A FARMER turned businessman from West Dorset has started a business selling farm produce via a virtual farmers market.

Ben White-Hamilton, 30, from Dorchester, launched the virtual platform, named Harvest Bundle, towards the end of 2019 after he saw a gap in the market in farmers selling their products online.

He said: "Farming is something that I have been passionate about for ages and, generally speaking, famers are bad at marketing and sales so I worked on a plan of how I could help. I got going with the business in Autumn last year and Christmas was a really busy time but then COVID-19 hit and sales went through the roof so I'm trying to expand.

"It's been great because I've been connecting customers with farmers that have got produce during the coronavirus crisis so it has helped consumers and it also helped the farm side of things because those farmers that had been supplying restaurants which shut down at the beginning of the lockdown still had a product and needed a market to sell in so I was able to help them too."

Harvest Bundle currently works with roughly 30 farmers across the UK. The company places emphasis on the importance of quality, sustainability and provenance.

Mr White-Hamilton said: "Those core principles are probably part of my nature as my father is a farmer and my mother is a chef so I've been involved in food and farming forever.

"People can buy any food they want from a supermarket but when you go to the meat aisle and the meat is pale and wrapped in plastic it isn't inspiring and people don't know where it came from or where they can get their hands on great products easily.

"I wanted to create a marketplace to pull all of the small farmers and artisan farmers together and make something bigger so it is more interesting for the consumer, who can find different producers to suit their needs, for example, if they want to buy from someone local to them or they want a certain type of meat or a specific cut.

"I know that people can go to a butchers or to a normal farmers market but in the world we live in people have less time and are living more in cities so it is much easier to do it online."

Harvest Bundle were hoping to attend a number of farmers markets in the area this year to raise some awareness of the brand, including markets in Sherborne, Dorchester and Bridport, however, they have all been cancelled.

Mr White-Hamilton added: "Next year we hope to go to the farmers markets because people care where their food comes from and it's really important that we can really give that tangible element to it all and let people meet Harvest Bundle and hear about the farmers."

You can order a food delivery at https://www.harvestbundle.co.uk/.

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