milk and a large pot of yogurt. Dd1 and I get really excited on Fridays when its delivered, today we got lots of young broad beans, spinach, strawberries, lettuce, fantastic basil as well as more boring onions, carrots, delicious potatoes and cabbage. We find it stays fresh for an amazingly long time, eg I used the last of last weeks whole milk this morning and it was fine. Its undoubtedly more expensive than the supermarket but I feel very strongly about local produce and supporting local jobs, maybe because I live in a rural area where people feel very dictated to by London and like whereever possible to feel in control of their own lives.

I do buy the odd bit of exotica from the supermarket, but it makes my blood boil to buy calabrese from Spain and Argentina when its in season and available here.

Meant to add that we are all boycotting Tescos down here as they opened a petrol station, undercut all the local garages, over two years all the local garages closed down, leaving Tescos as the only local place to buy fuel. Last week they put the price of their petrol up by 18p a litre. I hate them.

We do Riverford too.......great Strawberries this week eh!!