*Cymraeg isod
Carmarthenshire Growers in Collaboration to Increase County’s Fruit & Veg Supply / Tyfwyr Sir Gaerfyrddin yn Cydweithio i Gynyddu Cyflenwad Ffrwythau a Llysiau’r Sir
We were delighted to welcome over ten growers and farmers to Bremenda Isaf on Friday 10th November to discuss an opportunity to establish a “library” of tools, equipment and machinery for the county. Growers and farmers showed a willingness and desire to help the Local Authority meet their aim of increasing local fruit and veg production for local people.
Funded by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund through Carmarthenshire County Council, Social Farms & Gardens is bringing together a network of growers to explore what tools, equipment and machinery would help them to increase production of vegetables that are particularly key to the public sector (schools and care homes). The growers share a passion to protect our land and biodiversity, and to regenerate soils so they can continue to produce nutritious food for future generations. We are working with experts from Lantra and Sustainable Farming Consultancy, as well as the generations of expertise from the farming community.
One of the barriers to increasing fruit and veg production, while regenerating our soils, is having the correct machinery and equipment. Over the coming months, we’ll be purchasing a range of items that will increase small-scale growers’ capacity such as two-wheel tractors with a range of attachments, and machinery to manage compost at scale. Bringing in learning from Benthyg and other lending libraries, we’ll be co-developing a mechanism that will allow the machinery to be shared equitably and accessibly.
This project is part of a bigger food systems development initiative in the County. Carmarthenshire is at the forefront of trailing new ideas that work across Council departments. This includes taking an alternative approach to some of the farm estate and rethinking school menus so that more local, sustainable and nutritious produce is available at a reasonable cost to feed the County’s children, and others who access public services.
We’re hopeful that this small pilot will catalyst a shift in edible horticulture across Carmarthenshire, and SW Wales, with more growers and farmers diversifying into fruit and veg production to meet a growing demand for local, nutritious produce.
For more information about the equipment sharing project, please contact Alison Sheffield ([email protected]).
Carmarthenshire is a Sustainable Food Places Bronze Award Holder, for more information about how the county is developing its sustainable food partnership, please contact Augusta Lewis ([email protected]).
For further information about Bremenda farm, please contact Alex Cook ([email protected]).
This project has received £44,571 from the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.
