Duchy Originals has joined forces with Waitrose in an exciting and groundbreaking partnership which will cement its position as one of the country's leading organic and free-range food brands. The new licensing and distribution agreement - the first of its kind ever undertaken by Waitrose - will significantly increase the charitable donations made by Duchy Originals as Britain's fastest-growing supermarket invests in and develops the brand. The partnership gives Waitrose, Duchy Originals' largest and most long-standing client, the exclusive right to originate, manufacture, distribute and sell Duchy Originals products in the UK. Waitrose, whose aim is to expand the range from the current 200 products to around 500, will pay a royalty to Duchy Originals on all wholesale and retail sales. Both companies are confident that increased investment in the development of Duchy Originals will achieve sufficient sales growth over the next 10 years to generate a substantial increase in the royalties going to charity. To date, Duchy Originals has donated almost £7million to charitable causes throughout the UK and overseas. For customers, the partnership means that Duchy Originals products will continue to be sold in all 214 Waitrose branches throughout the country, with new lines being introduced from Spring 2010. Waitrose will also sell Duchy Originals products wholesale, enabling independent and family-run stores and restaurants to continue to stock and sell the brand. The Duchy Originals brand will continue to promote sustainability and organic produce. Andrew Baker, Chief Executive of Duchy Originals, said: ''This is a hugely important moment for Duchy Originals. This new partnership will take our pioneering company to the next level, accelerating the growth of the brand, and amplifying its voice as a champion of sustainably grown and produced food from the UK. ''Because of our constitution, and the fact that we are owned by a charity, Duchy Originals has never been able to build up reserves for investing in future growth. Instead, Duchy Originals has given all its profits to The Prince's Charities Foundation. This has been very successful, with almost £7million donated. But now is the time to make the next step and this agreement is the best way for us to realise our growth ambitions. This is a deal where everyone wins - it is good for Duchy Originals, good for Waitrose, good for our consumers and good for charity.'' Mark Price, Managing Director of Waitrose, said today: ''This is a match made in heaven, creating a partnership with a shared passion for quality food, sustainable farming, excellent relationships with suppliers and for charitable giving.'' ''Duchy Originals' products have always been firm favourites with our customers and we now have the opportunity to develop the range into the definitive premium, sustainable British food brand. ''Our plan is to make Waitrose a food democracy and today's announcement signals to customers that they can come to us for the most comprehensive everyday to gourmet food range in the UK'' Notes to Editors About Duchy Originals Duchy Originals Ltd was established by HRH The Prince of Wales in 1990 to promote organic food and farming and to help protect and sustain the countryside and wildlife. Today Duchy Originals is one of the UK's leading organic and sustainable food companies, producing a range of over 200 products from biscuits to preserves and gifts to garden seeds. All profits are donated - almost £7m so far - to The Prince's Charities Foundation. Duchy Originals supports a wide variety of projects from the environment, to health, arts and education. About Waitrose Waitrose has 214 branches across Britain, dedicated to offering quality, value and customer service. The retailer and its sister company, John Lewis, have taken the two top slots in the Which? Magazine Consumer Satisfaction Survey for the last four years and Waitrose has scooped more major wine awards than any other supermarket. Co-owned entirely by its 44,000 'Partners' , Waitrose combines the convenience of a supermarket with the expertise and service of a specialist shop. Waitrose is dedicated to offering quality food that has been responsibly sourced, combined with high standards of customer service. For more information go to www.waitrose.com

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Of the 1900 acres we farm here, over 50 acres is used solely for vegetable growing. We are currently working hard preparing for the relocation of the The Veg Shed operation in time for Spring. We're moving it over to larger premises by the main vegetable area and the decision to move it makes a lot of sense because it will provide far more space and is much more practical, not least because our 350 tonne cold store is right next door. This will undoubtedly make life even easier for our busy team of packers who turn around about 150 organic produce boxes for delivery to local residents every week.

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Christmas at Home Farm is very much like any other December day on this busy working organic farm. The main difference is that we try to get the jobs done extra early on Christmas Day itself so that we can get home to our families sooner rather than later. For us Christmas day starts early, with milking at around 5 o'clock in the morning followed by feeding and bedding of the livestock at about 7am which goes on until 9.30 or 10ish. These are the priority jobs before we can start on other things, such as packing the organic vegetables for our box delivery scheme and our farm shop, The Veg Shed.

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I've been the Duchy Home Farm dairy herd manager for two years. It's my job is to make sure we're producing the best quality for our Duchy Originals Milk and to ensure that our Ayrshire cows and calves are looked after to the highest possible standards. The average life of a conventional dairy cow is less than five years while the average age of our Ayrshire dairy cows is nearly twice that. This is because our cows produce about half as much milk as Holsteins and so are put under a lot less stress. Cows are not machines! Each of our cows has a name which starts with the prefix Duchy so, for example, we have Duchy Buttermilk, Duchy Daisy. Each cow also has a pedigree certificate and passport with a number which must correlate to the cow's ear tag number - this means that we have complete traceability of all our animals. Click on read more to hear about Mark's typical day...

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(Left to right: Catherine, Hannah, Ames, Emily) My name is Catherine and I run the Organic Vegetable Box Scheme at Home Farm. We distribute about 250 boxes a week within a ten to twelve mile radius of Home Farm. People don't know what they're getting in the box so it's a surprise for them which they tell us they love!

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We've had a lot of rain in the last week which was needed, but now we've had enough! So far in July we've had three inches which is quite a lot for this time of year (but not last year which we prefer to forget!). Because of the rain we can't make hay which is annoying as we've still got another 60 acres to make.

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The other day Guy Tullberg and some members of his family and staff came and had a picnic on the edge of our mustard crop. Guy is the MD of Tracklements, the company which produces the Duchy Originals Wholegrain Mustard. Not surprisingly, they brought along a selection of their delicious mustards to accompany the cold snacks. It was rather nice to have a picnic all together and it's always interesting to taste some of Guy's new mustards. Tracklements are always coming up with some great tastes and it's nice as a farmer to see the end product.

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We currently open the 'Veg Shed' on a Wednesday morning where people can come and buy our fresh produce. This week, to make it more available, we are planning to increase our opening days to Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, when we sell everything from potatoes to carrots and salad.

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We've recently seen the arrival of nine piglets which are adorable! They shriek like mad and you just want to pick them up, but they are very fast. The sow has had a couple of litters and nine piglets is about the average number, although we have had 14 piglets in the past.

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We're grading last year's carrots which came out of the earth in October/November. They've been stored at 3 degrees in a refrigerated vegetable store. They go into our vegetable boxes and we also sell them to other box schemes. The carrots are also used in the Duchy Originals vegetable crisps. We planted most of our potatoes three weeks ago. We have five varieties: Cara, Cosmos, Robinta, Sarpo Mira and Remarka. The reason we grow so many varieties is that it never pays to have all your eggs in one basket. Some varieties will do better than others in a given year.

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