The Cornwall charities saving crops from ruin to feed those in need

Two charities have teamed up to harvest unwanted crops from farmers' fields to serve up hot meals to vulnerable, hungry and homeless people in Cornwall.

They're working together to combat a rise in the number of people turning up to their doctors suffering from malnutrition.

Gleaning Cornwall reduces waste from the county’s farms with a team of volunteers picking it to prevent it ending up either in landfill or rotting in the fields.

Growing Links in Penzance is one of many charities making use of the produce. They have a street food project which provides a hot meal to around 50 people every night.

They also run an emergency food service for people placed in accommodation and a community food store for people who are struggling to feed themselves or their families.

Lynne Dyer, the director of Growing Links, said: “I think if we weren't feeding people, people wouldn't eat and we would be in a huge mess at the moment.

"We are referred people from doctors surgeries in the area and since 2020 people are presenting with malnutrition, which is something that we don't associate with the West in the 21st century, but it's happening here.

"So if we weren't able to supply those people with either a bag of weekly shopping for them and their children, or a hot meal every night, then those people would go hungry.”

Growing Links has around 250 volunteers and harvests fresh fruit and vegetables to give people a balanced diet.

A lot of the food used comes from Gleaning Cornwall, which was founded by Holly Whitelaw who said: “Living in Cornwall, we have a lot of cauliflowers and cabbages that sometimes are surplus or too big or too small that are left in the fields.

"We see them all the time. And knowing what it's like to be poor I decided to marry the two and try and get gleaned produce to people who need it most.

“I started in 2021 just filling my car boot and taking it just to a few organisations. Then, thanks to funding, I was able to expand to employ six different coordinators across the county.

"And now we're feeding about 10,000 to 12,000 people a week through food banks, community larders and community cafés and community restaurants, where you don't have to pay or it's really, really cheap and that's where they can get other services around debt management or alcoholism or whatever is needed.”

They are keen to stress that the waste isn’t the fault of the farmer’s actions but there are a number of reasons why it can’t be harvested.

In a good growing year the farmers may end up having a surplus which they simply can’t harvest, or if some crops grow at different rates it may not be economic to harvest relatively small quantities.

There are also times when the crop is too big, too small or the wrong shape.

Ms Whitelaw added: “So it's a little part of the jigsaw in Cornwall. There's so much good going on, it's fantastic that you wouldn't necessarily know about. We're totally reliant on volunteers.

"We've got about 350 that have signed up through our website, but we have a sort of core team of about 25. Sadly it has grown since 2021.

"I've seen the need at least double and the food banks are saying to us they're seeing double the need."

Gleaning Cornwall has persuaded a number of farmers across the county to allow volunteers to brave the mud and weather and they can often end up with hundreds of crates of food every week which would otherwise be ploughed back into the ground.

The produce is then distributed to more than 80 different locations, many food banks say they struggle to get fresh produce and it’s often the fresh fruit and vegetables which people need the most to maintain a healthy diet.

Ms Whitelaw said: “It’s working people who are struggling. It is often people where both partners are working full time, but still there's not enough money and I think it's starting to really click with farmers.

"We're having more farmers come forward and are being so generous with their crops. Farmers themselves are struggling, you know, and so people realise it's not just people being lazy or selfish, it's just hard graft doesn't pay enough.

"Cornwall suffers from a lot of seasonality in work and a lot of low wage. Lots of people have to have loads of jobs and then they can't make things quite meet financially.

"I think it's partly to do with where we live being so beautiful that the rents and cost of living is higher because there's a lack of housing and also our utilities can be slightly more.

"We have to travel more for work. So our outgoings are higher than someone living in a city.”

The Growing Links project in Penzance is supported by a wide range of local businesses as well as their army of volunteers.

The project has been running for ten years and often helps individuals and families over several months rather than just a few weeks.

Lynne Dyer said: “It is incredibly important. Veg and fruit is expensive. Ultra high processed foods are really cheap.

"So people, you know, you can buy noodles for 50 pence, but we are able to put a cauliflower, some spring greens and some leeks into that bag as well.

"It's really, really important. It's what is going to keep people healthy. Especially since it's a long term thing now. It's not just a six week stopgap emergency thing. This crisis is years long, you know, since 2020.”

Ms Dyer added that their work is also well received by people who are homeless: “When you ask people who turn up on a nightly basis, we are possibly the only people with positive interaction that they have in a day.

"Often they are in doorways on on our high street and they don't have a good positive reaction from the general public. So when they come to us, we are friendly and they feel like it's home and that we're family really, and where we've got their backs.

“We supply dry blankets and sleeping bags to people who got wet from their tents the night before. We have a stock of shoes and warm clothes.

"We've always got a pot tea on the boil and some lovely hot pot food. So, yeah, I think we're really appreciated.”