Search for Sussex Farmers with unharvested crops

This age old practice is now being reintroduced into Sussex via the Gleaning Network UK’s new Sussex hub; whose launch Gleaning day in Sussex will be featuring with Hugh Fearnley-Wittingstall in his new series River Cottage to the Core.

The Gleaning Network UK’s Sussex hub is looking for farmers, who may expect to have some crops left in their fields at any point during the year, to join the scheme.

“We’re very excited to be spreading the practice of Gleaning in Sussex, and looking forward to working with local farmers to save some of their unused produce for charitable use,” said Bernie Thompson, the Gleaning Network UK’s Sussex Coordinator.

“In our experience farmers who have spent a lot of time, energy and resources to grow a crop try their best to use it all; however, sometimes some produce is the wrong size or shape for retailers, or it is simply uneconomical to harvest it all. This is where we can help and save this produce for those in desperate need of food.”

According to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) 20% of fruit and vegetables grown in Europe are lost from the food chain at farm level. Whilst the Soil association estimate that 20-40% of UK Fruit and vegetables are rejected on cosmetic grounds before they reach the consumer.

This is at a time when food poverty is rapidly on the increase in the UK with Oxfam warning that over 500,000 people are now resorting to food banks, a number that has tripled in one year.