Our story
Middle Ground Growers was born in 2020, on a small 2-acre market garden in the village of Bathampton.
The project started with an an idea: producing ecologically grown food for local communities.
We started by supplying a whole food shop in Bath and selling directly on the farm. Rapidly we also decided to launch a veg box scheme and began delivering to 20-25 families every week in 2020, 75 households in 2021 and 110 families in 2022.
We received the support of hundreds of people in 2021 when we successfully raised over 95,000 in donation to get us started on our new 16-acre land in Weston.
In 2023, we farmed exclusively at Weston Spring Farm and provided food for over 200 families and 12 local outlets.
Middle Ground Growers use agro-ecological processes to regenerate the soil, capture carbon and improve biodiversity; and in 2023 we won a Bee Bold Award from the West of England Combined Authority, recognising our approach to protecting and supporting pollinators.
We are part of We Are Avon: an emerging web of active producers, farms, organisations and diverse communities collaborating to build better local food systems for all. This is a grassroots movement to provide healthy and affordable food resilience for this region whilst also regenerating the communities, lands and waters of the Avon catchment area.
Middle Ground Growers featured on a recent episode of the Carbon Copy Podcast. Listen to All Nature: Positively Buzzing to learn more!
Our advice
- We practice regenerative farming. We know we have a responsibility to regenerate our land and strive to apply best agroecological practices. This is why we are cultivating with awareness of soil health and life and have a no-dig market garden where we bring-in compost and woodchip. We practice crop rotation, succession and plant various green manures to bring back organic matter and activate soil biology.
- To avoid grass and weed competition, instead of tilling or using chemicals we need to cover areas with landscape fabric and tarps.
- In the current economic system (high cost of labour and low price of veg) we have to use fossil fuels if we are to be economically viable and not break our backs weeding acres of leek and carrots by hand; so, we make compromises, and always strive to find a middle ground, to navigate the shift between the old and the new, to pioneer and explore new ways of farming and connecting to our land.
- Education is a crucial tool in feeding our collective future. Middle Ground Growers run seasonal traineeships to train the regenerative landworkers of tomorrow and support them to establish multiple market gardens around Bath. We also run workshops in permaculture design and agroforestry.
Our metrics
- Number of families supported with food from the farm
- Traineeships completed
- Participants in workshops
