Reducing Farm Gate Waste: City Harvest’s free service to UK farmers and growers
All food is distributed to people for free |Collections within 24 hours |We ensure no good food is wasted
Meet Ben & Cliff
Above right: Ben is our senior food sourcing manager, he arranges collections in 24hrs notice and he’ll return farm bins and crates. Above left: Cliff is our 26t truck driver – a local legend.
“G’s proactively ensures a larger proportion of our surplus goes to ‘value add’ destinations, like City Harvest, to alleviate food waste, food poverty, and simultaneously pursue a sustainable surplus solution that works for us as a business.”
“We all have the same sustainable vision here, so we are happy to donate to City Harvest; it’s a win-win! Donating surplus is straightforward, and we’re able to send produce in bins which are then returned to us when convenient.”
“It’s important to us that the food we’ve worked hard to produce supports people, not landfill. City Harvest helps us extend the life and value of our fruit, feeding communities and reducing waste.”
Why it is so easy to work with City Harvest to reduce farm gate waste?
We accept up to 15% waste within a donation
We sort through the produce in one of our three warehouses. We use the common-sense approach of ‘would you eat it yourself?’
Bespoke Impact Reporting
We love shining a sustainability spotlight on the social and climate impact that you make by partnering with us. Our reports allow you to see the immediate effect to people and planet.
Fast & Easy
We organise logistics to collect directly from farms or packhouses across the UK, at no cost to the donor. Collections organised in 24-48 hours.
Helping those in need – 1 in 4 people face food poverty
For every tonne of food redistributed, City Harvest delivers an estimated £3,550 of positive impact for food recipients and food donors.
About Harvest for Hunger
Harvest for Hunger is City Harvest’s farm food rescue campaign. Launched in 2020, Harvest for Hunger was supported by a DEFRA grant, allowing City Harvest to pay for haulage to access farms and ensure no good food was wasted with no cost to the farmer or the recipeint.
Due to retail guidelines the majority of imperfect food is either sent to animal feed or ploughed back into the soil.
With the soaring number of people unable to afford fresh produce it seemed an obvious solution to rescue nutritious produce grown with love by our farmers.
Thank You
“City Harvest is vital to our work. Their support is a bridge between compassion and action — allowing us to reach more people than we ever could alone. Every delivery you send ripples out into the community, bringing nourishment, dignity, and hope to those who need it most. It’s hard to put into words just how much it means but simply put: you help us turn care into impact every single day.”
Rotherhithe Community Kitchen feeds 1000+ people a week, over three sites, who face food poverty and cannot afford produce as the cost of living soars.
Read more about the social impact of food redistribution: City Harvest Value Reports
Understanding Farm Gate Waste: The Hidden Link in the Food Waste Crisis
Farm gate waste is an often overlooked contributor to the global food waste problem. As awareness grows around sustainability and food insecurity, understanding farm gate waste is essential for anyone interested in food system reform or charitable food redistribution.
What is Farm Gate Waste?
Farm gate waste refers to food that is grown but never leaves the farm. This waste occurs at the “farm gate” — the point where produce would typically be transported for processing, sale, or distribution. Reasons for this waste include cosmetic imperfections, market oversupply, or logistics barriers that make harvesting or selling unprofitable.
Farm gate waste contributes significantly to overall food loss and is a key area for intervention in reducing food waste across the supply chain.
What is Farm Waste Called?
Farm waste more broadly is often referred to as agricultural waste. This term includes not just edible produce, but also plant trimmings, manure, and other by-products generated through farming. When the waste consists of unharvested or discarded crops, it’s considered part of post-harvest loss or on-farm food waste.
What Are the Four Types of Waste?
To understand where farm gate waste fits into the bigger picture, it’s helpful to know the four major types of waste:
- Organic/Biodegradable Waste – Includes food scraps, plant matter, and other natural materials.
- Recyclable Waste – Materials like paper, plastic, and metal that can be processed into new products.
- Hazardous Waste – Includes chemicals and pesticides used in farming.
- General Waste – Non-hazardous materials that are not easily recyclable.
Farm gate waste is largely biodegradable, meaning it can decompose naturally without harming the environment — but that doesn’t mean it should be wasted.
What is Meant by Biodegradable Waste?
Biodegradable waste is any organic matter that can be broken down by microorganisms over time. In the context of farming, this includes leftover crops, fruit and vegetable peels, and manure. While biodegradable waste can be composted, it still represents a missed opportunity when it involves edible food that could have fed people in need.
What is Defra?
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is a UK government department responsible for policies on the environment, food production, and agriculture. Defra plays a key role in food waste reduction initiatives and supports charities and businesses working to minimize surplus food.
What is the Defra Food Waste Grant For?
Defra’s Food Waste Reduction Fund is a grant scheme aimed at supporting not-for-profit organizations and social enterprises that redistribute surplus food. This includes rescuing edible farm gate waste and delivering it to food charities, community kitchens, or food banks.
The goal is to prevent good food from going to waste and instead divert it to people who need it most — aligning with both environmental and social goals.
What is the Circular Economy?
The circular economy is a model of production and consumption that encourages reusing, repairing, refurbishing, and recycling existing materials and products for as long as possible. In agriculture, this means minimizing waste and maximizing resource efficiency — turning surplus crops into food donations rather than landfill.
What is Circular Waste?
Circular waste refers to waste that is returned to the production cycle instead of being disposed of. For example, vegetables that don’t meet supermarket standards could be sent to food charities, used in prepared meals, or composted to enrich soil — all examples of circular use.
Which Country Wastes the Most Food?
According to global statistics, the United States is currently the leading country in terms of food waste, discarding more than 30% of its food supply annually. The UK also wastes millions of tonnes of food each year, much of it at the farm level, underscoring the need for greater action on farm gate waste.
How You Can Help
Reducing farm gate waste isn’t just the responsibility of farmers or governments. Consumers and businesses can support:
- Food charities that rescue surplus produce
- Community-supported agriculture (CSA) programs
- Petitioning for policy reform that incentivizes food redistribution
- Donating to organizations working directly with farms to recover edible crops
By supporting a circular food economy and backing efforts to minimize farm gate waste, we can all contribute to a more sustainable and equitable food system.