Volunteers collect surplus crops
A volunteer-led group has saved £1m worth of fruit and vegetables that would otherwise have been left in fields, distributing the produce to food banks and community kitchens.
Gleaning Cornwall relies on volunteers to gather unwanted crops from harvested fields. The organisation delivers the produce to 160 food banks, community larders, and kitchens throughout the South West.
Since launching in 2020, the charity has repurposed more than 460 tonnes of produce. The organisation states it feeds 11,000 people weekly on the condition that all provisions are supplied completely free of charge to recipients.
Funding challenges amid rising demand
Despite reaching the seven-figure milestone, the group has warned that additional funding is required to sustain operations against rising costs for transport, storage, and coordination.
Founder Holly Whitelaw said economic constraints threaten the charity’s future. “There is less money around and we need to do more with it,” she stated, adding that the infrastructure urgently requires financial support to continue.
Data from Cornwall Council indicates that known locations providing food aid in the area grew from 20 to 180 between 2015 and the present. Figures from the Trussell Trust show its food banks distributed upwards of 35,500 emergency food parcels from April 2024 to March 2025, while a council study noted that 30% of children in the county live in food poverty.
Whitelaw also urged individuals to reduce household food waste, noting that discarded food wastes the energy invested in its production.
