UK friends who started a veg box scheme have crowdfunded £100K to buy their own farm

A group of friends who started a veg box scheme during lockdown have crowdfunded £100K to buy their own FARM - to help provide for hundreds of families.

The 'Middle Ground Growers' group of pals provided around 65 organic veg boxes a week to local people during lockdown - all delivered by bike.

But they have now raised enough money to buy sixteen acres to turn their venture into a farm - and feed more than 600 families with their five a day.

Hamish Evans, 24, Xavier Hamon, 39, Livi Rhodes, 31 and Sammy Elmore, 29, began growling veg on a small rented plot when the shop shelves were bare in 2020.

They later raised 100K themselves and now thanks to a crowdfund of £95,000 they have a working farm - with a market garden and orchards to grow fruit and veg.

The group also aims to build a wildlife haven, wetlands and wildflower meadow at their new site in Upper Weston, Bath.

The friends now hope to teach others how to grow sustainably and set-up mini sites in Bath for growing more local produce.

Hamish said the group come from a background of farming and support for environmental movements.

He said it all began when the group wanted to "help people in crisis".

Hamish said: "We've all worked in a background of farming, ecological farming, before.

"During lockdown there were all these food security issues, local food made a big resurgence with supermarket sales being down.

"When the shops started to look a bit bare with shortages, local food went through a bit of a boom with people realizing they could use the farms down the road.

"We wanted to find a meaningful livelihood as well, getting to work on the land and outside.

“There is no reason why we cannot grow the majority of our calories and nutrients locally.