Charities, food banks and homeless shelters to get £15m food redistribution fund to save surplus farm food | UK News

Charities, food banks and homeless shelters are to receive access to a £15m fund to help use surplus farm food.

The government scheme, set to be launched next year, will give grants of £20,000 and upwards to non-profit food redistribution groups in England.

It aims to help those groups secure new equipment – like hoppers and balers – or to train staff and set up new technology so they can get food that would be wasted to those who need it most.

According to government figures, it’s estimated that around 330,000 tonnes of edible food a year are wasted or used for animal feed before leaving farms.

Announcing the scheme, circular economy minister Mary Creagh said: “With families gathering to celebrate Christmas and the New Year, it’s important to remember those in our communities who may be going hungry this festive period.

“Nobody wants to see good food go to waste – especially farmers who work hard to put food on family tables across the country.”

Charlotte Hill and Kris Gibbon-Walsh, chief executives of charities The Felix Project and FareShare, said they were “thrilled” that the fund had been announced after years of campaigning.

“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,” they said.

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It comes after the Trussel Trust, an anti-poverty charity that runs food banks across the UK, said in November that more than 1.42 million emergency food parcels had been distributed in the previous six months.

The charity also reported a 37% increase in demand for food parcels between 2021/22 and 2022/23, and another 4% increase was recorded between 2022/23 and 2023/24.