A new initiative enabling farmers to sell surplus produce to community organisations has received an award nomination, as well as ImpactU funding to help develop the project aiming to address food waste, accessibility and the marginalisation of small-scale farmers in the UK.
Associate professor at the University of Bristol Business School, Dr. Lucy McCarthy and associate professor in Operations Management at the University of Nottingham, Dr. Anne Touboulic co-founded the project, which is being delivered by the Circular Agriculture Hub.
It reflects both the academic’s critical stances on the food industry, which they argue, disproportionately benefits large corporations, while reducing farmers to precarious conditions.
The project was nominated for Transformative Social Venture of the Year at the Knowledge Exchange (KE) Awards held in Bristol on Thursday, November 21, which were organised by PraxisAuril, the UK’s professional association for KE practitioners.
This award follows the funding already secured from ImpactU, which invests up to £40,000 in the development of promising new social enterprises.
The project was previously supported by ARC Accelerate and has had support from the Commercialisation and Impact team in the Division of Research, Enterprise and Innovation at the University of Bristol.
Food waste
According to the University of Bristol, 7% of food intended for consumption is wasted on farms annually, despite the 4.7 million people reportedly struggling with food insecurity.
The Circular Agriculture Hub initiative aspires to tackle this by providing a platform for farmers to sell surplus produce, such as slightly damaged or mis-shaped fruit and vegetables to food banks, small food producers, and social supermarkets within the community.
Farmers will be able to list their surplus produce on the Circular Agricultural Hub platform inviting offers from customers, which they can then accept, reject or negotiate with.
The hub will initially operate as an offline service, facilitating connections via phone calls and paperwork, before digital expansion, with the long-term goal to extend into multiple regional centres and potentially on an international scale.
Dr. McCarthy said: “I am delighted the Circular Agriculture Hub has gained funding to take the project to the next stage, and honoured we were nominated in the KE Awards.
“We are confident this initiative will not only reduce food waste but reconnect consumers with the origins of their food, we hope this will help challenge the dominance of supermarkets and provide access to fresh foods, reducing our dependence on ultra-processed foods.”
