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Generation Soil raising funds to grow food in Leigh Woods Meadow
Generation Soil has launched a crowdfunder to expand its operation into food growing.
The community interest company (CIC) currently strives to make Bristol’s food waste more sustainable.
The initiative promotes circular food systems by collecting household food waste, transforming it into nutrient-rich compost and delivering it back to their doorstep.
is needed now More than ever
Each year, the team diverts 20,000kg of scraps from landfill, instead producing rich, living compost to nourish the soil and, subsequently, the food that grows within it.
“Our vision is simple,” says the Generation Soil team.
“We want to grow good food, feed people, regenerate ecosystems and build local resilience — starting with healthy soil.”
Generation Soil is led by urban farmers, environmental stewards and food justice advocates
The funds will support the development of a new two-acre agroforestry garden at Leigh Woods Meadow, granted to them by Roots Allotments.
With it they hope to transform this urban space into a flourishing example of how communities can combine rewilding and growing for nature.
“Our communities deserve better than plastic-wrapped produce and long supply chains,” the team says.
“We want people to see where their food is grown, know their growers and feel connected to the soil beneath their feet.”
With their agroforestry market garden, the Generation Soil team plan to ‘blend traditional fruit and vegetable growing with trees and perennial plants in a carefully designed, regenerative system’
The site will include a seedling nursery, native trees, compost bays, a polytunnel for year-round growing and a sustainable water harvesting system for irrigation.
Together, these will help them to raise healthy plants, support local wildlife and stabilise the ecosystem.
But Generation Soil needs financial support to build this infrastructure, hire a market garden manager and scale up operations to serve more of Bristol’s communities.
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The UK is confronted with a national crisis of food insecurity and malnutrition, where 3m people in the UK used a food bank last year, compared to just 26,000 people in 2009.
Because of this, the CIC says it has become especially important for communities to grow their own food, which starts with healthy soil.
Living compost is supercharged with an enormous community of beneficial bacteria and fungi which work together to break down raw material within soil to help plants grow effectively.
The approach supports soil to capture more carbon, creates more stable ecosystems and promotes plant health without the use of pesticides, combining climate action with community empowerment by supporting resilient, local food growing.
Once the market garden is established, the team say they will offer workshops, volunteer days and community growing sessions.
Donate to Generation Soil’s crowdfunder here. To find out more about the project visit www.generationsoil.co.uk.
All photos: Generation Soil
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