Soil in The City, A celebration of community and food

Written by Libby Akehurst for the Brighton & Hove Food Partnership

The Soil in the City (SITC) project has been dedicated to bridging the gap between Brightonian’s and the local food system. Our mission was to engage people with the land where local food is produced and to increase the accessibility of sustainable, local produce. Funded by Farming the Future, Prism the gift fund, B&H Food Partnership, One Church and Feedback/Sussex Surplus we collaborated with eight affordable food projects, including Very Local Food Hubs, Phoenix Food Hub, Brighton Table Tennis Club, BrightStore, Chomp, Jollof Café, International Women’s Group, Refugee Radio, and Off the Fence.

It became apparent whilst visiting different food-based projects across the city that manyadults and children, especially those most affected by the cost of living crisis, often have not been outside of the city, seen grass that isn’t in a park or have seen livestock, let alone seen working farms.

We worked with diverse groups, including those with learning disabilities and refugees, ensuring our activities met their needs and were not merely delivered to them. Together we organised 26 trips in the last year for 329 participants, allowing them to visit 11 local farms and land projects.

Highlights of the project have been:

• Feedback organised inclusive visits including a gleaning day where 500kg of plums were donated to FareShare Sussex then distributed across the affordable  food projects
• Rock Farm supplied two tonnes of wholesale vegetables to over 300 families, significantly contributing to the project’s goal of increasing local produce accessibility.
• .At Stanmer Wellbeing Gardens, CHOMP families enthusiastically engaged in making fire bread, using locally sourced wheat they ground themselves with pestles and mortars – topped up with some prepared earlier to ensure they all still walked away with RSI!

Such hands-on experiences left a lasting impression on participants, many of whom reported newfound interests in cooking, gardening, and volunteering. Attendees also emphasised improvements in mental health, learning about farming and food production, and increased community connection. Many participants reported trying new activities such as cooking, gardening, or volunteering since coming along to the visits. Watch the video of how the project is creating affordable vegetable boxes here.

“It was such a wonderful experience for my children. They really enjoyed themselves, and it was great to give them the experience of being outside on a farm and in nature, something I can’t afford to do. I will get the bus here again with them.”

BW Carr farm visit

“I felt healthy, relaxed, with more fresh air. Beautiful views. Reminded me of growing up on a farm at home (non-UK). It felt special to be able to bring my daughter here so she could see animals and understand how we get our food. It was also great to meet new people and get out of the city. We haven’t had the confidence to do that before.”

Macs Farm visit

“This visit will stay with me for days and fill me with happiness for a long time. I can’t wait to tell everyone about it, absolutely delightful day and has done my mental health a wealth of good, it’s such a wonderful feeling. I really appreciate this and feel totally blessed to have had this opportunity – I couldn’t ask for a better day.”

Shrub, Aweside Farm & Allwood Farm

Future Plans

There is a clear demand for opportunities to connect with nature and local farms. We aim to develop a Sussex network of farmers, buyers, and the community to increase the availability of local agro-ecologically grown food. Feedback plans to host regular community meals on land, leveraging the relationships and skills developed during this project.

Did you know that you can visit local farms?  Check out Natural England for open access land walks here.