The collapse of Farmdrop (the company which supplied food from farms to customers across the country) on Friday Dec 17th has left the small farmers and food producers who supplied it in a dire situation. It’s hard to think of a worse time of year for something like this to happen. For meat and poultry farmers with perishable stock this is a disaster. Farmdrop was a major customer for many of these farmers. “They were roughly 50% of our turnover,” says Dan Mason, Sladesdown Farm. “It’s really bad timing,” says Harry Boglione, Haye Farm, “We don’t usually have this amount of stock for Farmdrop. They really pushed Christmas with us.”
Deeply frustratingly, much of the perishable stock that was delivered to Farmdrop in good faith is now stuck behind locked gates. Jacob Sykes, Fosse Meadow Farm tells me: “Well, on Thursday we delivered 7 palettes of seasonal birds [approx. 600 birds], then on Friday morning we woke up to find they’d gone into administration. So they’ve got a load of our birds. They’re locked up, we’re short-staffed, we can’t go and pick them up. They said they’d open up today, haven’t heard anything about it, haven’t got the time, haven’t got the staff to collect it. That’s £30,000 of bird they have and they already owed us £6000. That debt of £36,000 is huge for us.”
What was striking across the interviews I did, was how upset and frustrated the farmers are at the thought of the food they’d grown being wasted, when people are going hungry.
“All of us that supply Farmdrop with our food have a strong ethical view. We don’t grow for the money, it’s actually part of us,” said Dan, Sladesdown Farm “To think that we’ve put 6-8 months of work into that goose and to think that because somebody calls the account in, it’s sitting there rotting…”
Harry Boglione, Haye Farm: “We’ve got stock there at the moment and hope we can collect it. We just really don’t want it to be wasted. If we can collect it we’ll probably freeze all of it and some of we’ll just give to local food bank. For us, as producers we wouldn’t like to see the animals going to waste.”
Jacob, Fosse Meadow Farm: “I can’t understand why they didn’t keep going another week, even if they didn’t pay us. What’s upsetting is all those birds are going to rot in a fridge. It would be great if we could get our birds back – we could sell some of them freeze them down, try to salvage what we can.”
For the farmers, losing a customer as major as Farmdrop is grim for long term reasons as well as immediate short-term ones.
Harry Boglione: They were our saving grace when the pandemic started because we only supplied restaurants, so we switched to Farmdrop. They were incredible. Now, we’re genuinely worried about the large amount of outstanding debt.”
Dan from Sladesdown explains the scale of the issue: “The money they owe us is from the end of Oct to now and then also got 6 weeks’ worth of stock on the ground for January, February, March so as a grower we’ve saying goodbye to 5-6 months’ worth of profitability and work. I actually sat our children down last night – our kids range from 14 down to 10 – and said look sorry but Xmas ain’t going to be what it was going to be. Your presents aren’t going to be there because we’ve got people to pay. I gave them the cold reality. It’s true – you bank on the money coming in to pay people’s wages and our kids will take the brunt of it. You’ll have plenty of our time, I told them.”
I can’t access the list of their suppliers on the Farmdrop website. The message on their website rings very hollow when you think of the human cost of their collapse.
We at Farmdrop are proud that we’ve been able to create a positive impact for our producers, customers, and the wider food community. We hope that this legacy will inspire positive change in how food is grown and appreciated for a long time to come.
Doing the interviews for this piece, I’ve just had a glimpse into the stress and heartbreak and there are hundreds more producers similarly affected.
Here’s a list of some of the farmers who supplied Farmdrop. They are left in the lurch with perishable meat and poultry that they need to sell. If you can support them in some way, they would be very grateful.
Haye Farm www.hayefarmdevon.co.uk/
Fosse Meadows fossemeadows.com/
Frenchbeer www.frenchbeerfarm.co.uk/
Farmwilder www.farmwilder.org/
Just Kidding cotswoldkidmeat.com/
Purton House www.purtonhouseorganics.co.uk/
Forest Coal Pit Farm www.forestcoalpitfarm.co.uk/
Meat Box www.meatboxshop.com/
Park Farm Butchers www.parkfarmbutchers.co.uk/
Sladesdown www.sladesdownmeat.co.uk/
Goodmans Geese www.goodmansgeese.co.uk/contact
Walters Turkey www.waltersturkeys.co.uk/
The Green Butcher thegreenbutcher.co.uk/
Sole of Discretion openfoodnetwork.org.uk/sole-of-discretion/shop
List of Companies Affected by Farmdrop Collapse
This is a list of Farmdrop’s suppliers extracted from archive.org. It gives a sense of how many farmers and food producers have been hard hit by Farmdrop’s abrupt closure.
3 4 Oz
40Ft Brewery
Adegas Carballal
Aecorn Aperitifs
Agnes and Cat
Agua de Madre
Alara
Albury Organic Vineyard
Alce_nero
Aldwick Court Vineyards
Alfez
Allpress Espresso
Aloliver
Alpha Zeta
Alsop Walker
Alta Alella
Alternative
Altos las Hormigas
Amaizin
Amandin Organic
Amisa
Ampersand
Ancre Hill Estates
And Sisters
Andre et Michel Quenard
Annabel Karmel
Anselmo Mendes
Anspach & Hobday
Antolini
Ardo
Artisan Biscuits
Aspall
Auga Organic
Aunties Sauces
Austin Austin
Azienda Agricola Cos
Azul y Garanza
Balazu
Bao
Barbers Cheese
Baretilt Farm
Bath Soft Cheese
Beaming_baby
Bear Nibbles
Beavertown
Beco_pets
Belazu
Bellfield Brewery
Belton Farm
Belvoir Fruit Farms
Ben and Anna
Benriach
Bergerie
Berkeley Farm
Better You
Bill Downie
Billingtons
Bini Fine Foods
Bio D
Bioalgarrobo
Biofair
Bioinside
Biokef
Biona
Biona Organic
Biot Tiful_dairy
Biotiful
Biovergel
Black bee Honey
Black cow Cheese
Black cow Vodka
Black Garlic
Blackandblum
Blackbird Bakery
Blackwoods Cheese Company
Bluebell Vineyard
Bob by ben Glover
Bodega a muñoz Cabrera
Bodega Ayala
Bodega Navarrsotillo
Bodega Vinecol
Bodega Vinificate
Bodegas Carballal
Bodegas Carres
Bodegas Honorio Rubio
Bodegas Latue
Bodegas Parra jiméNez
Bodegas Pigar
Bodegas Ramon Ayala
Bodegas Robles
Bohns Rubs and Spices
Bonsan Vegan
Bonsoy
Booja
Booja Booja
Bootleg
Borgo Molino
Borough Broth Co
Borough Olives
Brave
Braybrooke Beer Co
Bread Bread Bakery
Bread Bread Bakery
Brew by Numbers
Brindisa
Brixton Brewery
Brogdale Fine Fruits
Btw Drinks
Bubala
Bubala_london
Burgess Farm
Capel Mushrooms
Capreolus Fine Foods
Cartmel
Catch Fishcakes
Cawston Press
Celtic Bakers
Cheeky Panda
Cheeses of Muswell Hill
Chicp
Clean Bean
Clearspring
Clothes_doctor
Cobble Lane Cured
Cocoa Loco
Coconutcollab
Cornish Charcuterie
Cornish Gouda Company
Cosi Bio
Cotswolds Distillery
Court Lodge Organics
Cracking Crab Co
Cropwell Bishop Creamery
Crosstowndoughnuts
Crosta and Mollica
Daily_dose_juices
Dame
Dash Water
Delphis
Dgm Growers
Difatti
Divine Chocolate
Dorset sea Salt
Doves Farm Baking
Doves Organic Farm
Drivers Pickles
Duchess_farms
Dunleavy Vineyards
E t S
Eat Wholesome
Ecoleaf
Ecozone
Equal Exchange
FarmdropRecipeKits
Farmwilder
Fd Bundles
Fernhill Farm
Fiona Cairns
Fir Farm
Fish 4 Ever
Five dot Botanics
Forager
Forest Coalpit Farm
Forman and Field
Fosse Meadows Farm
Fourpure Brewery
Frenchbeer Farm
Fresh Growers
Fz Organic Food
Geetas
Genie Drinks
Gosnells London Mead
Green and Blacks
Growing Underground
Grown Green
Growup Urban Farm
Gusto Organic
Hackney Gel
Harefield Farm
Haye Farm
Helen Browning’s
Hilltop Honey
Hodmedods
Holos
Home Farm Highgrove
Homesauce by Homeslice Pizza
Homeslicepizza
Honest_burger
Horton House Farm
Horton House Organic Farm
Ice Cream Union
Ice Kitchen
If you Care
Infarm
Ivy House Farm Dairy
Jack’s Veg
Jolly Asparagus
Just Kidding
Kallo
Karaway Bakery
Karma Cola
Keto Hana
Kew Organic Gin
Kinda Co
King Soba
Kinn_living
Kupros Dairy
La tua Pasta
La_vecchia_dispensa
Langridge Organic
Laverstoke Park
Lee_kum_kee
Lilly Puds
Lilyskitchen
Linwoods
Litmus Wines
Little Duck Picklery
Little Moons
Littlefreddie
Local Fox
Loddington Farm
Longley Farm Dairy
Longman Cheese
Love Cocoa
Love Corn
Lovely Drinks
Luscious_organics
Lye Cross
Lyme bay Winery
M*Lkman
Made for Drink
Maldon Salt Company
Manilife
Maple Farm Kelsale
Marsh Pig
Meat Box
Method
Minor Figures
Mole end Farm
Montezumas
Montys Deli
Moo_free
Mr Organic
Mud Foods
Nairn
Natural Candy Shop
Naturalcool
Natures Choice
Naturya Superfoods
Naty
Neatclean
New Macdonaldsfarm
Newlands Farm
Newton & Pott
Nine Meals from Anarchy
Nirvana Brewery
Nourish
Nutcessity
Oatly Drinks
Oatly oat Drinks
Olive et Al
Oliveology
Organii
Ossa Organic
Ottolenghi
Pact_coffee
Panda Licorice
Panda Packaging
Park Farm
Partizan Brewing
Peelham Farm
Pegoty Hedge
Piccolo
Pip Organic
Plenish
Poggiotondo
Pollybell Farm
Port Askaig
Pots Co
Precious Pea
Press
Prime
Priors Grove
Profusion
Proper Food Collective
Punchy Drinks
Purely Pesto
Purton House Organics
Quinola
Ranas_bakery
Ratatouïe
Raw Halo
RB Organic
Renegade Longton
Revenant
Rinkoff Bakery
Rooted Spices
Rubies in the Rubble
Rude Health
Rummo Pasta
Sauce Shop
Seed and Bean Chocolate
Seedlip Drinks
Seggiano
Severn and wye Smokery
Sharpham Park
Shipton Mill
Simply Delicious Cakes
Sipsmith
Site.Webmanifest
Sladesdown Farm
Smokin Brothers
Snact
Soil Oils
Sole of Discretion
Som_saa
Somerset Charcuterie
Southview Farm
Square Root
Steenbergs Organic
Stream Farm
Suma
Superfood Bakery
Symplicity
Tenute Dettori
Thai_taste
The Bottled Baking Co
The Coconut Collaborative
The Curators
The Dusty Knuckle
The Fresh Fish Shop
The Organic Mushroom Farm
The Pickle House
The Real Basmati Rice Company
The Real Cure Co
The Somerset Cider Brandy
The Story
The Tomato Stall
The Wine Love
The_butchery
The_dorset_dairy_company
The_oil_merchant
Theavocadoco
Tickles’_pickles
Tideford Organics
Toast Ale
Tonys
Tracklements
True Start
Trufflehunter
Tyrells
Tythe Barn Farm
Union Coffee
Uprooted Farms
Urban Cordial Company
Villanova Food
Water Works
Well and Truly
Westlands
Westmill Organics
Westwood_sons
White Lake Dairy
White Rabbit
Whitehole Springs
Wholegood Organic
Willies Cacao
Wood Green Farm
Worleys
Zaytoun