Gloucestershire Gleaning
Enabling communities and food producers in Gloucestershire to work together to distribute surplus.
Reviving our connections and improving our resilience.
A pilot study undertaken in 2024 explored the viability of a Countywide project under the banner of Gloucestershire Gleaning, building on the existing gleaning work happening in Stroud to create a template for such activities to be carried out in the other regions of Gloucestershire. The pilot tested and trialled the required infrastructure, protocols for preparing, carrying out and distributing a Glean and explored the complimentary activities that Gleaning activities might facilitate. The project was enabled through the financial support of Feeding Britain and Feeding Gloucestershire and the generous support in knowledge and experience from NoSH – Network of Stroud Hubs.
Gloucestershire Gleaning is now established as a brand and registered with the national gleaning network https://gleaning.feedbackglobal.org. Currently volunteer led, it is available as a potential tool for the region to improve food equity for our communities, utilising local food whilst reducing food waste. It aims to establish a number of regional coordinators to glean and distribute surplus within their own areas and, for larger gleans, to work with other coordinators to distribute surplus right across the county.
If you are a farmer/local food producer with surplus to offer local community foodhubs we’d love to hear from you.
Gleaning is a fun, social and hugely rewarding activity – whether out in the fields physically harvesting food, collecting and distributing surplus to foodhubs in your vehicle or coordinating the logistics from your own home – if this appeals and you’d like to be part of helping to grow Gloucestershire Gleaning please do get in touch with us.
