By Andrew French, 2 May 2013
The Oxford Food Bank, which provides produce for up to 1,000 meals every day, has only been at its current base for six months. But it’s on the hunt for a new home after a multi-million-pound redevelopment of the area was announced. The charity currently runs its operations from the former Habitat store warehouse at Seacourt Retail Park...
Staff at the Cultivate co-operative, also based in the former Habitat warehouse, are also keeping an eye out for a new home to store produce and fridges. Director Doireann Lalor, 29, from Marston, Oxford, said: “We have a number of leads for a new home, and ideally it would be rent-free.”
The Oxford Food Bank, which provides produce for up to 1,000 meals every day, has only been at its current base for six months. But it’s on the hunt for a new home after a multi-million-pound redevelopment of the area was announced. The charity currently runs its operations from the former Habitat store warehouse at Seacourt Retail Park...
Staff at the Cultivate co-operative, also based in the former Habitat warehouse, are also keeping an eye out for a new home to store produce and fridges. Director Doireann Lalor, 29, from Marston, Oxford, said: “We have a number of leads for a new home, and ideally it would be rent-free.”
11 Jan 2013
... The year-old organisation is also the subject of a new photo exhibition, Eat Oxford: Adventures in Local Food, which will be on show at the Turl Street Kitchen until the end of this month.
Photographs were taken by Cultivate members Adrian Arbib and Frank Havemann and proceeds from sales of prints will go towards local food organisations.
... The year-old organisation is also the subject of a new photo exhibition, Eat Oxford: Adventures in Local Food, which will be on show at the Turl Street Kitchen until the end of this month.
Photographs were taken by Cultivate members Adrian Arbib and Frank Havemann and proceeds from sales of prints will go towards local food organisations.
19 October 2012
By Freddie Whittaker, 27 October 2012
Groups from across the county totted up top honours at this year’s Oxfordshire Community and Voluntary Action awards. Nine organisations received awards in different categories at a ceremony at Oxford Town Hall on Tuesday.
The best fundraising work award was given to co-operative social enterprise Cultivate.
Director Emma Burnett said: “It was great to win the OCVA award for best fundraising work this year. Cultivate was founded and funded by investment from the local community, and this award recognises all the work that went into getting this project off the ground — the efforts of people who wanted to see Cultivate work and the amount of trust that the community put into creating a new enterprise.”
...
Groups from across the county totted up top honours at this year’s Oxfordshire Community and Voluntary Action awards. Nine organisations received awards in different categories at a ceremony at Oxford Town Hall on Tuesday.
The best fundraising work award was given to co-operative social enterprise Cultivate.
Director Emma Burnett said: “It was great to win the OCVA award for best fundraising work this year. Cultivate was founded and funded by investment from the local community, and this award recognises all the work that went into getting this project off the ground — the efforts of people who wanted to see Cultivate work and the amount of trust that the community put into creating a new enterprise.”
...
5 October 2012
Hip hip, hooray! Hip hip, hooray! Hip hip, hooray! Our new, New Pioneers Report (yes, you read correctly) is out now, featuring some of the fantastic people whose paths have crossed that of the Hub in the past year or so.
Our cast includes: Saith Seren of Wrexham – 100 + folk who came together to reopen their local and create within it a centre for Welsh language; Belfast Cleaning Society – a bunch of ‘can do’ women who got to know one another through a cross-community social group; Cultivate - a co-operative committed to bringing fresh fruit and veg to the people of Oxford; and AfriCo-operative – a Nottingham group who, just this year, came together to fill a local gap in the market for specialist African products.
...
Hip hip, hooray! Hip hip, hooray! Hip hip, hooray! Our new, New Pioneers Report (yes, you read correctly) is out now, featuring some of the fantastic people whose paths have crossed that of the Hub in the past year or so.
Our cast includes: Saith Seren of Wrexham – 100 + folk who came together to reopen their local and create within it a centre for Welsh language; Belfast Cleaning Society – a bunch of ‘can do’ women who got to know one another through a cross-community social group; Cultivate - a co-operative committed to bringing fresh fruit and veg to the people of Oxford; and AfriCo-operative – a Nottingham group who, just this year, came together to fill a local gap in the market for specialist African products.
...
By Peter Crosskey, 19 October 2012
“Oxfordshire produces lots of food, but less than one percent of it is consumed within the county,” Doireann Lalor told the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Agroecology in Westminster on World Food Day. Doireann is a founder member of the Oxford-based group Cultivate, which describes itself as a people-powered food producer.
The project will soon be completing its first year, growing fresh vegetables on a five-hectare holding with two large polytunnels and lots of willing helpers. As vegetables are harvested, they are loaded on to a specially-fitted Veg Van, a mobile shop which makes scheduled visits around a local circuit, retailing to local residents and wholesaling to local restaurateurs.
...
“Oxfordshire produces lots of food, but less than one percent of it is consumed within the county,” Doireann Lalor told the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Agroecology in Westminster on World Food Day. Doireann is a founder member of the Oxford-based group Cultivate, which describes itself as a people-powered food producer.
The project will soon be completing its first year, growing fresh vegetables on a five-hectare holding with two large polytunnels and lots of willing helpers. As vegetables are harvested, they are loaded on to a specially-fitted Veg Van, a mobile shop which makes scheduled visits around a local circuit, retailing to local residents and wholesaling to local restaurateurs.
...
by Ben Wilkinson
Aspiring teenage chefs have overcome troubled backgrounds to serve up a sustainable feast this weekend.
Three youngsters who have behavioural or learning problems, have been reaping the benefits of the city's first Field to Fork scheme.
...
Aspiring teenage chefs have overcome troubled backgrounds to serve up a sustainable feast this weekend.
Three youngsters who have behavioural or learning problems, have been reaping the benefits of the city's first Field to Fork scheme.
...
27 August 2012
A work experience scheme to encourage young people's knowledge of local food has been started in Oxfordshire.
The new Field to Fork programme is training three 16 to 18 year-olds, who are out of mainstream education, in all aspects of food production.
Project manager Doireann Lalor said it was "training up a new generation of chefs which is socially and environmentally switched on".
...
A work experience scheme to encourage young people's knowledge of local food has been started in Oxfordshire.
The new Field to Fork programme is training three 16 to 18 year-olds, who are out of mainstream education, in all aspects of food production.
Project manager Doireann Lalor said it was "training up a new generation of chefs which is socially and environmentally switched on".
...
30 August 2012
The BBC's Rich Ward visits Cultivate. Here he is talking to Joe out on the land inspecting the sweet peppers with the sweet sound of the misting unit watering our young plantlings. Later he visits the VegVan at the St Barnabas stop, where we discuss scaleability, inherent localness and the appeal of co-operation.
The programme also features Kat Darling from the Plunkett Foundation talking about local food networks.
...
The BBC's Rich Ward visits Cultivate. Here he is talking to Joe out on the land inspecting the sweet peppers with the sweet sound of the misting unit watering our young plantlings. Later he visits the VegVan at the St Barnabas stop, where we discuss scaleability, inherent localness and the appeal of co-operation.
The programme also features Kat Darling from the Plunkett Foundation talking about local food networks.
...
By Helen Babbs, 27 June 2012
Local groups are investing in projects that will produce food and challenge the supermarkets in the process.
There is a white van in Oxford that is not what it seems. Rather than tools and timber, it carries scales and a till. From the weekend, this travelling greengrocer will deliver produce around the city, with locals deciding where (and when) it should stop.
Their opinion really matters – the vegetable van is being paid for by its future customers. Cultivate Oxford, which came up with the idea, ran a community share offer, raising £80,000 from 200 investors. It is a community benefit society – or BenCom – which means the operation must benefit the wider community.
...
Local groups are investing in projects that will produce food and challenge the supermarkets in the process.
There is a white van in Oxford that is not what it seems. Rather than tools and timber, it carries scales and a till. From the weekend, this travelling greengrocer will deliver produce around the city, with locals deciding where (and when) it should stop.
Their opinion really matters – the vegetable van is being paid for by its future customers. Cultivate Oxford, which came up with the idea, ran a community share offer, raising £80,000 from 200 investors. It is a community benefit society – or BenCom – which means the operation must benefit the wider community.
...
A podcast by Geoff Andrews, with Julian Cottee and Sanjay Kumar, 22 May 2012
Have supermarkets got too much power? Have we lost touch with seasonal and local food in favour of convenience choice? Our panel discuss the future of British food.
Have supermarkets got too much power? Have we lost touch with seasonal and local food in favour of convenience choice? Our panel discuss the future of British food.
May 2012
A scheme offering investors shares in a new local food growing co-operative has smashed its target. The team behind Cultivate, which is planting a five-acre market garden near Didcot, has raised £82,000 – outstripping the £55,000 figure they originally hoped for.
A scheme offering investors shares in a new local food growing co-operative has smashed its target. The team behind Cultivate, which is planting a five-acre market garden near Didcot, has raised £82,000 – outstripping the £55,000 figure they originally hoped for.
April 2012
Oxford-based social enterprise Cultivate has raised £80,000 from investors in just three months, smashing its £55,000 target and revealing a strong appetite for locally grown food in the region. Consumers and businesses alike have poured forward to invest and express their interest in the new co-operative, whose members will supply the city and surrounding communities with locally sourced, sustainably grown fruit and vegetables from June 2012 via a mobile 'VegVan' greengrocery. Equipped with financial stability, a committed board of directors and an enthusiastic following, Cultivate is set to empower its local community to opt for fresh, healthy produce, become actively involved in developing Oxfordshire’s ‘local food’ economy and support the county’s farmers. ...
Oxford-based social enterprise Cultivate has raised £80,000 from investors in just three months, smashing its £55,000 target and revealing a strong appetite for locally grown food in the region. Consumers and businesses alike have poured forward to invest and express their interest in the new co-operative, whose members will supply the city and surrounding communities with locally sourced, sustainably grown fruit and vegetables from June 2012 via a mobile 'VegVan' greengrocery. Equipped with financial stability, a committed board of directors and an enthusiastic following, Cultivate is set to empower its local community to opt for fresh, healthy produce, become actively involved in developing Oxfordshire’s ‘local food’ economy and support the county’s farmers. ...
News, 27 April 2012
A green scheme offering investors shares in a new local food growing co-operative has smashed its target.
The team behind Cultivate, which is planting a five-acre market garden near Didcot, has raised £82,000 – outstripping the £55,000 originally hoped for.
Now it is powering ahead with plans to deliver fresh fruit and vegetables sourced from its own land and that of local farmers around the county in a van. The van will be bought in June and the group has already identified an initial 14 stops around Oxford, Abingdon and Didcot where produce can be sold. ...
A green scheme offering investors shares in a new local food growing co-operative has smashed its target.
The team behind Cultivate, which is planting a five-acre market garden near Didcot, has raised £82,000 – outstripping the £55,000 originally hoped for.
Now it is powering ahead with plans to deliver fresh fruit and vegetables sourced from its own land and that of local farmers around the county in a van. The van will be bought in June and the group has already identified an initial 14 stops around Oxford, Abingdon and Didcot where produce can be sold. ...
By Alexandra Goss, 22 April 2012
Private investors fed up with poor rates on savings are increasingly looking to invest in social enterprises, which offer returns of up to 6%.
These are businesses whose aim is to tackle social problems, improve communities or help the environment. Profits are typically reinvested back into the business or community, but companies will often pay interest on funds received in order to attract ordinary consumers
...
Private investors fed up with poor rates on savings are increasingly looking to invest in social enterprises, which offer returns of up to 6%.
These are businesses whose aim is to tackle social problems, improve communities or help the environment. Profits are typically reinvested back into the business or community, but companies will often pay interest on funds received in order to attract ordinary consumers
...
By Thom Airs, 13 March 2012
A scheme to help businesses cultivate the fat of the land is being developed under the shadow of Wittenham Clumps.
Jayne Manley, the Earth Trust’s chief executive, said: “Food is of interest to everyone of every generation all around the world... Our food and the security of our food – how it is grown and where it comes from – are as important as ever.”
The scheme was officially launched on Saturday with land being prepared by Cultivate, a not-for-profit food co-op
...
A scheme to help businesses cultivate the fat of the land is being developed under the shadow of Wittenham Clumps.
Jayne Manley, the Earth Trust’s chief executive, said: “Food is of interest to everyone of every generation all around the world... Our food and the security of our food – how it is grown and where it comes from – are as important as ever.”
The scheme was officially launched on Saturday with land being prepared by Cultivate, a not-for-profit food co-op
...
Startup Companies Profile, 19 January 2012
Joe Hasell, 24, said: “While I was studying philosophy and politics at Worcester College I set up an allotment for students in the grounds. And when I left in 2009 I became a gardener at the college.”
Now he has joined forces with fellow former Oxford students Emma Burnett, Julian Cottee, and Doireann Lalor, along with Durham graduate Dan Betterton, 30, to establish Cultivate — a not-for profit co-operative society that aims to bring fresh, local food direct from farmers.
...
Joe Hasell, 24, said: “While I was studying philosophy and politics at Worcester College I set up an allotment for students in the grounds. And when I left in 2009 I became a gardener at the college.”
Now he has joined forces with fellow former Oxford students Emma Burnett, Julian Cottee, and Doireann Lalor, along with Durham graduate Dan Betterton, 30, to establish Cultivate — a not-for profit co-operative society that aims to bring fresh, local food direct from farmers.
...
By Helen Peacocke, 19th January 2012
Tuesday saw the launch of Cultivate, a co-operative organisation that aims to strengthen our local food economy. Dan Betterton, one of the five founding members of the co-operative, explains that Cultivate is about new ways of feeding Oxford and keeping our money circulating locally.
He describes it as a people-powered co-operative that aims to bring people together and push local food forward in practical ways. These will include setting up a mobile greengrocery van running regular pop-up markets in neighbourhoods and workplaces in and around Oxford. By being mobile, Dan believes the co-op can supply fresh local produce to people in a way that works for them.
...
Tuesday saw the launch of Cultivate, a co-operative organisation that aims to strengthen our local food economy. Dan Betterton, one of the five founding members of the co-operative, explains that Cultivate is about new ways of feeding Oxford and keeping our money circulating locally.
He describes it as a people-powered co-operative that aims to bring people together and push local food forward in practical ways. These will include setting up a mobile greengrocery van running regular pop-up markets in neighbourhoods and workplaces in and around Oxford. By being mobile, Dan believes the co-op can supply fresh local produce to people in a way that works for them.
...
By Chris Koenig, 12 January 2012
A former
A former