With the driving aim of making organic food accessible to as many people as possible and to prove that it should and can be more than the preserve of the privileged, Organic North is a progressive and innovative Manchester-based co-op wholesaler of fresh produce and wholefoods. Alongside the 200+ businesses that they supply each week, they now support hundreds of farmers and producers both nationally and internationally.
To many of their customers the most interesting thing about Organic North are the principles on which they trade upon; they work as seasonally and as locally as possible, using no air-freighted produce and recognising the importance of provenance, their produce is listed each week by the farm it originates from. They also trade on a pre-order basis and only buy in from growers each week what they’ve already pre-sold. Significantly, this allows the company to eliminate food waste entirely from their stage of the food supply chain.
“Despite our successes, recognising that we are but a cog that helps link growers to end consumers, we remain humble to our position and treat our growers with the respect that they duly deserve. We have what seems to be an extremely uncommon policy of never haggling with the prices supplied by our farmers. The breadth of growers on our weekly availability lists means that the ‘invisible hand of the market’ helps to regulate prices and the only time Organic North look to intervene on pricing is on the rare occasion a supplier tries to severely undercut regular market price on a crop - when say, they’ve a surplus for being let down by a large supermarket perhaps.”
Part of their sustainable ethos is to pay growers promptly, pay all employed staff a real National Living Wage and have no shareholders to satisfy.
Furthermore, with no shareholders to satisfy, their cooperative approach is able to extend to help establish new growers and in various capacities we work alongside scores of fellow coops, charities and CICs. They are also proud to help both sponsor and support a growing number of Community Supported Agriculture schemes across the country throughout the winter when their fields cease producing.
“What we have achieved so far with our unique approach to wholesaling and without a penny of outside investment is remarkable in my opinion. Especially so given the number of existential crises that they have had to navigate from the financial crash of 2008 to Brexit, Covid, the Cost of Living Crisis and Energy Crises to the growing number of ecological challenges our growers are continually faced with.”
Organic North shows that it is possible to wholesale in a way that is fair and sustainable for growers and customers alike. Being sensitive to the limits set by local ecological conditions, farmers can explore how farms can deliver more plant production with the knowledge that there are organisations like Organic North are providing a route to market. Farms can do this by:
- Assessing the suitability of the land for sustainable horticultural production.
- Investing in suitable crop production.
- Focus on soil quality: explore options for soil improvement, such as mixed farming and other ways of returning nutrients to the soil.
- Engage to develop supply chain infrastructure and logistics to support the shipping of larger quantities of plant foods.
“More power and speed to my fellow inspiring Mancunians.”
Eating Better alliance members and partner networks Better Food Traders, Sustain and the Landworkers’ Alliance are great sources of information on how as an individual you can support sustainable food systems where you are.
Eating Better is an alliance working together to create healthier and more sustainable food systems in the UK. Through eating less and better meat and dairy, and more plants we can make food systems work better for all.
