Government grants £13.6m to charities to redistribute surplus food waste

Twelve food redistribution charities across England will share £13.6 million in Government grants to rescue thousands of tonnes of surplus farm food waste and redirect it to families in need, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) announced today.

The Government’s Plan for Change will use this funding to save around 19,000 tonnes of edible food that would otherwise go to waste, directly supporting efforts to fight food poverty in communities nationwide.

The grants form part of the Tackling Food Surplus at the Farm Gate scheme, which was announced in February with £15 million available for applications. However, only £13.6 million of the available total funding has been announced. The scheme aims to forge stronger partnerships between food charities and farmers, ensuring food that might have been left in fields reaches food banks, community kitchens and shelters through improved supply chains.

“This Government’s Plan for Change is acting on food poverty and tackling Britain’s throwaway culture, ensuring more good food ends up on plates and not in bins,” said Waste Minister Mary Creagh. “I am delighted to see this support go to 12 outstanding redistribution charities to form closer relationships with our hard-working farmers, and ensure their good food goes to those in need.”

Grant recipients

FareShare UK and its network partners, including the Felix Project, will receive the largest share, more than £9.2 million. Devon-based Food in Community secured over £1.5 million to collaborate with local growers, while London-based City Harvest, which feeds more than 130,000 people weekly, was awarded £303,000.

“This new funding will allow us to increase the amount of food we pick up directly from farms, reduce farm costs and increase further the amount of fresh food we can offer our customers,” said Sarah Calcutt, CEO of City Harvest.

This announcement follows data from sustainable food organisation WRAP showing that in 2023, more than 191,000 tonnes of surplus food was redistributed across the UK – enough for 456 million meals.

“These Government grants will go a long way to supercharge more charitable networks to capture some of the estimated 330,000 tonnes of food that could be redistributed from UK farms every year – and use it for good – in communities around the country,” said WRAP CEO Catherine David.

Alongside the grants, the Government has launched a new Circular Economy Taskforce to deliver long-term reform, starting with key sectors including agri-food. The taskforce will publish a dedicated agri-food roadmap later this year as part of a wider Circular Economy Strategy.