Guy Singh-Watson (''né'' Watson; born 1960) is a British farmer and founder and creator of

Riverford Riverford Organic Farmers Ltd is an organic farm and organic vegetable box delivery company founded by Guy Singh-Watson in Devon, England, but with sister farms in three locations around the country. Background Riverford Farm was taken ove ...

, an

organic farm Organic farming, also known as organic agriculture or ecological farming or biological farming,Labelling, article 30 o''Regulation (EU) 2018/848 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2024 on organic production and labelling of ...

and UK-wide organic vegetable box delivery company.

Biography

Singh-Watson was born in

Totnes Totnes ( or ) is a market town and civil parish at the head of the estuary of the River Dart in Devon, England, within the South Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It is about west of Paignton, about west-southwest of Torquay and ab ...

. He was brought up on Riverford Farm, in

Buckfastleigh Buckfastleigh is a market town and civil parish in Devon, England situated beside the Devon Expressway ( A38) at the edge of the Dartmoor National Park. It is part of Teignbridge and, for ecclesiastical purposes, lies within the Totnes Deanery. ...

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

, which was taken over by his family in the 1950s. After studying Agricultural and Forestry Science at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

he became a

management consultant Management consulting is the practice of providing consulting services to organizations to improve their performance or in any way to assist in achieving organizational objectives. Organizations may draw upon the services of management consultant ...

, but left after working in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

for a while. In 1986 Singh-Watson returned to the farm, deciding to convert it to farming organically. In the 1990s, to find an effective way of distributing his produce, he developed the weekly

vegetable box scheme A vegetable box scheme is an operation that delivers fresh fruit and vegetables, often locally grown and organic, either directly to the customer or to a local collection point. Typically the produce is sold as an ongoing weekly subscription and ...

, which is delivered directly to customers' doors with locally grown produce. In 2015 the

business was valued at £45 million. In 2018 Singh-Watson sold 76% of Riverford Organic Farmers to the trustee of an employee ownership trust. In 2023 Singh-Watson agreed to sell his remaining 23% stake for almost £10m, making the firm 100% staff-owned. Singh-Watson lectures on ethical business and is a judge for the Observer Ethical Awards and his leadership has seen five previous Observer awards including Best Ethical Business and Best Ethical Restaurant in 2009. Singh-Watson married Geetie Singh in 2014. He is a keen

surfboarder Surfing is a list of surface water sports, surface water sport in which an individual, a surfer (or two in Glossary of surfing, tandem surfing), uses a board to ride on the forward section, or face, of a moving wind wave, wave of water, whic ...

. In July 2018 he was interviewed on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

's ''

Desert Island Discs ''Desert Island Discs'' is a radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4. It was first broadcast on the BBC Forces Programme on 29 January 1942. Each week a guest, called a " castaway" during the programme, is asked to choose eight audio recordin ...

'' programme.

Publications

*''Riverford Farm Cook Book: Tales from the Fields, Recipes from the Kitchen'' (2008) Singh-Watson, G. and Baxter, J.

References

External links

Triodos Bank: interview with Guy Watson October 2011

About Guy Singh-Watson - Riverford Organic Farmers

Guy Singh-Watson
interview on BBC Radio 4 ''

'', 1 July 2018 {{DEFAULTSORT:Singh-Watson, Guy 1960 births Living people Alumni of the University of Oxford 21st-century British farmers People from Buckfastleigh People from Totnes