Homeless shelters, food banks and charities will receive leftover food from farms after ministers announced a £15million funding boost to help with collections
Homeless shelters, food banks and charities will receive leftover food from farms after a funding boost from the government.
Ministers have announced £15million to help get surplus food from farms to those who most need it. Charities, which often have difficulties collecting large amounts of food from farms, could use the money to buy new equipment, such as balers or hoppers, which would allow them to pick up bulky food items or process them into parcels.
The scheme to be launched in 2025 will give grants of £20,000 or more to the not-for-profit food redistribution sector in England. Some 330,000 tonnes of edible food a year is either wasted or repurposed as animal feed before it leaves farm gates, the Government estimates. The announcement follows former PM Rishi Sunak’s pledge to launch a food waste prevention fund.
The heads of two food redistribution charities said they were “thrilled” the fund had come to fruition after years of campaigning and were eager to act quickly to maximise its impact during the British growing season.
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Charlotte Hill, chief executive of The Felix Project, and Kris Gibbon-Walsh, chief executive of FareShare, said: “We are pleased that the government has recognised that too much food goes to waste on our farms, and that it should be redistributed to feed people who need it.”
Mary Creagh, circular economy minister, said the fund would help the charitable sector to work more closely with farmers. She said: “With families gathering to celebrate Christmas and the New Year, it’s important to remember those in our communities who may be going hungry this festive period.
“Nobody wants to see good food go to waste – especially farmers who work hard to put food on family tables across the country.”