Food growing, to help kids become responsible citizens?

Teaching children how to garden helps them to become responsible, realise where food comes from and calms their behaviour, a survey suggests. Mirror

Fantastic news, and no wonder most schools are keen to have gardens.

To add value to this proposition, we at BigBarn, would like to give children a real incentive to garden. Money!

We would like to see children, and adults, all over the country grow fruit and veg, and supply local shops, pubs, restaurants and caterers.

This is our Crop for The Shop initiative, linking growers with retailers and encouraging trade. Many growers end up with a surplus, and many small retailers can’t get a good supply of fresh fruit and veg. We link the two, by showing those retailers on our map that are willing to stock ‘home grown’ with a special rosette on their icon.

The more growers supplying local shops the better. We all get better, fresher, cheaper, food, and the money stays in the local economy. We should also get a more diverse range of produce, grown for flavour, and not shelf life, as the supermarkets currently demand from their growers.

Please feedback below or email [email protected] if you know of a local retailer we should flag on our map with a ‘Community Champion’ rosette.