Sustainable Food Procurement Initative - The Farmer's Choice
Case Study: The Farmer's Choice
Region: South East England
Organisation: More than 130 schools
Description
Every week, Abel & Cole delivers bags to over 130 schools, and the bags are collected by parents when they collect their children. The bags contain organic fruit, vegetables or both. Parents pay for the bags, and the PTA keeps 25% of this money. The rest goes to Abel & Cole, with around 40% going to the grower. The remaining 35% covers costs of packing and delivery - The Farmer's Choice is non-profit making. The scheme raises awareness of organic and sustainable agriculture, with each bag containing a newsletter that talks about our farmers and farming in general. The schools are from a number of areas and contain children from all backgrounds.
Benefits
- Extra funds for PTA for very little time each week, and no set up or running costs.
- Increased awareness of the benefits of healthy eating, (as well as something healthy to eat!).
- Increased awareness of issues of sustainability in agriculture.
- A fair price paid to British organic farmers.
Lessons learned during implementation
- The scheme has improved the knowledge of fruit and vegetables to children via the "Kids Corner" section of the weekly newsletter.
- Parents love the fact that purchasing some of their weekly fresh produce from the school is not only convenient; it also raises money for their school.
- Not being able to choose what's in the bag has introduced many different types of fruit and vegetables to family's that would otherwise be overlooked when doing a conventional shop.
Future Developments
- We will continue to expand the scheme as funds are generated and our goals are to give all schools in the South East the opportunity to raise funds in a healthy sustainable way!
Further information
www.abel-cole.co.uk/thefarmerschoice
Page published: 7 September 2005