Welsh Veg in Schools
Welsh Veg in Schools is a pilot project co-ordinated by Food Sense Wales that aims to get more organically produced Welsh veg into primary school meals across Wales.
Working with partners that include Castell Howell, Farming Connect Horticulture as well as a host of enthusiastic growers, the Welsh Veg in Schools project is helping to get more locally produced organic vegetables into school lunches.
Welsh Veg in Schools is about redesigning supply chains to make them fairer and more resilient. It also builds on the commitment from Welsh Government to ensure that every primary aged child in Wales is offered a free school meal and that the food used to produce that meal, where possible, comes from local suppliers. With only around a quarter of a portion of veg per head of population being currently produced in Wales, Welsh Veg in Schools has the potential to increase the market in order to help realise this commitment.
Food Sense Wales first started exploring the procurement of locally produced veg with the ‘Courgette Pilot’ – a pilot project that involved one grower and one wholesaler and delivered nearly 1 tonne of courgettes into primary schools in Cardiff during Food and Fun in the summer of 2022. The courgette pilot was facilitated by Food Cardiff, the capital’s local food partnership, helping to bring all the partners together, including Blas Gwent, Cardiff Council Education Catering and Cardiff & Vale University Health Board public health dietetics as well as Castell Howell.
In 2023, with the support of the Welsh Government’s Backing Local Firms Fund, this procurement project developed into the first phase of Welsh Veg in Schools working with three growers across three local authority areas and supported by co-ordinators from the local food partnerships in Cardiff, Carmarthenshire and Monmouthshire. The project has also received support from Monmouthshire County Council through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.
Now, in the Spring of 2024, Food Sense Wales has been awarded additional funding from Bridging The Gap – a programme led by Sustain, Growing Communities and Alexandra Rose Charity – to further scale up the work and leverage an even wider network of expertise and support. This phase of action research will work with more growers and local authorities; explore how to bridge the gap between the costs of conventional product and sustainably produced Welsh veg; and test a number of approaches to establish what a ‘sustainable investment scheme’ could look like. The aim is to develop a model that is expandable across the Welsh public sector.
By supporting agroecological organic farming, this project is giving growers and farmers a new or alternative key income stream as well as offering opportunities for children to connect with nature and farming through visiting local growers.
Food Sense Wales is already researching future funding streams to develop this work beyond March 2025 to include more growers, local authorities and wholesalers. If you’re interested in getting involved with the Welsh Veg in Schools project, you can contact Food Sense Wales by emailing foodsensewales@wales.nhs.uk
You can read more here and watch a video that explains the project below:
The benefits
Here’s a link to a brochure that we’ve recently published that outlines the benefits of the project and how to get involved.
Welsh Veg in Schools brochure
Meet the Growers
We’re really fortunate to be working with some fantastic growers on our Welsh Veg in Schools project. Here’s some more information on some of the producers taking part.
Langtons Farm:
Langtons Farm is run by Katherine and David Langton who supply local Organic veg boxes to the east side of the Bannau Brycheiniog from their market garden in Crickhowell. They have recently expanded their Organic vegetable production to also include their farm near Cardigan which will grow many fruits and vegetables for their veg boxes, wholesale, and to supply into Welsh schools.
“I’m really excited to be part of the Welsh veg into schools project, it means that great food is getting to those who need it most, our future generations. I hope we can inspire them to not only be passionate about eating healthy, environmentally conscious food, but to also be the future farmers and growers who will feed us all in return.” Katherine Langton
For further information you can visit the Langtons Farm website or find them on Facebook and Instagram.
Alfie Dan:
Marie and Barnsey started Alfie Dan’s Market Garden in 2021 on one acre of land. By today, they have three acres where they grow veg and fruit and sell to the local community in veg boxes and through an honesty stall. They also visit local farmers’ markets to promote fresh and local, organic produce.
“We are very excited to be involved with Welsh veg in schools, because we feel it’s very important that kids get fresh, local and seasonal veg whenever they can, and also local small scale growers working together to create a network to provide amazing fresh veg at a different level.” Marie Pope
For further information you can visit the Alfie Dan website or find them on Facebook.
Blas Gwent:
Blas Gwent is a 9 acre start-up business located between Cardiff and Newport that’s run by Jono Hughes, Holly Tomlinson and Mariesa Denobo. Blas Gwent aims to become a community owned workers’ co-operative focused on teaching and training ecological vegetable farming, whilst also supporting the development of peri-urban market gardening in south Wales.
“We feel that school procurement has the potential to kickstart a revival of traditional mixed farming in Wales, and to develop a healthy relationship to food for the youngest generation. The Welsh Veg in Schools project has tremendous potential to support ecological restoration, public health and healthy employment opportunities. We are grateful to be part of this collaboration.” Jono Hughes
For further information you can email Blas Gwent or find them on Facebook.
Bonvilston Edge:
Emma and Geraint used to work in business and technology and started to grow vegetables during the Covid pandemic. It started as a hobby but as they began to take more notice of where food comes from – apples from France, tomatoes from Spain, courgettes from Chile etc – they also started to think about the carbon footprint and quality of the produce. They initially decided to start an allotment but couldn’t find one nearby. Having discussed with a local landowner who said that he had 9 acres and couldn’t separate the field they took a leap of faith; bought the field and left their jobs to start to grow fruit and vegetables. The decided to call the business BonvilstonEdge because as well as being on the edge of Bonvilston, they also felt that they were edging it as they didn’t know too much about growing produce commercially. The business has since evolved with 70 apple and pear trees, 80 cherry trees and 4 bee hives. They also grow a wide range of vegetables and are starting to specialise in onions, courgettes, butternut squash and cauliflower.
They supply locally, and grow sustainably and organically, and have a plan to be organically certified in two years.
“We are excited to be growing veg for schools because it’s important that children have nutritious food and know where it comes from. Healthy food, healthy children, healthy Wales.” Geraint Evans
For further information you can visit the the BonvilstonEdge website or find them on Facebook and Instagram. You can also watch this video that tells you more about Emma and Geraint’s story.
Underwood Farm
Underwood Farm is run by Kate & Calum and employs two additional members of staff. Situated in the Pembrokeshire national park, the farm grows a diverse range of mixed vegetables which it sells to local restaurants, cafes and shops, specialising in mixed leaves. The farm also runs a box scheme to households in the area.
“We are thrilled to be a part of this project to bring welsh veg onto plates in welsh schools. It gives a real value and meaning to the efforts put into farming these crops to know they will feed children a nutritious healthy meal. It’s especially rewarding to be working alongside other welsh farms to produce and supply a mix of different vegetables that can be grown in Wales.” Kate
For further information you can visit the Underwood Farm’s website or find them on Facebook and Instagram.