Cultivate’s Aims:

1. Make good local food fairly-priced, convenient and accessible for more people

We want to take local food to more people, working with others to increase direct sales of local food from 0.2% to 10% or more. Cultivate will take local food on the road with the VegVan mobile greengrocery, running pop-up markets in neighbourhoods and workplaces in and around Oxford. In addition we will enter into partnerships to supply forward-looking restaurants and caterers.

2. Support the growth of ecologically-friendly and sustainable farming

We need to encourage ecological farming and provide more models of how it can be done. The VegVan will only stock produce that we are happy has been produced under such conditions. By farming our own market garden without any artificial pesticides and fertilisers and working with other local organic producers we will strengthen the network for a local agrarian renaissance.

3. Bring people together to push local food forward in practical ways

Moving towards our vision in Oxfordshire depends on a movement of growers, consumers and citizens coming together to support a vibrant local food culture. As a co-operative, Cultivate will act as a bridge between these groups by providing a platform for action, as well as engaging people through retail, outreach, farm visits, volunteering opportunities and an active civil society presence.

4. Create training and education opportunities for a new generation of growers

We need to equip a new generation with the knowledge and skills necessary for a sustainable food system. We are investing in our own education and will pass on our learning through structured land-based training programmes initially including a plough-to-plate apprenticeship scheme for young people not in education, employment or training, and an internship scheme for university students.

5. Do business in new ways that benefit and strengthen our community

We are joining a growing movement of social enterprises embedded in the productive economy but guided by the community and run for the greater good. We aim to be a model of co-operative enterprise, strengthening the local food economy by complementing and collaborating with other local food businesses in order to increase our collective reach and capacity.