The initiative, which aims to harvest and redistribute wasted crops, has been running for six years and has developed long standing relationships with many growers up and down the country. Now they are seeking to open gleaning up to more people, including offering a new online Gleaning Handbook, a resource to help communities rescue food surplus from farms and redirect it to those in need by setting up their own gleaning hub.
Dan Wooley, Head of Programmes at Feedback, said, “Gleaning is about so many things – an experience that allows people the opportunity to connect with how their food is produced, a way of getting high quality, fresh fruit and veg to projects that feed people, and a tool to mitigate against the scale of food waste happening off the radar on farms around the country. Waste is a nightmare for farmers, and for the environment: halving food waste has been shown to be the third most effective way to tackle climate change. So we’re delighted that more people around the country will be able to take up the gleaning banner and carry it forwards into the next decade.”
Feedback first began gleaning in 2012, taking groups of volunteers of all ages to visit farms at the invitation of their owners, to gather up surplus fruit and vegetable crops which would otherwise be wasted. WRAP research published earlier this year estimated farm-level crop waste at 3.6 million tonnes, with some staple crops experiencing waste of around 15 to 17%. Research by Feedback with a small number of horticultural farmers found that reasons for on-farm waste included inaccurate forecasting by supermarkets, rejections of fresh produce for being the wrong size or shape, and low farm-gate prices. Alongside running the Gleaning Network, Feedback campaigns for supermarkets to change their policies to help reduce farm-level surplus.
Over the past six years, 2000 volunteers have worked with Feedback to rescue 250 tonnes of surplus food. Now, new community groups are taking on gleaning as a novel way to support local charities, as well as provide fun outdoor experiences, connecting with where their food comes from and prevent food from going to waste. One of the farmers the new gleaning groups has been working with, Emily French of Foxes Farm Produce, said: “Being a pumpkin farmer 2019 was not easy and it was devastating to see our hard work left in the ground! It was a massive silver lining being able to help charities by donating our produce for them to “glean.” The gleaning team and process has been easy from start to finish and we feel proud and happy that we have been able to support and feed those who need it. We would encourage other farmers to help the gleaning team with excess produce any day!”
Find out more by visiting the new Gleaning Network handbook at https://gleaning.feedbackglobal.org/
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