Putting down roots to grow strong food network
In 2023, local sustainability group Transition University of St Andrews set up a gleaning network to redistribute unharvested vegetables from farmers’ fields to community and fridges in North East Fife, including the newly established Student’s Association Campus Larder.
Gleaning is the historic practice of people coming together to ensure that crops left behind in the field do not go to waste. They are collected, with farmers’ permission, and can help alleviate food poverty.
The UK is in a cost-of-living crisis which has seen a significant increase in people across the country visiting foodbanks and fridges. Transition University of St Andrews is currently working with two local farmers, and plans to work with many more, to focus on post-harvest waste in food processing units.
In 2023, Transition redistributed 340kg of potatoes and 50kg of broccoli with the help of 60 gleaning volunteers. They also helped promote the redistribution of plums and apples from private gardens and community orchards to schools, community fridges and cafes.
Since February 2023, Transition has run an online after school cooking club every week during term time. The focus is on low-cost, healthy and sustainable vegetarian meals, snacks and desserts, using as much local and seasonal produce as possible. With parents leading busy lives, the club helps families plan a dedicated day each week to commit to cooking together.
Transition volunteer Susan Hill from the University development office, also runs weekly cooking classes for a small group of home-schooled children. There are also in-person vegan and vegetarian cooking classes available for small groups.
Edible Campus
The University’s Edible Campus has 12 food-growing spaces across St Andrews where students, staff and local residents can grow and harvest vegetables and fruit. More than 100 garden sessions take place each year, led by Transition staff or volunteers, while experienced growers can access the gardens freely or lead their own sessions.
Planting schedules are planned via an online programme that coordinates seed buying and preparation at halls of residence so that, come springtime, more than 40 trays of vegetable seedlings are ready to plant out.
The garden volunteers also tend and harvest three community orchards, including the Olym-Pick orchard, a run of 23 trees that spans 1.5km from the David Russell Apartments Hall of Residence to the School of Physics.
The Tree
The Tree is a student-led cooperative food hub selling affordable local, organic food, cleaning supplies and other goods. Offering an alternative to supermarket shopping, it connects consumers to local producers and wholefood suppliers, and forms part of a resilient food network serving the St Andrews community.