If you’veeen living in and around Oxford over the past few years, and especially if you’re keen on food, you have likely heard about Cultivate Oxfordshire. 


Cultivate’s VegVan, an artistically spray-painted mobile greengrocery, has become a feature of the Oxford landscape.  


The VegVan has been making regular appearances on Oxford’s streets for the last two and a half years, kick-started by a highly successful community investment by 350 people. 


Last year the van sold over 20 tonnes of fruit and vegetables from Cultivate’s own 10-acre farm in Little Wittenham, and from 19 other local growers and producers. 
Now Cultivate is moving with the times and embracing the online retail revolution. 
Online is the fastest growing way of shopping, with more and more people choosing to shop in cyberspace. Cultivate aims to enable consumers who want to shop online to access local food too, rather than just national offerings, complementing a strong network of existing farmers’ markets and small food shops across the city. 


The new online shop will stock all the same products as the VegVan, plus a wide range of other goods, including meat and dairy. 


Customers will be able to log on to Cultivate Online to select exactly the products they want, for delivery to their local Cultivate POD (place of delivery), which might be a pub, office or your neighbour’s front room.
There is already a growing list of PODs around the city and further out into Oxfordshire, expanding the range of the VegVan to make quality local food available in other villages and towns. If you don’t have a POD near you, you can help launch a new one.  
With this new service Cultivate will keep its principles as strong as ever before. 
It is a co-operative, not-for-profit social enterprise, owned by the community, which aims to get more people in touch with local food. 
Cultivate encourages people to buy and eat local food and to learn more about food growing and waste reduction.
 It works with chefs in local restaurants, runs educational courses and volunteering events and works to build a stronger network of local producers within Oxfordshire. 
This exciting new shop launched on December 8 with five PODs.
If you’re interested in finding out more, check out www.cultivate
oxford.org/new-online-shop