27 December 2024
The Felix Project is delighted that the Government has pledged £15M to help rescue more food from the farm gate.
The money had originally been announced by Rishi Sunak in February 2024, but following the general election was put on hold.
The Felix Project, FareshareUK and other food redistribution charities then called upon Labour to honour the previous pledge.
In a joint statement, Charlotte Hill, CEO of The Felix Project, and Kris Gibbon-Walsh, CEO of FareShare, said:
"After years of campaigning by food redistribution charities, we are thrilled to see this fund come to fruition. We are pleased that the government has recognised that too much food goes to waste on our farms, and that it should be redistributed to feed people who need it.
We look forward to acting quickly with the government, the charity sector, and farmers to maximise the impact of this initiative during British growing season, ensuring surplus food reaches as many people as possible. We have a proven model which funds farmers to redistribute their unsold food, which means that together, we can take meaningful steps toward achieving a zero-waste Britain."
The money will enable food redistribution charities to invest in the means to rescue more British grown food. The Felix Project hopes to be a beneficiary and use it to expand its existing operations rescuing farm gate food. We already have proven expertise rescuing surplus food from farms at scale. This year alone volunteers picked almost 100 tonnes of fresh produce from farms near London.
DEFRA report around 330,000 tonnes of edible food is either wasted or used as animal feed each year. It is hoped this fund will prevent around 27,000 tonnes, or the equivalent of 60 million meals, from going to waste and instead help feed those in need.
Charlotte Hill OBE adds:
“It is a scandal to see food, grown on UK farms, going to waste, especially given the increasing number of people who are experiencing food insecurity. The Felix Project found 1 in 8 working London families use a food bank every week to help feed their children. We deliver to around 1,200 community organisation every year, all working hard to feed people living with food insecurity, but the demand is so much more. We have a long waiting list of organisations desperately wanting food, but we do not have it to give. This funding has the potential to unlock huge supplies of healthy and nutritious produce and help The Felix Project deliver even more meals in 2025.”
The fund will also help the government deliver on their promise to move towards a circular economy and support the Courtauld Commitments, which is managed by charity WRAP, and aims to deliver a more sustainable supply chain, tackling food waste, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and water usage.
