Capital Growth, London’s largest food growing network, is challenging London to grow a million meals.  Budding and experienced growers alike across London will not only be saving themselves some cash but also helping us to answer the question, how much food can we grow?

Following the success of a four year campaign to get London growing more food, Capital Growth is now focusing on helping its 2000 strong network of food growing gardens to see how much food they can grow - and eat!  It is also encouraging people growing at home to get involved in the network and have set an ambitious target to get things started and to see if London can grow enough food to contribute to a million meals.

Rosie Boycott, Chair of the London Food Board said “London has been leading the world in the urban food movement over the past 5 years. Now it’s time to challenge ourselves to  show that urban food growing is not just a nice hobby but  can help to increase the amount of healthy and sustainable food on Londoner’s plates. London is not just a concrete jungle it’s also a fertile and productive landscape from which community groups, social enterprises and urban farmers are reaping a fine harvest.”

With more and more people interested in growing their own food as a way to beat the recession, Capital Growth is helping growers to measure how much money they are saving with their ‘harvest-o-meter’.“This tool will be great not only for people working in schools or with young people, but to both the cash strapped and curious growers, who want to see what their efforts have added up to” explained  Dina Jung, a grower from Newham East London.  The idea was inspired by innovator Vertical Veg, whose founder measured his way to producing £600 of salad and herbs on one small balcony.

It is hoped that Growing a Million Meals campaign will inspire people growing not only in community groups, but also at home, people like Sara Ward from Brentford who has been growing food for 7 years, and also keeps bees and chickens at Hen Corner. Last year she produced over £1,000 worth of food to feed her family, including asparagus, tomatoes, squashes and many types of fruit.  This year she plans to grow over 1200 meals on her site as part of the Capital Growth campaign. She explained “its great to be able to be part of something bigger, and the Harvest-o-meter makes it so easy to see how much cash you have saved.  Once you start recording your harvest you really get motivated to grow more – its brilliant!”

“No-one knows how much food is grown in London.” explained Sarah Williams from Capital Growth “ and with more and more of a demand for locally grown produce, we want to not only show how much we are growing already but also mobilise this army of growers to produce more food in our city”.  Within days of contacting Capital Growth’s existing members. 200 000 meals had already been pledged at the time of launching the Growing a Million Meals pledge and already 100 gardens have recorded over half a ton of veg harvested in May, worth over £5 000.

Anyone pledging to be part of the campaign before 19th July will have the chance to win a Rocket Gardens Small Vegetable Garden or Window Box voucher.   Visit www.capitalgrowth.org

For media enquiries please contact Ben Reynolds or Sarah Williams 0203 5596 777 / or email ben@sustainweb.org

Notes to editors:

1. Capital Growth was launched in 2008 to provide practical and financial help to Londoners wanting to set up or expand food growing spaces. The scheme was funded from 2008 – 2012 by the Mayor of London and by the Big Lottery Fund’s Local Food scheme, a £57.5 million funding programme that has funded hundreds of projects like Capital Growth.  In 2013 Capital Growth will continue supporting its 2,012 members thanks to funding from The Social Action Fund, The Mayor of London and the Big Lottery’s Local Food Fund. The Mayor’s funding will help growing spaces that have potential to be developed as social enterprises selling their produce to local people. For further information go to www.capitalgrowth.org.
2. Anyone interested in finding out more about how to get involved in food growing should visit the Capital Growth website at www.capitalgrowth.org
3. The new campaign – Growing a Million Meals for London – uses a 5-A-Day portion to represent a contribution to a meal, and gives those pledging to be part of the challenge, a chance to tot up the value of the food they have grown, as well as see the number of meals and the weight of the food they have grown through the season.
4. Home growers, allotment holders and community groups can pledge to be part of the campaign and in return will receive discounts, advice and a chance to enter competitions with great prizes.  They will also be able to use the online Harvestometer to record the amount of veg they grow and see how much money they can save.
5. Amongst those who have pledged to grow 200,000 meals this includes larger urban farms such as Sutton Community Farm and Growing Communities in Hackney, through to smaller gardens including a new pop up garden on the Queens Walk by Royal Festival Hall.
6. Boosting the amount of locally grown food in London has a range of health and environmental benefits, such as improving access to nutritious, low cost food in urban areas . It also reduces food miles and cuts carbon emissions. There is rising interest in self-grown food and inner London boroughs have waiting lists for allotments that can be decades long.
7. Capital Growth has food growing spaces in a diverse range of places including schools, a prison, on roofs, in skips, on canal banks and on housing estates. Some spaces are engaged in social enterprise and bee keeping whilst providing skills and training.
8. Vertical Veg supports food growing in containers and tiny spaces: ideas, inspiration and practical advice. http://www.verticalveg.org.uk/
9. Hen Corner runs training courses to help people keep hens, bees and also to learn preserving techniques http://hencorner.com/about/
10. A Rocket Garden is a box brimming full of baby organic vegetable and herb plants packed in golden straw and delivered direct to your door. http://www.rocketgardens.co.uk/showdetails.asp?id=763

08/07/2013