Cambridgeshire fruitgrowers awarded city Harvest Sustainability prize for their quality surplus.
This quality surplus goes a long way (literally!) to supply Londoners, who struggle to access healthy food, with fresh fruit and simultaneously prevents food going to waste and emitting harmful GHGs.
Impact to Date (Aug 2021)
Newling’s Story
Newling Fruitgrowers Ltd was established c. 1922. Nearing its centenary, it expands into an even larger fruit growing and packing operation, with plans to establish another packhouse for their quality Conference pears, Bramley apples, among other fruit varieties.
From left to right: Edward Newling, City Harvest food sourcing manager, Po, and Rachel Newling holding the fruitgrowers’ green sustainability plaque.
The current proprietor, Edward Newling, is the grandson of the fruitgrowers’ founder. Rachel Newling, his daughter, commandeers new packhouse plans and forged the link between City Harvest London and Newling Fruitgrowers Ltd.
“Before we came across City Harvest, we previously had to pay for our surplus to be taken and used for other purposes, so this has been a great solution for us.” – Rachel Newling
The Newlings’ had previously had to pay for any out-of-spec fruit to be taken away, like so many other UK farms, growers, and packhouses. City Harvest provides a sustainable solution to fruit and vegetable surplus by collecting fresh produce, for free, and storing it in our London depots.
At the height of Harvest, around September, Newling pickers will fill 200 ‘bins’ a day (1 bin = 300kg fruit). Bins to mean crates of good fruit, not waste. They employ hundreds throughout the Harvest to come and expertly pick the fruit destined for UK supermarkets, large juice-making companies, and City Harvest.
Packhouse Manager Edgars, with City Harvest food sourcing manager, Po.
Dig for Victory
‘Grandfather’s Orchard’ is a pear orchard planted by the Land Girls in 1947 who formed part of the Land Army during WW2. The conference pear trees were planted as 5-year-old trees as, at the time, farms were not permitted to cultivate certain foods (from seeds) due to a drive to grow potatoes, wheat, and other substantial ingredients to feed a rationed nation. Even the war couldn’t stop Newling pears!
City Harvest food sourcing manager, Po, stood in Grandfather’s Orchard, planted in 1947 by WW2 Land Girls.
Sustainability
Newling Fruitgrowers Ltd strives towards making the fruit growing and packing operation more sustainable by looking into ways of making processes more energy efficient, as well as donating surplus stock to food redistribution charity City Harvest to prevent waste.
By redistributing perfectly edible, quality fruit to people in need, Newling Fruitgrowers Ltd and City Harvest are together preventing good fruit from going to landfill, where the rotting process emits harmful methane, a greenhouse gas which contributes to climate change.
