Gleaning Cornwall

Aim: We hope to continue gleaning and growing so as to get more healthy, fresh food out to people in need in Devon, as well as Cornwall.

We glean only a small percentage of what is available and we need more money, more volunteers and possibly more farmers, in order to keep growing a great, ancient practice. (Gleaning is mentioned in The Bible and is one of the first forms of social welfare).

What we do makes sense as farmers hate to waste good food and charitable food organisations are struggling financially and often particularly struggle for fresh produce.

• WHAT IS GLEANING? - It is the act of harvesting or sorting through leftover crops and food from farmers' fields, barns and other food producers. 
• WHAT DOES GLEANING CORNWALL DO? - We harvest or just sort through and pack, surplus or out-graded (that's produce which is the wrong size or shape), fresh fruit and veg, with teams of amazing and dedicated volunteers, and distribute it, for free, to over 50 food banks, community larders and community kitchens in Cornwall & west Devon. We also get offered coffee that is getting too old to sale but is perfectly good and biscuits that aren't up to exacting standards, for a naughty treat! 
• WHAT IS OUR IMPACT? - Last year we saved the 50+ food charities we regularly serve, £160,000 by providing nearly 90 tonnes of fruit and veg, and spared the environment some 218 tonnes of CO2e, (green house gasses). 
• WHY IS GLEANING CORNWALL THE BIGGEST GLEANING GROUP IN EUROPE? - We grow a lot of veg. in Cornwall due to our mild climate and are one of the most generous, community focused parts of the UK that has a passion for the environment.
• WHY DO WE NEED YOUR MONEY? - We  wish to continue what we are doing to ensure healthy food is available to those in need. We hope to double the amount of food we glean in Cornwall and reach more people. Sometimes charitable food organisations struggle for fresh produce especially locally because of long supply chains into Cornwall and Devon, to a lesser degree.  We have been going since 2021 and have a great group of regular volunteers but we need more as needs are great and there is much to do! We therefore wish to employ someone to promote what we do at events, to groups, to businesses and to suitable organisations. Also for volunteer recruitment through social media, other websites, newspapers, magazines, adverts and through networking. 
• WHY IS THIS GOOD FOR THE CLIMATE? Most things require energy, including food production. Our vegetables start as a seed, that have been cultivated, harvested, packaged, transported, then grown into mini plant-plugs in compost in large, often heated greenhouses and then transported to the fields. These are planted using a machine that has been produced using lots of different raw materials from around the globe and fuelled by diesel. The ground in usually cultivated and when soil is exposed to light, it loses some CO2. The growers may use fertilisers and artificial chemicals, which all have to be produced, often creating relatively high amounts of green house gasses and then these heavy materials are transported and mechanically applied, all adding yet more of a carbon footprint to that vegetable! It seems very wrong to then waste that veg. and all the green house gasses that it's production created. 
• WHAT IS THE NEED IN CORNWALL? - Local food charities, are vitally helping to feed over 15,000 people, suffering food insecurity, each week. The cost of living crisis has not gone away and is exacerbated by the housing crisis and lower than average wages in Cornwall.   One fifth of children in Cornwall live in poverty and 13% of households here suffer food insecurity.  
• WHO ARE WE HELPING WITH FOOD?- The majority of the food we donate feeds working families and the elderly but some of our recipient organisations are feeding people who have suffered a financial shock, veterans, the homeless, people sheltering from abuse, and some recipients are either mentally &/or physically unwell. - Some of the organisations we serve feed people living in cars - some people may not have family or close friends to help them, may have had a divorce or bereavement etc. We all fall down on our luck at some stage and as a community we need to volunteer and help as much as possible in these troubled times.
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  • WHY IS THERE SO MUCH FOOD WASTED ON FARMS? - Farmers have to over-produce in order to ensure they can provide the right shape and colour and size for their market at a specific time!  As farmers have to produce at scale in order to make any sort of living, it's a buyers market. Food growing isn't an exact science and with more unpredictable weather, ie more flooding and drought, they have had to buy in crops from Europe, to ensure they keep their contracts. Also because crops grow at varying rates and labour is expensive, farmers have to choose one or two optimum times to harvest, but some of the crop will have got too big or not be ready then. Occasionally also a buyer reneges on their contract or choses a cheaper contact abroad, with less strict environmental standards.
  • WHAT OTHER BENEFITS OF GLEANING CORNWALL? -
    1) Coordinators and volunteers alike enjoy communal, outdoor exercise that has purpose.
    2) Farmers don't like waste and are happy to help their community.
    3) We have all learnt a lot about where our food comes from and how to better prepare and cook local, seasonal produce.
    4) We help connect food charities so they can better support each other.
    5) The map on our website is used widely and helps people in crisis find, and organisations signpost others to, relevant support. https://gleaningcornwall.org.uk/

Funding method

Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made by 19th September 2025 at 3:43pm