Cornish gleaning group hits million milestone for food banks

A gleaning group has saved £1m worth of fruit and vegetables that would have been left in field and donated them to food banks.

Gleaning Cornwall relies on volunteers to collect unwanted produce from harvested fields, delivering it to 160 food banks, community larders and kitchens across the South West.

Despite reaching the seven-figure milestone, the group has warned more funding is needed in order to keep up with demand.

Reliance on food banks is increasing and since 2015 the number of known settings providing food aid in Cornwall has risen from 20 to 180, according to Cornwall Council.

Gleaning Cornwall started in 2020 and said it had repurposed more than 460 tonnes of produce since then.

But the charity's founder, Holly Whitelaw, warned it was now threatened by economic constraints.

"There is less money around and we need to do more with it," she said. "Our infrastructure urgently needs funding if we are to keep going."

The charity said it fed 11,000 people every week with the stipulation that all its produce must be completely free to recipients.

However, the organisation said the cost of transport, storage and coordination was rising sharply.

It comes at a time when food bank usage is higher than ever with statistics from Cornwall's Trussell Trust showing its food banks distributed more than 35,500 emergency food parcels between April 2024 and March 2025.

A study by Cornwall Council found that 30% of children in the county are living in food poverty.

Whitelaw encouraged people to play their part by reducing the amount of food they wasted at home.

She said: "If we waste food, we waste the substantial energy that went into producing it.

"Utilising what we already have saves money and helps the environment."

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