Every week Lucy and I look forward to a delivery of fresh, organic produce from Riverford. The company has impressed us with its quality of produce and variety of recipes, with its customer service and reliability. Above all we value the company’s credentials as a small but significant force for good in a world where food production or scarcity represents one of the greatest threats to the wellbeing of individuals, and of the world in which they live.
Riverford push a short letter through the mail box with each delivery, always interesting, and this week Guy Watson’s words resonated so deeply with me I felt I really couldn’t have articulated my thoughts better myself.
“All this serves to illustrate that managing [ones] environmental impact is a minefield of personal and collective culpability; sadly I have almost no hope for leadership from the Government, so it lies with individuals and businesses.”
Guy goes on to compare the reaction of the automotive industry to environmental challenges to that of the farming industry.
“…in an industry that should essentially be about capturing and harnessing sunlight, environmental impact has spiralled out of control. It is thought that [farming consumes] ten calories of fossil fuel for every calorie of food produced, while mercilessly raping the planet’s soil and wildlife. Don’t blame population increase; modern agriculture should hang its head in shame.”