HORTICULTURE, NORTH WALES: In a previous life Chris worked as an engineer and an IT project manager and went on to coach the British Youth Olympic Sailing team in Sydney, Australia. He then made a dramatic change of career and now grows vegetables on a third of an acre (0.13 hectare) of rented land near Denbigh, supplying the veg box scheme which he and his wife Liz took over in 2018. They have around 120 weekly veg box customers around Denbigh and Ruthin, and deliver to their doorsteps.

Chris and Liz also sell their produce from a pop-up shop on an industrial estate in Denbigh two mornings a week, and run a farmers’ market on the same site once a month, assembling a select band of local food producers.

Roughly a quarter of the vegetables that Chris and Liz sell are from their own or their neighbour’s farm. The vegetables are not currently certified organic but are grown without the use of any chemicals. The rest of the vegetables that they sell come from an organic wholesaler, to offer customers a wider range of seasonal pesticide-free vegetables.

Chris started the business almost “by accident” after returning from a decade in Australia where he’d worked in banking IT and as a sailing coach. He knew he wanted to run his own business and be a primary producer, and by chance was given a one-day course on no-dig vegetable gardening with no-dig expert Charles Dowding. Around the same time, he heard about someone who was giving up their veg box business so he decided to take it on. “I had virtually no veg growing experience but I saw it as a business opportunity,” he says. “We all need food, and my engineering and sailing school experience meant I knew how to run a business efficiently. Liz has a background in market research so that helped with the marketing.”

Chris continues to use no-dig methods to preserve the structure of his soils, and employs part-time staff for 45 hours a week to help with everything from growing to packing boxes and delivering them. The box scheme and farm shop are Chris’ only source of income, but Liz does some a freelance corporate consulting.

Chris says he enjoys growing food for his local community and having contact with his customers. “This is something farmers have lost since the second world war, but it’s good for our mental health. I love being a primary producer in a country of service industries.”

Given the time, sweat and toil involved in producing his chemical-free vegetables, he admits it can be hard having to justify costs to customers. “We regularly check prices against supermarkets and are always broadly in line,” he says. “Also, supermarkets don’t have the range of pesticide-free produce that we offer.”