A innovative way of getting us to eat our greens has emerged in the most unlikely of places: a 1960s shopping mall in Dundee, at a vending machine situated somewhere between Argos and Primark.

A innovative way of getting us to eat our greens has emerged in the most unlikely of places: a 1960s shopping mall in Dundee, at a vending machine situated somewhere between Argos and Primark. It??s a new twist on the more upscale veg box delivery scheme, where farmers pack up their produce and literally hand it to you on your doorstep for a price, and it??s proving to be the surprise hit of Tayside??s pre-Christmas shopping season.

The vege-vendor, as it??s been dubbed, is the idea of young Perthshire farmer Peter Grewar and his cousin Euan. They trialled it at their farm in October as a way of making it easier for them to sell from the farm gate - vending machines mean you don??t have to man a stall all day - while giving local folk the opportunity to buy ready-packed fresh produce to take away in the car. (An added advantage has since emerged in that customers don??t pay an extra 5p for a plastic bag.) They then installed a second machine at the family farm in Eastern Dundee.

Emboldened by success, the pair then switched their gaze from rural to urban, and found a willing partner in the management team at Overgate. They purchased a third machine from which to sell their produce, which is priced at between £1.50 and £5. It opened for business earlier this week and already it??s been a ??fantastic success??, according to Peter. Made in Germany and sold through a UK agent, the vege-vendors take coins or £5 and £10 notes, though plans are underway to facilitate payment by debit or credit card.

Grewar Farming also supplies the hugely successful Scotty Brand range of bagged fresh local produce in supermarkets across the country. Their vege-vending machines aren??t intended to compete with other retailers: they??re simply filling a gap where there??s no fresh food outlet, as at Overgate.

Despite potatoes being a bulky item, they nevertheless remain the most popular grocery purchase with a market penetration rate of almost 99%. So making it easier to buy-and-go for those with access to a car seems a no-brainer. Grewar??s are currently offering King Edwards, Maris Piper and Albert Bartlett Roosters; the most popular item at Overgate so far is the six-pack Maris Piper baking potatoes. A mixed veg box and fresh eggs joined the offer after customer suggestions were taken into account; being a very small-scale operation makes it easy to adapt to customer demand (unlike supermarkets, which find that agility much more difficult due to economies of scale).

It??s encouraging that Grewar can report ??amazement and delight?? at the level of interest from Dundee customers, because the produce being purchased from the machines is local and seasonal and in its raw state, which means people are taking it away to cook it from scratch at home. That??s got to be healthier than eating take-away fast food.

Would they go further (ahem) afield? Yes indeed. But the next challenge, says Peter, is finding more suitable locations. In the short term, they??d like to penetrate Perth but their ideal is to have a vege-vending machine at half-a-dozen petrol stations in the mass-population Glasgow area. After that, who knows? Public car-parks is another possibility. The world, really, is his oyster.

Now there??s a thought.