Wheels in motion - beetroots on a barrow

AstraZeneca's scientists discover CoFarm produce at their Global HQ

Our delicious CoFarm produce had an exciting time last month as our beetroots and broad beans were wheeled out of the farm gates on our new grocer’s barrow!

We were delighted to sell our fresh CoFarm produce on our new barrow made by our resident woodworker, Issac. Made in just a week, our beautiful barrow, made out of sweet chestnut, trundled onto The Discovery Centre (DISC) at AstraZeneca. 

Harvesting handfuls of produce, we took bunches of beetroot, spring onions, rainbow chard, cavolo nero and more, fresh and ready for sale less than 24 hours post harvest. Thank you to our CoFarmers who helped with the harvest in the torrential rain! 

“Customers had the opportunity to buy fresh, organic produce from only 2 miles away in the heart of the city. Spectacularly presented on the new barrow, the pop-up was a great way to make a positive impact in our community and environment alike.”

— Annie Moham - Community & Positive Impact Lead - Sodexo

Community is at the heart of CoFarm and has been since we launched the first community consultation in 2019. We have continued our journey with the community to co-design and develop the farm at every step. We're thrilled to be able to commission two barrows - a community-led idea that came from a workshop with local residents this year.

Thanks to a levelling up scheme, ‘Focus on Abbey’,created by Cambridge City Council and funded by the UK shared Prosperity Fund (UKSP) and the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority, we have been able to fund two grocer’s barrows. One barrow will visit Abbey People’s Food Hub displaying our produce for visitors. Our other barrow will display produce at the farm, making regular outings. 

If you would like to join us on one of our CoFarming sessions, sign up for a space on our website here. We are in peak growing season with lots of different sessions available. We’d love to have your help! After coming along to a session, you will be able to buy our produce at a 50% discount. 

Want to hear more from us at CoFarm? Find CoFarm on our socials on X - @COFARMHQ, Instagram - @cofarmcambridge and Facebook - CoFarmHQ.

Government award shines a light on CoFarm’s achievements

CoFarm’s founder Gavin Shelton has received a Points of Light award from the Prime Minister through a cross-party initiative that highlights the work of volunteers across the UK who are making positive changes in their communities. 

“In one year alone you have harvested and donated organic fruit and vegetables to the value of £40,000 to those in need across Cambridge. Along with your fantastic group of 300 volunteers, you have created something truly special in your community.

‘CoFarm’ is a brilliantly innovative initiative and I wish you every success with your goal of rolling out your community farming model to 250,000 acres by 2030.

As we look forward to COP26, I am delighted to recognise you as a climate leader who is helping to make the UK greener and cleaner.” Prime Minister Boris Johnson MP

Gavin at CoFarm Cambridge. Image: Sam Mellish

The award recognises Gavin’s vision of bringing people together to grow and share nutritious food, improving access to local, sustainably produced food and promoting healthier ecosystems. It was in January 2019 that he gave up working for a global conservation NGO to concentrate full-time on creating a co-farming pilot - CoFarm Cambridge - and a charitable structure for scaling-up the model nationally. Thanks to excellent engagement from the local community and partners – and with the help of hundreds of volunteers and local donors, CoFarm Cambridge is now a thriving community farm that has positively impacted nature and the local community. 

Since its first harvest in July 2020, CoFarm Cambridge has grown more than 11.6* tonnes of organically grown food, consisting of 55 varieties of fresh fruit and vegetables valued at over £52k, all of which continues to be donated to eight community food hubs established across Cambridge to support people experiencing food insecurity in response to the pandemic. (*Harvest data correct up to 31 October 2021.) CoFarm Foundation plans to roll out the model across the UK to achieve a ‘distributed estate’ of 250,000 acres of community farming land by 2030. 

The government’s recognition is a reminder of CoFarm Cambridge’s remarkable achievements. Despite starting out during a global pandemic, the project has succeeded in bringing the community together to turn a disused field into a thriving community farm that’s increasing access to sustainable food, improving community cohesion and biodiversity – and tackling societal challenges head-on.

Gavin said: ‘CoFarm is all about communities coming together to positively address “larger than self” issues such as climate change, health inequalities and biodiversity loss. By repositioning regenerative food and farming at the heart of our communities, we can overcome these challenges together. This Points of Light award shines light on all of our amazing co-farmers – over 325 to date – who have put so much love, time, energy and joy into co-designing and co-creating their own community farm in Cambridge.

Gavin Shelton has received a #PointsofLight award from PM @BorisJohnson for creating @COFARMHQ community farm in Cambridge, which promotes sustainability & has donated 10+ tonnes of food during the pandemic #COP26 #OneStepGreener

Read More 👉 https://t.co/0JbkUbqV5O pic.twitter.com/tM5cepRafm

— Cabinet Office (@cabinetofficeuk) October 7, 2021

‘Since the start of the pandemic, under the expert horticultural guidance of Peter Wrapson and Dominic Walsh, we have – together – organically grown over 10 tonnes of fruit and vegetables for those in our city who experience food insecurity. We thank the Prime Minister for his recognition of this community response and, in so doing, for shining light on needs that may otherwise remain hidden within our communities, our ecosystems and the soils beneath our feet. We look forward to positively addressing these needs together as we scale-up the “CoFarm” model with and for communities across the UK by 2030.”

Gavin also wishes to highlight the contribution of CoFarm Foundation’s Trustee Board, saying, “Charity Trustees are the unsung heroes of so much amazing voluntary action across the UK. Our Trustees have quietly put in a great deal of time, wisdom and expertise - behind the scenes - to get CoFarm Foundation into good shape, and registered with the Charity Commission, so we can deliver our vision more effectively.”

Last, “But by no means least!” Gavin is adamant that CoFarm would not exist without the unstinting support and belief of his wife, Helen Shelton. “Helen has backed me and CoFarm all the way, despite the obvious risks inherent in taking a leap from a secure salaried position to establishing something completely new,” he said. “Helen also shouldered pretty much all of the home-schooling responsibilities during a very challenging time, creating space for me to focus on developing CoFarm during the pandemic.”

“As far as I’m concerned,” he concludes, “ This award is for Helen and our fabulous boys, as much as it is for CoFarm’s brilliant horticultural leads, Pete and Dom; our dedicated Trustee Board; our donors and the hundreds of amazing co-farmers who have come together to make it all happen.”

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Click here for the Points of Light press release from No 10 Downing Street.

Shadow Environment Secretary commends CoFarm’s impact on community and nature

Local MP Daniel Zeichner and city councillor Alex Collis praised CoFarm’s contribution to tackling food insecurity in the city throughout the pandemic during a visit to the urban market garden at the end of August. 

Zeichner’s role as Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and Collis’ position as Cambridge City Council’s Executive Councillor for Open Spaces, Sustainable Food and Community Wellbeing put them in good stead to assess CoFarm’s work in transforming food production so nature and communities can thrive. 

Collis and Zeichner were given a tour of the farm by horticultural leads Peter Wrapson and Dominic Walsh; volunteer co-farmer Jessica Rowbury and CoFarm’s Founder, Gavin Shelton. They saw 55 types of vegetables being grown in garden rows, polytunnels and on climbing structures. They heard about the nature-friendly techniques used to encourage insects and improve soil health - such as planting cover crops, sowing four acres of wildflower meadows, and using natural methods to control pests and manage weeds in place of pesticides and herbicides.

Left to right: City councillor Neil Shailer, Alex Collis, Daniel Zeichner, and CoFarm’s horticultural leads Dominic Walsh and Peter Wrapson

CoFarm’s hugely positive impact on the local community was commended by Collis and Zeichner. As well as weekly donations to nine local food hubs across the city - almost ten tonnes of vegetables have been donated since June 2020 - the farm has also welcomed hundreds of volunteers of all ages and backgrounds that have helped create and maintain it. The community farm has become a vibrant space to make new friends, learn about growing food, and get some gentle exercise while being surrounded by nature - creating an ideal environment for improving physical and mental wellbeing.

Collis and Zeichner discussed the need for fairer, more inclusive food systems - whereby healthy, nutritious food is accessible to everybody, and the importance of working with nature to produce food, not against it. 

CoFarm Cambridge’s approach is based on agroecological farming principles, which, unlike industrial farming methods, uses ecological concepts and principles to create greater benefits to people and nature. CoFarm is the third charity in the UK to have included agroecology in its charitable objects and the first to promote co-farming.

Mr Zeichner said: ‘What the CoFarm Cambridge team are doing is truly remarkable. From once again committing to donate all their produce to emergency food hubs across the city, to pioneering new ways to reduce health inequalities, boost biodiversity and create fairer, more inclusive local food systems, I commend them for their work. I was pleased to meet and offer my congratulations to Gavin, and everyone involved with this initiative, on demonstrating such altruism and innovation, and look forward to visiting again in the not-too-distant future.’

To follow the story in the Cambridge Independent: “Cambridge MP Daniel Zeichner praises ‘truly remarkable’ CoFarm”.

CoFarm Cambridge is fundraising to cover its core costs (around £58,000 per year) and is at 73% of its target. Please help us reach 80% this month:  www.justgiving.com/campaign/cofarmcambridge

Busy bees! Volunteers plant thousands of veggies at CoFarm Cambridge

In the last couple of months, volunteers have helped sow and transport thousands of seeds and young plants – in between watering, weeding and picking the first of the Spring harvest – making it a busy time at CoFarm Cambridge! 

CoFarmers planting tomatoes

Carrots, parsnips, sweetcorn, pumpkins, squashes, climbing French beans, runner beans, dwarf French beans, cucumbers, courgettes, squashes, tomatoes, calibrese (green broccoli), purple sprouting broccoli, brussel sprouts, red, green and white cabbages, cauliflowers, kale, cavalo nero and some unusual plants such as cucamelons, were all planted in June.

CoFarm’s growing area has doubled this year as we aim to produce at least twice the amount of food than last. In 2020, we grew more than 4.5 tonnes of vegetables across 0.66 acres, which was donated to 9 local community food hubs. The remaining 1.3 acres of the market garden contained cover crops, which fix nitrogen into the soil and attract insects that pollinate food crops and eat pests.

This year, most of these cover crops have been cleared to make space for growing more vegetables, but there is no shortage of flowers. The market garden’s perimeter, and walkways within it, are bursting with colourful blooms, and the four acres of wildflower meadows recently sown outside of the market garden are growing well.

Newly-planted beans and sweetcorn

June is typically the busiest month for vegetable gardening, but a cold Spring this year delayed the planting of frost-sensitive crops – such as tomatoes, chilli’s, aubergines, cucumbers, courgettes, squash and French beans – making the month even busier. April had 22 days of frost and May remained cold – making it necessary to wait until the beginning of June to plant crops typically planted in May. This created a ‘planting log-jam’, and so volunteers have been working hard to sow seeds and transplant young plants waiting in pots and modules until the weather improved.  

The cold spring also meant plants grew more slowly, resulting in delays of harvesting of certain crops – such as new potatoes, beans and garlic.

One of CoFarm Cambridge’s recent harvests

But there has already been plenty of produce set for picking – lots of strawberries, broad beans, artichokes, courgettes, and rainbow chard have already been harvested from older plants over the last few weeks, which have been donated to local food hubs.

Now that harvesting has begun, it will carry on intensively until October. This increased the urgency of getting everything planted in June, to ensure volunteers have enough time for picking, and for other time-consuming tasks such watering and weeding!

Volunteers have also been helping to prepare the land for planting – including hoeing areas to remove weeds, making raised rows, and wheelbarrowing heaps of compost.

The farm received three truck-loads of organic compost in June from Amey – the company which composts Cambridgeshire’s garden waste.  This will be broken down by worms and incorporated into the soil, and will improve water retention and soil structure.

Weird and wonderful bugs: Improving insect diversity at CoFarm Cambridge

In food production, insects play an incredibly important role in improving soil health, pollinating crops and regulating pests. 

From being pesticide-free to creating new habitats, CoFarm Cambridge is doing lots to increase the diversity of insects in and around the farm, helping to preserve the environment and grow nutritious food. 

Pesticides used in modern farming are designed to be toxic to organisms that affect plants’ growth such as fungi, insects or weeds. They also degrade soil health, and harm other insects such as bees and animals  further up the food chain, including humans. 

Not only this, the intensive way in which food is now farmed – growing one type of crop with few habitats for natural predators – creates an ideal environment for pests, which increases their prevalence even further and results in a vicious cycle of needing to use ever more nasty chemicals to control them.

A bee on the wildflower border

CoFarm is using agroecological farming techniques to create a thriving ecosystem that not only results in a natural regulation of pests but brings many benefits to food production and the local environment. 

From bees, butterflies and hoverflies, to beetles, ladybirds and worms – CoFarm Cambridge has an abundance of insect species, and it is doing more to increase this even further. 

Volunteers have recently sown four acres of wildflower meadows containing 39 types of flowers and 17 types of grasses, which will attract many invertebrate species such as hoverflies, ladybirds, bees and butterflies. 

There are nearly 300 types of hoverflies in the UK. In addition to their role as a pollinator, they are particularly helpful in food production as around half of these species feed on aphids such as greenfly and blackfly, which love to munch on veggies in the brassica family, such as cabbages. 

The meadows will also attract some of the UK’s 2,500 varieties of moths to the farm. These insects, which are now in decline, provide food for birds and bats and play an important role in pollinating. 

‘Moths are the unsung pollinators that people forget about,’ said Dominic Walsh, horticultural co-lead at CoFarm Cambridge. ‘We already have lots of different varieties, but there is going to be more once the meadow grasses grow.’

Lacewing larvae insect house

Inside the market garden, CoFarm is growing an incredibly diverse range of crops – almost 100 types of fruits, vegetables and herbs – which in turn increases the diversity of insects such as ground beetles, spiders, ants, and ladybirds, which all eat pests.

Bugs such as woodlice and millipedes help decompose organic matter and improve soil health, essential for growing healthy plants and nutritious vegetables. The cover crops inside the market garden also help improve the nutrients in the soil and increase earthworm numbers, which improve drainage, enhance soil structure and increase nutrients – all of which help to maximise yields.

Insect houses are being used to host Chrysoperla carnea, a common type green lacewing that consumes white fly and other aphids. Soon, more insect houses will be built, such as for Phytoseiulus, a predatory mite that feeds on a particular type of pest that likes aubergines. 

The market garden has two ponds that attract dragonflies, damselflies and aquatic snails that provide food for newts, frogs, toads that will hop around the garden catching the slugs before they eat the vegetable crops.  

A beetle at CoFarm

Other habitats around the farm have been created this year to increase biodiversity, such as a heritage orchard containing nearly 100 fruit trees, and a hedgerow consisting of over 1,000 saplings. These habitats were created using a diverse range of trees that flower and fruit at different times to attract a greater range of insects and wildlife. 

In addition to the numerous benefits they bring to farming, insects provide a vital food source for birds, bats, hedgehogs and other small mammals - the greater variety of insects, the greater variety of wildlife supported. Combined with the newly-created habitats and wildlife corridors, CoFarm is creating a place for nature to thrive.  

‘We are using all of this to build up an ecological network to protect the plants, protect the food, and benefit the entire ecosystem,’ said Dominic. 

Please help us continue our work by donating to our fundraiser: https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/cofarmcambridge

Kids enjoy co-farming, cooking and nature: Family Fun Day at CoFarm Cambridge

The first family event took place at CoFarm Cambridge last week in which local children - with their cousins, parents and grandparents - learnt about nature-friendly farming, planted vegetables and cooked around a campfire.  

The Family Fun Day on Thursday 3 June was organised by Abbey People in collaboration with CoFarm Cambridge, and saw 42 children and 29 adults over two sessions get stuck-in with co-farming tasks such as weeding, watering, sowing and planting. Despite the farm’s gardeners, Dominic Walsh and Peter Wrapson, planning tasks with children in mind, the work achieved on the day was equivalent to a typical adult co-farming session – with the families making a really positive contribution to the farm during the busiest season of the year. 

As well as gardening, families enjoyed lots of fun activities which Abbey People had planned. Everybody gathered round a campfire in the farm’s new orchard to cook tasty, sweet flatbreads – with those made by the kids having a jam/syrup to dough ratio of at least 2:1!

Cambridge City Council had their Community Engagement Team there throughout the day with a stand and wildlife-themed craft activities, such as decorating cotton bags with nature pictures.

Families also heard about how the farm – which does not use chemical pesticides, herbicides or fertilisers – works with nature to produce great food. Dominic and Peter explained how cover crops are used to enrich the soil and attract beneficial insects; how the tadpoles growing in the ponds will soon grow into frogs patrolling the farm looking for slugs and snails to eat before they get a chance to eat the crops; and how other insects, birds and small mammals that eat pests are encouraged to the farm through building bug houses and planting wildflower meadows, hedgerows and a heritage orchard.

Several parents said their children would have been cooped up indoors in front of a screen on a typical half term Thursday. Instead, they were busy spotting wildlife in and around the farm and on the guided nature walk along Coldham’s Brook, a rare and important chalk stream beside the farm. The children learnt about the different types of insects and animals that live there – and the new habitats and nature corridors created for them at CoFarm.

Others commented on how peaceful and tranquil the farm is – saying it feels like a lovely place to be. And, as the four acres of wildflower meadows, orchard trees and vegetable plants grow, the farm will continue to become more beautiful for families and local residents to enjoy and immerse themselves in nature.

Gavin Shelton, CoFarm Foundation’s founder and CEO, said: “It was just wonderful to be able to welcome and involve local families in co-farming. The children planted potatoes and sowed lots of different vegetable seeds and we hope that they will come back and enjoy harvesting and eating them later in the season.

"It was also fantastic to deepen our collaboration with local charity Abbey People, who recruited all of the families and did a great job of organising the day. We're so delighted that everyone enjoyed themselves so much. We clearly have some very promising young co-farmers in Abbey who will keep their very own farm going well into the future!"

Nicky Shepard, CEO of Abbey People, added: “We’ve been working closely with the team at CoFarm Cambridge through our Food Hub for the last year and we’ve been itching to get going with community events. The team and I are really pleased to have co-created such a successful first event. 

“We had great feedback from the families who came, they all really enjoyed themselves and some even made new friends. We will definitely be looking for opportunities to partner on events like this again in the future, so watch this space!”

The event was made possible with funding from Cambridgeshire Skills via the Adult Education Budget Community Learning Grant from Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority (CPCA).

CoFarm kicks-off crowdfunding, creates 4-acre wildflower meadow

CoFarm Cambridge has launched a fundraising campaign to help double its harvest in 2021 and significantly boost biodiversity in and around the 7-acre site.  The campaign launched publicly on World Environment Day on 5th June.

Last year’s transformation

Last year, over 200 volunteers helped grow more than 4.5 tonnes of organically-produced vegetables for 8 community food hubs in Cambridge, supporting vulnerable members of the community during the pandemic.

This year, the farm aims to at least double its harvest, while increasing habitats for birds, bees and other species through its new hedgerows, heritage orchard and four-acre wildflower meadow. 

CoFarm Cambridge is a pilot project for agroecological-based farming, which is set to be scaled up across the country.

The funds raised by CoFarm Cambridge’s new fundraising campaign will play a vital role in running the market garden and associated nature-enhancing projects. 

While most of the labour is carried out by local volunteers, huge amounts of supplies are needed to run a nature-friendly farm that does not use any pesticides, herbicides or chemical fertilisers. Thousands of trees and seeds, fencing, gardening tools, natural fertilisers, tonnes of organic compost, nature-friendly pest control solutions and netting, fleecing and polytunnels are just a few of the supplies needed to double its harvest and boost biodiversity even further this year.  

Help nature and communities thrive by donating to CoFarm’s campaign: https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/cofarmcambridge  

Biodiversity boost: Meadows, hedgerows and an orchard

In the last week, volunteers at CoFarm Cambridge helped to sow more than 90 kilograms of wildflower seeds across four acres of the site, which will grow into an important habitat for insects, birds, small animals and other wildlife.   

In addition to the wildflower meadow, this year, CoFarm Cambridge has created a species-rich hedgerow made up of more than 1,000 young trees to support nature, as well as establish a heritage community orchard. These habitats, which are declining in the UK, are vital sources of shelter and food for many species, and are listed as priority habitats under the UK’s Biodiversity Action Plan.

The new meadows will contain 39 varieties of flowers and 17 types of grass, ranging in colour, height and structure. These include: wild carrot, yarrow, ragged robin, oxeye daisy, musk mallow, lady's bedstraw, yellow rattle and birds foot trefoil.

Wildflower meadows are one of the rarest habitats in the UK, which have declined by 97% since the 1930s, as a result of changes to farming methods and increasing land development. 

They provide shelter and food for bees, other wild pollinators and insects such as butterflies, moths and dragonflies, along with animals that eat insects, such as birds, hedgehogs and bats.   

When habitats such as meadows, hedgerows and orchards are located near one another, it enhances biodiversity even further by creating wildlife corridors and a greater variety of food, shelter and nesting spots. 

Last year’s cover crop had many flowers, but this year’s meadow will span a significantly larger area

In addition to being a biodiversity hotspot, planting meadows near food crops helps to retain water in the soil. And, they provide a beautiful, peaceful environment for local residents to enjoy and immerse themselves in nature.

At CoFarm Cambridge, volunteers used a broadcasting technique to create the meadow - this involves casting seeds out with a wide sweep of the arm to spread them along the ground in a regular, even manner. The timing of the community seed broadcasting on Thursday night was perfect, as it was followed by a torrential overnight downpour of rain which helped to bury the seeds in the soil, negating the need for a tractor to harrow them in. 

CoFarm hopes to create fairer, more inclusive local food systems based on the regenerative principles of agroecology, which promises greater benefit for communities and for nature. It is only the third registered charity – out of more than 185,000 – to make explicit reference to promoting agroecological food and farming in its charitable objects. 

‘Co-farming provides a positive and holistic solution to some of the most pressing issues of our time - climate change, health inequalities, biodiversity loss and food security,’ said Gavin Shelton, CoFarm Foundation’s founder and CEO.   

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About CoFarm 

CoFarm Cambridge is a subsidiary of CoFarm Foundation, a start-up charity that aims to improve access to local, sustainably-grown food in the UK. By 2030, the Foundation aims to enable the creation of a distributed network of agroecological community farms across the country – at least one in every local authority. Each farm will respond to local needs and cultures, and will be co-created with and for the local community.

CoFarm Cambridge is the pilot project which broke ground in May 2020. It is working closely with ecologists and social researchers to determine the effects of cofarming on parameters such as community cohesion and biodiversity, which will help drive the CoFarm model across the UK. 

Special mentions

• The creation of the heritage orchard and wildflower meadows was supported by the Cambridge Water PEBBLE Fund and by Cambridge City Council. Melcourt Industries Limited donated sixty 45 litre bags of organic compost, and the Cambridge Canopy Project donated 97 additional fruit trees. The City Council also assisted with preparation of the soil using a tractor and rotavator, prior to seed broadcasting. 

• Amey has so far donated 64 tonnes of PAS 100 organic soil improver from their Waterbeach Waste Management Park this year and last year. 

• Cambridge-based technology company Arm has provided financial support in 2020 and 2021, which has paid for rabbit-proof fencing around the market garden and expert supervision from CoFarm Cambridge’s horticultural leads, Peter Wrapson and Dominic Walsh. 

• The species-rich hedgerow was made possible thanks to a donation of trees from TCV – The Conservation Volunteers, as part of its ‘I Dig Trees’ programme with Ovo Energy, and The Woodland Trust, through its PlanTree initiative with Sofology. 

• The wildflower seeds were purchased at a discounted rate from Meadow Mania.
  

A bee on a flower at CoFarm Cambridge