IAIN TILLS is an entrepreneur with a conscience.
The 22-year-old has combined his interest in the environment with his business ambitions and set up East Lancashire's first organic fruit and vegetable delivery service.
Red Rose Organics is an innovative new service which relies on the traditions of days gone by.
The idea is simple. Customers agree to buy a box of fresh fruit and vegetables once every week or two weeks.
Iain makes up the boxes depending on what is is season and delivers them directly to your doorstep. In the three months since the seeds of Red Rose Organics were sown it has already bloomed into a small-yet-thriving business.
Iain said: "I have always been interested in the environment and did a degree in environmental policy at Cheltenham University. "I wanted a job that was worthwhile but I couldn't find anything.
"Then I came across a organic veg service in Hereford and I worked there for a while.
"I soon realised that people are demanding better quality food and getting fed up with all the pesticides and chemicals that are in food today.
"So I came home and decided to set up the service.
"It was a big step but it has worked out very well so far and the business is growing. I get the vegetables from a farming co-operative called Green Growers in Ledbury. "I use them because they can provide a whole range of produce so I don't have to use a lot of different suppliers.
"I drive down to pick it up on Tuesday, just after it has been harvested, come straight back, make up the boxes and deliver them on Wednesday.
"All the produce has been approved by the Soil Association as is grown just as nature intended. Although it doesn't always look as pretty as the things you buy from supermarkets, it does definitely taste better.
"Customers who were a bit doubtful about it when they first tried it are really committed to it now because they can taste the difference.
"I also like to think it is helping the environment. There is less packaging and handling involved and it is helping to encouraging farmers to break away from the use of pesticides.
"I think organic produce will become a lot more popular in the future as shoppers begin to demand better standards."
For more information contact Iain on 01706 226189.
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