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The Wheel
cropdrop SPARE PRODUCE TO SHARE THIS SEASON? CropDrop
is a new community organisation with a team of volunteers who coordinate the redistribution of surplus fruit and vegetables from bountiful allotments and growers in Bath and North East Somerset. Volunteer drivers transport the produce to local community food projects alleviating food inequality, strengthening communities and minimising food miles. How does it work? A typical CropDrop operation is as follows: • Allotment holders leave any surplus produce in an arranged collection box on-site, protected from the weather and potential hungry animals. • On a pre-arranged day, a volunteer driver picks up the fruit and vegetables and transports them to a food community project. • The food project distributes to their clients the afternoon after a drop-off or the next day.
In addition to regular allotment drops the Crop Drop volunteers have also been able to respond to individual large one-off distributions when there is a particular seasonal glut (for example windfall apples, pumpkins). In some cases, the volunteer drivers have come forward from the allotment growers or the food projects themselves. What has been achieved so far… Some facts and figures (and estimates!) on what’s been achieved since the project began last July: • Over 150 ‘drops’ have been delivered from grower to food projects across the whole of B&NES. These included regular weekly drops from 10 allotment groups, 2 in the Somer Valley. • The total estimated weight of produce distributed is 1700kg, enough for a portion of fruit or veg in 21,000 meals. We estimate that in the Somer Valley almost 300kg of produce has been shared. • In the Somer Valley, local allotments and growers have supported Peasedown Food Bank, MSN Food Bank, SWALLOW Community Café, Temple Cloud Food Larder, Radstock FOOD Club and Paulton Village Larder. • Produce has ranged from beans, cabbages, courgettes, kale, pumpkins, apples, tomatoes, cucumbers....the list goes on!
