Box scheme

About box schemes

'Veggi boxes' have a long tradition in organic farming. In the original schemes customers signed up to receive boxes of a standard value for a set period, normally for a whole season. All or the majority of the produce was grown on the farm supplying the boxes or came from neighbouring farms. Ideally the produce was seasonal, i.e., only those crops that grew well at that time of year were used. Also the farmer, rather than the customer, decided what produce went into the box.

This arrangement enabled the farmer to predict demand, thus minimising wastage, and it made packing easy as all the boxes were the same. This meant that farmers costs were reduced and, therefore, the price of the final box was lower. Customers were also guaranteed the freshest produce with a minimum of food miles. Often great friendships developed between the farmer and the customers - to the point that customers would volunteer to help on the farm at times of peak labour demand! The downside was the customers were committed to buying a box every week for long periods, they had no control over what they received and there was often a lack of diversity of products in the box during late winter and early spring when few crops grow.

Today there are many hundreds of box schemes all over the UK and they are much more diverse than the original schemes. Many no longer require customer to sign up, you can just order a box when you want it. Often a range of different box sizes and types are available. The contents have also become more diverse as increasing amounts of produce is brought in from off the farm. Indeed some box schemes now are run by people without a farm using entirely bought in produce. Some members of the organic movement feel that this misses the whole point of linking producer and consumer and providing field fresh seasonal produce.

The Sunnyfields Organic box scheme

We believe that we offer the right balance between the original ideals of box schemes and providing good service to you. We include a fair proportion of our own fresh-from-the-field produce, the convenience of a range of box types and sizes, great value for money, the ability to order as frequently or infrequently as you like and we can even tell you what will be in your box before you order.

We offer £6.00, £12.00 and £15.00 vegetable boxes and fruit boxes plus a £12.00 fruit & vegetable box, a £6.00 salad box and made to order fruit baskets starting from £10.00. These all offer better value than if you ordered the same contents as a home delivery order.

There is one caveat, however, in that the box scheme is run under the home delivery system and there is a minimum order value of £15 and a £2 delivery charge. Boxes are thus an ideal way to get the best value for money fruit, vegetables and salads and then add to these from the huge range of products from our home delivery service. If demand is great enough in the future we may set the box scheme up as a stand alone entity and drop the minimum order and delivery fee.

Alternatively if you have a group of friends who want boxes you could act as the central contact and delivery point for your friends with the potential for further reducing costs or even earning yourself commission or a free box.

How to order

Please go to the home delivery and box scheme page for full details on how to order.