Posted by Craig | Posted in allotment | Posted on 11-03-2010
Tags: BigBarn, Crop For The Shop, local, organic, supermarkets
What started off as a small blog to document how my allotment grows, and which crops worked and which didn’t, has now taken me in a very exciting direction.
I have been contacted by Ant at bigbarn.co.uk to do a blog giving helpful tips about growing your own food, and also to support their ‘Crop For The Shop’ campaign.
The idea behind Crop for the Shop is to help local shops source more local fresh produce and to encourage people to grow food and make money from any surplus.
The shop would get great, fresh, and organic produce to sell and by cutting out the middle men would be able to sell it cheaper than the supermarket. They also get new customers, from those bringing their produce, and others buying it.
This will then hopefully cut down the times that people need to visit the supermarkets, and give them the opportunity to buy fresh and fabulous local produce.
Watch this space for more information!
Achiltibuie Garden – Hydroponic Growing Kits
Dartmoor Chilli Farm
Greenhouse Sensation
Thanks Craig. As a 5th generation farmer I set up BigBarn to help farmers get a better deal and consumers get fresher, more accountable food.
As a farmer our onions were sold to a packer as we were not big enough to sell direct to a supermarket. The packer promised us £110 per tonne but on the supermarket shelf they retailed at £830 per tonne. We were not paid for a further 3 days at least.
This is the trouble with today’s food industry on average for every £1 we spend on food in the supermarket the farmer gets 9p. We are all paying too much for our food and is why if we enjoy the outdoors and a bit of digging we should take Craig’s advice!
So please register your email and post code with Bigbarn; http://www.bigbarn.co.uk/register to get our emailed newsletter with local special offers and food news and tell your local shop to contact us about becoming a “Community Champion” and allowing locals to Crop for the Shop. And please tell your friends.
Great news Craig!
I’ve used BigBarn for several years to source local suppliers – its a great resource.
Good luck with your additional blog!