High Barn - Farming for our Community in Sussex

Aim

We want to produce sustainable, seasonal and ethical food and deliver it with 15 miles of the farm near Brighton, in Sussex.

We believe, as you do, that we all need to look at what we can do to reduce our impact on our planet. We also feel that food should be sustainably and ethically grown and that reducing plastic and food waste is a priority. We all need to do our bit to reduce the food miles our food travels before it arrives on our plates. 

Sadly, most people don't have a large garden, an allotment or the time (and inclination) to invest in growing their own food.

We decided that we could produce locally and ethically grown seasonal food and deliver this bounty to your door. We will deliver within 15 miles of the farm in Rottingdean to local people who are as passionate about food as we are. It is better to have one vehicle doing many journeys rather than many vehicles doing one journey.

The site is currently part of a large commercial farm, being farmed by Martin (and his son, William), with heavy machinery, to best practice guidelines. The farm currently produces lamb, wheat, barley and peas, which are all exported in lorries. This land was farmed by Martin’s father for 40 years before the tenancy was taken over by his son in 2011. The family have been farming in this area for many generations.

Jessa has been working on the farm since early 2019. She is an experienced project manager with many years experience of delivering projects on time and on budget. She is passionate about ethics and is excited to be the driving force behind this project.

A vital part of our team is the woman who holds the purse strings. She seeks justification for every pound spent to ensure that every penny is accounted for. We are a social enterprise so all our profits will be reinvested into the farm to diversify the range offered.

We feel strongly that this is going to work. We aren't going to give up. It is important for future generations to be able to enjoy our planet. 

We have decided to alter our target. The main reason for this is we have applied for match funding, and, if we don't reach our initial target, we won't qualify for the extra money. The target has been changed from £35,000 to £11,000, with an additional £11,000 raised from the match funding. Your donation will be worth 100% more without you having to do anything!

The pie chart below shows the altered costs. We have removed the broiler chickens, the turkeys and halved the number of fruit trees. These will be added back in as a stretch goal or as funds allow.

Still included are the groundworks; a polytunnel for seedlings; houses and food for the rescue chickens and pigs; vegetable and fruit seeds, trees and bushes and fencing to keep everything safe from pests and predators.

The pie chart below is for the original target of £35,000.

We have additional stretch goals to enable us to buy a geodesic dome (or two) rather than using polytunnels. They are much more environmentally friendly but considerably more expensive! We would also like to buy a sustainable vehicle for deliveries.

We have decided to crowdfund because we need customers and support before we can start producing your food. Please enable us to cut down on waste and grow what you want to eat. Get involved now! Tell us what you want us to grow and help us to fulfill our promises.

We are aware of the challenges that face us. There are other people who do something similar to this but they are mostly national suppliers and/or the food isn’t grown locally. We are also fully aware of our great British weather and the part it can play so we want to take advantage of that and build dew ponds to collect water for irrigation during dry spells.

It all depends on what perk you’ve chosen but you should get it within 6-8 months. We plan to start groundworks in the spring, with the first crops due by the summer.

This project successfully funded on 18th December 2019