Home Grown Here's story
Home Grown Here is a grower owned co-operative of local producers and a single marketplace for high-quality, Cumbrian-grown fruit and vegetables, both organic and conventionally grown. It allows local growers to trade directly with Cumbria-based wholesalers, retailers, restaurants, hotels, cafes, farm shops and veg box schemes. Home Grown Here was formed in September 2021 as part of Zero Carbon Cumbria Partnership's ambitious target to make Cumbria carbon neutral by 2037 and is funded by the National Lottery Climate Change Fund until 2025.
To its growers Home Grown Here offers a support package of horticultural advice, skills-sharing and networking opportunities, access to investment and grants through working together, an equipment/machinery share scheme, bulk purchasing of seed/plants/soil-testing, access to a seasonal picking team and personalised branding for each farm as part of the generic Home Grown Here brand.
But, most importantly Home Grown Here creates a local route to market for the crops that are being grown.
The farmers and growers involved in Home Grown Here are part of it because: it diversifies their income and increases their financial resilience throughout and beyond the Agricultural Transition period 2021-2024 (the shift in UK farming from government subsidy to stand-alone financial viability); it augments and enhances other aspects of their day-to-day farming practices (ie, as part of a rotation); it contributes to environmental goals including addressing climate change.
Home Grown Here aims to transform the local food system and supply chain by providing local families and businesses with fresh fruit and vegetables year-round in line with seasonal availability, selling only against orders and thereby reducing waste in the supply chain. Crops are sold loose with minimal packaging and we actively encourage the return of our packaging for re-use. Many of the crops require hand-picking which means people instead of machines are in the fields, which is better for the environment and for local employment.
Home Grown Here aims to scale-up veg and fruit production across Cumbria to bring benefits for the county's health and the rural economy, reducing reliance on imports and helping to address climate change. Keeping Cumbria's home-grown produce here in the county reduces food miles, helps us to eat seasonally and is brilliant news for Cumbria's carbon footprint.
Useful learnings from Home Grown Here
Talk to us about the grower co-operative model we are rolling out across Cumbria. We can discuss franchising this in other counties or support the set-up of a similar model in your area.
Home Grown Here's metrics
Quantity of veg/fruit being sold within county (no waste/picked to order).
Increase in number of growers year-on-year involved in project.
Increase in acreage of land under cultivation year-on-year throughout project lifetime.
Soil carbon content.
