West Country Organics was, according to archived pages from 2011 and earlier, the name of an organic food supplier based in Devon, in the south-west of England. This site is an independent, informational resource built from that archive. It is not the business itself, takes no orders and offers no deliveries. What remains useful is the subject matter: what organic food is, how it is certified, how people bought it by mail order, and why organic farming matters for the countryside.
What “organic” means
Organic food is produced without synthetic pesticides or chemical fertilisers, without genetically modified organisms, and without processing methods such as irradiation or industrial solvents. The archived pages describe organic farming as a system that looks after soil fertility, protects wildlife, upholds animal welfare and reduces reliance on non-renewable resources. You can read more in the organic farming overview and the organic food hallmarks.
Certification
In the UK, farms producing organic food must be licensed by an approved body. The Soil Association, mentioned throughout the archive, was one such organisation. Its role is described on the Soil Association page.
What was on offer
The archived shop sold a broad range of goods: meat such as beef, lamb, pork and chicken, sausages, bacon, dairy products, fish, eggs, wine, beer, cordials, vegetarian products and weekly vegetable boxes. Those ideas are explored in more detail here:
- Organic meat and how custom cuts work
- Vegetable boxes and seasonal vegetables
- The wider product range and organic products beyond food
- Buying organic by mail order
Food, land and policy
The archive also kept a news section. Highlights include concerns about genetically modified crops, a university study comparing mineral content in organic and conventional produce, and a long opinion article about farmland being abandoned. See organic news and the farming archive.
All figures and opinions on this site are attributed to the archived sources. Prices, delivery terms and contact details from the original have been removed because they are out of date.