the wastelands

Many farms (here is a local one) have bypassed the middle man of supermarkets to sell their produce and have come up with a popular service delivering boxed seasonal organic vegetables. This was an inventive way to bypass the stranglehold that supermarkets have over their suppliers and a good way for customers who are wary of supermarket ethics to support a local business. Listening to Radio 4 this morning drew my attention to the fact that both Sainsbury's and Tesco are developing their own schemes. The words "muscling in" spring to mind. What is alarming too is that there is no sign of this as a news item on the BBC website; it's a non-story.

Sainsbury's SO organic box will initially go on trial at the end of August 2006, available to approximately 500,000 customers in the East Midlands and Anglia

whereas Tesco is

Launching in early September the box scheme will initially be trialled in the south London area.

From the dating of the web pages, Sainbury's just managed to get their announcement in first. Tesco however were probably already in the process of cooking up the scheme because of course, they wouldn't want any other organisation to be making money that rightfully belongs to them.