Organic veg supplier boxes clever despite a late spring

THE cold snap is still wreaking havoc on rural businesses across the region but producers are rising to the challenge.

Although severe weather conditions have left local vegetable producers with ruined crops Riverford Organic, which runs a box scheme, has seen demand increase.

The Newby Wiske near Northallerton-based business, which runs out of Home Farm, has itself fallen victim to this year’s earlier snow fall with purple sprouting broccoli, spring greens and cauliflower crops all affected.

However, the company has seen a 40% year-on-year rise for its veg box scheme, which now delivers more than 3,000 boxes of organic produce a week.

Owner Peter Richardson said: “The prolonged cold weather at the start of 2010 left some of our crops ruined.

“We lost all of our purple sprouting broccoli and 95% of our cauliflowers. Although we have been hit by the vegetable drought this year we have been lucky as our customers have remained loyal, instead of reverting back to supermarket alternatives.”

Every vegbox from Riverford comes complete with a weekly newsletter including recipe suggestions.

In 2008 the company published the Riverford Farm Cook Book, full of innovative recipes to encourage people to be more creative with their food.

The team is also promoting the ‘Riverford Cooks’ project to help more people to cook with seasonal vegetables.

In August this year award-winning Riverford will set up a travelling restaurant in a yurt on the farm to serve meals prepared from local, seasonal and organic produce straight from the fields.