Ready, Steady, Glean – new funding to tackle food waste and feed communities 

Today the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has announced the projects it’s funding to stop thousands of tonnes of nutritious food being wasted. 

This includes funding for Foodrise’s Gleaning Network to deliver a partnership project with six existing gleaning groups across England who last year collectively shifted more than 70 tonnes of surplus produce from farms into the community for people to eat.  

Foodrise will lead the gleaning project alongside Khepera in Buckinghamshire, Sussex Surplus in Brighton, Avon Gleaning Network based across Bristol and Bath, Deal With It who are part of Transition Deal in Kent, Still Good Food in Bury St Edmunds and Alchemic Kitchen in Merseyside. 

Phil Holtam, Regional Programmes Manager at Foodrise, said: “We’re thrilled that our gleaning partnership has received this new funding. Gleaning is a brilliant example of environmental and social action – food waste is reduced, the complexity of food and farming is better understood, communities engage in social action, and marginalised communities are able to access healthy, nutritious food. We’re looking forward to getting going in partnership with six other brilliant organisations to tackle food waste and feed our communities.”