One small step for Feedback, one giant leap for The Gleaning Network!

Today we’re very excited to announce the launch of our new Gleaning Network website and toolkit, marking an exciting evolution in one of Feedback’s longest-running and most impactful projects. Now, community groups and inspired individuals can access the know-how and tools to run their own Gleaning activities, and work with farmers to ensure that surplus fruits and vegetables reach local good causes. Since we began our community-led Gleaning project just over a year ago, there are already 21 Gleaning groups in England alone – will yours be the next?

When Feedback launched The Gleaning Network back in 2012, we balanced our high hopes against realistic expectations. We knew that farm-level food waste was a serious issue, one that required both direct intervention (saving as much food as we possibly could) and an eye-catching campaign to address the underlying drivers of this waste. We believed that by giving people the opportunity to take action – through rolling up their sleeves and joining us in the fields – we might pull together a small number of hardy individuals. We never expected, in the space of just three years, to have more than 10,000 people signed up as ready-and-willing Gleaning volunteers. Clearly Gleaning had ignited a spark…

The Arable Spring

This year, with funding from WRAP’s Food Waste Reduction programme, we have been able to create the resources needed to begin a truly nationwide Gleaning Network. Where previously there have been five Gleaning ‘hubs’ in strategic locations, all run by Feedback, many new Gleaning projects are now spreading throughout the country like glorious mushrooms – each of which is run by a different community group or local organisation. Our Gleaning map gives these groups (existing and new) the chance to connect with and support one another, and to share information, learnings and resources; the Gleaning map can also direct volunteers and farmers to their nearest Gleaning group. Our Gleaning toolkit provides top-to-tail information on how to setup and run Gleaning activities in your area, and is intended both as a startup guide for new groups and a useful resource for existing groups.

Check out our new Gleaning Website

If you’re keen to get involved in Gleaning, visit our Gleaning network map to see if there’s already an active group in your region; they may well be looking for new volunteers, or keen to hear from other local groups who wish to collaborate.

If there isn’t already an active group in your region – how about starting one yourself?

Gleaning: three simple ingredients

Gleaning is pleasingly straightforward: it requires a group of keen volunteers, one or more local charities or organisations who can receive and use the food, and a farmer who has surplus (un-sellable) crops which they are willing to donate. It’s a brilliant way to prevent food waste whilst also connecting community members to each other and to where their food comes from. It’s also an activity that, once the connections are established, can be long lasting and largely self-sustaining.

To see if your region is ripe for Gleaning, or to find out if Gleaning is ‘right for you’, please visit the Get Started section of our website; there’s even a handy step-by-step quiz. And if you’re looking for some additional inspiration, at the bottom of this email you can read about one of our new Gleaning groups, Regenerus.

What next?

While several corners of England are now being well looked-after by local Gleaning groups (all of whom will receive our ongoing support), Feedback will continue to directly run Gleaning activities in certain parts of the country, notably Kent and Sussex where we have active projects.

Feedback will continue to explore options to further develop The Gleaning Network, and we will continue to campaign against food waste. In 2020 we plan to bring community-led Gleaning to Scotland, and also hope to offer training in other parts of the UK (this will be dependent on funding). We are also developing ideas for how partner organisations could work with Feedback to take The Gleaning Network in exciting new directions, and hope to share more on this in the new year.

Need some inspiration?

We spoke to Ruth, from Regenerus, who has recently started Gleaning with her community around Bootle.

Regenerus coordinates Taking Root, a network of 30 community gardens and growing projects. This project delivers activities bringing people together: connecting communities across neighbourhoods in Bootle, through growing and cooking food.

“We are always seeking out new activities which support and promote Taking Root objectives and saw Gleaning as a great way for people from our different community gardens (and neighbourhoods) to get together and get to know each other, whilst also gathering fresh produce to be distributed to families and local food projects. Taking local people on Gleaning expeditions at farms to pick vegetables that would go to waste, enjoying healthy outdoor activity with shared camaraderie, and knowing that their hard work will go towards feeding those in need are all benefits of Gleaning. Sharing a day out, with a common purpose helps to create trust and build relationships between volunteers. The benefits were presented by this comment by one of our Gleaning group after a recent glean: “I have really enjoyed today. It’s lovely to get outside of Bootle and to see a different place. The farmer was so friendly and it’s amazing to see all this fresh food that we can use in our meal on Wednesday”