Core Sourcing Policies
Keep it local
The majority of our fresh produce will be from farms within 100 miles of each hub (London, Bristol and Bath) because food produced closer to home tends to be fresher, more seasonal, and less carbon intensive.
The slick supply chain developed by the Farmdrop team means your food will be more than five times fresher than what you would get from the supermarket.
Local food is at the heart of everything we do but we know that some household staples simply aren’t available from local sources.
We are most effective at helping local producers grow their businesses if customers can do their entire grocery shop on Farmdrop.
So ironically, being too rigid about local sourcing would actually hurt local producers’ sales since people would have to go elsewhere for some items.
For this reason, we supplement our local selection with some carefully chosen products from elsewhere.
This is a win-win: customers have better options and full transparency into where their food comes from so they can make informed choices, and small independent producers reach those customers who otherwise might have turned to industrially-produced food.
Bread Bread Bakery
Brixton
Put animals first
All our beef, lamb, poultry and pork is 100% free range. All animals are allowed to express their natural instincts in a harmonious environment. The majority are fed on grass and pasture for their whole life because meat fed a natural diet is leaner and contains higher levels of good fats and vitamins.
Purton Organics
Swindon
Look after the producers
Farmdrop pays local and sustainable suppliers a fairer price for their produce, roughly twice as much as they would get from a supermarket or a wholesaler.
Because we pay farmers properly, they're not forced to use industrial-scale methods, and they can go on making food in a way that's good for the animals, good the environment, and good for our health.
Partizan Brewery
Bermondsey
Story Organics
Somerset
Delicious food, produced to order
Every decision taken across the Farmdrop supply chain - from the specific variety grown, the methods used by the farmer, the time of harvest, the storage and handling techniques, and processing methods - will be designed to maximise freshness and flavour. And wherever possible, food will be picked, harvested, or made to order so as to eliminate waste.
Chegworth Valley
Kent
Don't trash the planet
All our farmers follow sustainable and environmentally sound farming techniques that preserve natural resources and help to enrich the soils for healthier animals and crops. Imported produce will be transported using the most sustainable means available and not be air freighted.
Sole of Discretion
Lyme Bay
Sourcing by Category
Fruit & Veg
- Around 70% of our fresh fruit and vegetables are sourced from within 100 miles of your city. By comparison, just 23% of fresh fruit and veg sold throughout the UK is grown in Britain.
- A large number of our growers are certified as organic by the Soil Association. Others are smaller-scale growers who follow organic principles and for these we use the ‘pesticide-free’ tag on the shop.
- Some foods like citrus fruits and bananas are sourced from outside the UK but will be transported using the most environmentally-friendly means available. Zero air-freighting.
Eggs & Poultry
- All eggs and poultry are completely free range with continuous access to the outdoors during the daytime and a house to sleep at night.
- Chickens reared for meat take at least 70 days to reach maturity, and are kept in flock sizes no bigger than 1,000 birds. Caged chickens, by comparison, are killed at 39 days or 56 days if free range, and can be kept in flock sizes of anywhere between 30 to 45,000, allowing space no bigger that an A4 piece of paper per bird.
- The maximum flock size for egg laying hens is 2,000 birds, which is the Soil Association’s standard for organic. Purton House Organics have a flock of 600 hens and Fosse Meadows keep a flock of 600 hens. By comparison, the maximum flock size for Lion Quality assured barn Eggs is 32,000.
- Farmdrop can guarantee a minimum shelf life of 23 days for eggs, compared to just 7 at the supermarket.
Beef & Lamb
- Our beef and lamb comes from slow maturing native breeds. The cows graze traditional pastures for as long as possible from early spring to late autumn (minimum 120 days). The sheep are out all year unless the weather turns bad in which case some farmers bring them indoors to lamb in the spring. The end result is meat that reflects the sweet qualities of the pasture the animal has eaten and also contributes to conservation and biodiversity.
- It has been shown that 100% pasture fed meat is low in saturated fats, as well as having high levels of CLAs, Omega 3 + 6, vitamins E & B. By comparison, much of the supermarket beef will be fattened indoors with grain and soya, creating less nutritious prime cuts.
- Meat is matured on the bone and butchered on site by skilled butchers. Beef and lamb from a supermarket will be cut by machines and packaged in plastic to be sent straight to supermarket with little ageing.
Pork
- All our pork is from traditional British breeds (sometimes rare), and 100% free range. By contrast, the majority of supermarket pork is imported from abroad, and typically reared indoors, in overcrowded conditions.
Milk
- All dairy herds are completely free range, and kept outdoors for as much of the year as possible (minimum 120 days).
- All our milk is taken from a single dairy herd (Hinxden Farm) or a mixture of three local organic herds (Berkeley Farm), and is unhomogenised and bottled on site. Milk from the supermarket will be processed from hundreds of different herds and can be a couple of weeks old by the time you put it in your fridge.
Dairy
- All cheese, butter and yoghurt is made using local, free range dairy herds, all fed on pasture. Supermarket cheese, by comparison, will be made using milk from hundreds of different herds and fed a diet of cereals and soya.
- Except for Brinkworth Dairy, we buy all our cheese via the wholesaler Longman who work with fantastic local-to-London cheesemakers operating on a very small scale.
Fish
- We only work with responsible and sustainable fishers who use small day boats, low impact methods (for example rod and handline) and provide you with great tasting British-caught fish. Farmed fish will be produced using methods that try to replicate the conditions of the wild and be given feed from a sustainable source.
- All the fisheries Farmdrop works with have been certified by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), the global standard for sustainable fishing, designed to mitigate the impact of mainly industrial trawler fishing. Farmdrop fish also has a maximum sustainability rating of 3, as determined by the Marine Conservation Society.
Bakery
- All fresh bread will have been cooked, cooled and sliced within hours of being delivered to your door, compared to so-called fresh supermarket loaves which are part-baked and frozen off-site, to be re-heated in store.
- Sourdough loaves contain no more than four ingredients (flour, water, yeast, salt). The most popular supermarket loaves, by comparison, contain 10 ingredients.
- All our pastries and cakes use only free range eggs, contain the minimum number of natural ingredients, and are additive free.
Larder & Household
- We will only sell household products from smaller, independent brands who are using the most sustainable and environmentally friendly production methods.
- Wherever possible larder items are bought directly from the producers, and we source as much as possible from within the UK.
- Farmdrop sells a number of larder items from Suma because they work with smaller co-operatives and independent suppliers, and give preference to organic and fairtrade products.
Drinks
- All our beers and spirits are from small batch English producers, and the majority are local to the city out of which you make your order (London or Bristol/Bath).
- Wines will have been imported from smaller vineyards in Europe, chosen for their sustainable and low-impact growing methods.