Growers meet demand for local produce
A Bath man has started a successful vegetable box home delivery enterprise during lockdown which has gone from strength to strength.
Hamish Evans, 23, co-founded Middle Ground Growers, a social enterprise, in 2020 and now delivers over 50 fruit and vegetable boxes on his bike.
The organisation grows organic produce on a two-acre market garden site in Bathampton and has just got the lease on a new 15-acre site which they hope to use as a learning resource for schoolchildren.
Mr Evans said: “When the coronavirus pandemic first struck people realised they couldn’t rely on the big supermarkets to meet all their needs.
“I think they’ve become disillusioned by the main food system and they’re turning to local sources like us which has been great.
“I think the pandemic has caused a resurgence in local food production. Our customers are adjusting to the change in culture - of eating seasonally and finding the joy in that.
“I also think it is excellent for the local economy, the money will stay within the Bath community that way and people are supporting their local bakery, butcher and fruit and veg growers.”
Sustainability is something Mr Evans has always been passionate about. He first started learning about growing through a Transition Bath initiative and now has his own trainees he is training up to be growers.
He said: “I now have trainees as well as Xavier Hamon who is my business partner.
“We started by supplying a whole food shop in Bath and selling directly on the farm. Rapidly we also decided to launch a veg box scheme and began delivering to 20-25 families every week.”
Mr Evans has supported the youth climate strikes and thinks ecological farming is an appropriate response to the climate crisis.
He said: “Middle Ground Growers is a small-scale ecological farm that is based upon permaculture principles.
“Permaculture is integrated into the Middle Ground market garden in various ways. Firstly, our overall farm design. We utilise alley-cropping, a method of agroforestry whereby crops are cultivated in the soil between orchard rows and often combined with perennials such as blackcurrant bushes, asparagus, artichoke, herbs etc.
“This is one example of symbiosis on the farm, the tree roots hold soil and moisture whilst fertilising the crops with leaf-fall and fruit.
“The crops in turn utilise space in a diverse polyculture whilst the compost and green manures feed the orchard soil and balance mycorrhizal with bacterial activity.
“Add some chickens, coppice and ponds into the system as we’ve done here and you’ve got yourself a regenerative permaculture farm!”