In 2001, I wrote a piece for our Christmas newsletter about what, you, our customers, were achieving in terms of support for organic farming. In it I referred back to 1986 when I opened a one stop organic shop on Gloucester Road.

There are still lots of regular customers using the shop today who used the Real Food Supplies all those years ago. The market in general is vast in comparison to back then, but what interests me is how much our customers are doing now for better organic food.

There are thousands of acres of land under organic cultivation (still only 3.4% of the UK's agricultural land), supplying directly to independent food stores and box schemes.

You have bought millions of organic products over the past 16 years, from the Better Food Company alone.

Having your veg box delivered means a significant reduction in CO2 emissions. Every time you and 20 others in your neighbourhood have your boxes delivered, you save collectively approx 300 food miles.

More people are now employed in a sector that puts people before profit. You help support around 40 local family farms and businesses. BFC and our Barley Wood Walled Garden alone employ over 50 people.

You are putting the heart back into food production and local food shopping. You are sending a clear message to supermarkets, and policy advisors like The Food Standards Agency that there is a healthier, more sustainable way forward, which puts people and the environment before profit.

I think what I see more and more is that while the organic market is growing with thousands of new products every year, the market for local, community-orientated shopping of organic foods that come from small producers is growing even faster. There is a sense that more of us are aware of the importance of not just organic, but of organic with heart and soul.

My message to our customers, to BFC staff and to our many amazing suppliers is what strength there is in this loose knit community we've created. Maybe you're a farmer growing food and gaining an income to feed your family, or a member staff working in the shop because you want to promote organic food and be able to buy it for yourselves.

Or maybe you're a customer, coming to buy the local cheese, the garden veg, the French wine, the great local bread… Whichever, we're all doing it to feed our families good, nutritious organic food.

The journey of the food from plot to plate contains buckets full of heart and soul, and it feels to me like it makes for a better world for all involved.

Enjoy the sunshine, Phil