At the end of January the Procurement For Good (P4G) project team travelled to Dumfries for the first of four hub visits.
The trip was planned to coincide with a round table event that was being hosted by Propagate and the Galloway Food Hub and brought together representatives from the NHS, HMP Dumfries, D&G College, Aramark, Soil Association, hospitality at Crichton and local farmers. The event had several aims: to introduce the P4G project, share visions for public procurement in Dumfries and Galloway, discuss which assets were already in place, look over work that had already been completed that could be built upon, and where to go next.
After a stimulating round table, the project team gathered for dinner and to discuss the next day’s activities. Day 2 saw the project team head out on farm visits to some of Galloway Food Hub’s suppliers. The first stop was a tour from Ross at Torr Organic Dairy, an organic dairy farm on the Galloway coast, before a drive across to meet and Greenlaw Greens. There was just enough time for a quick shopping trip to The Earth Crust’s Bakery in Castle Douglas, followed by a presentation about Propagate & Galloway Food Hub and an informal discussion about food hubs in general and the project over lunch.
We were lucky enough to have lunch at the community centre where the food hub distributes its boxes, and while we enjoyed a beautiful local lunch in the kitchen, volunteers were busy in the main room packing boxes for local collection and delivery. We also managed to squeeze in an OFN surgery with the hub representatives, troubleshooting on a few challenges they’ve had recently and how the platform could help them overcome them.
It was incredibly valuable to spend time together with the project team and also to see one of our food hubs in action and understand the producers and the area.
Over the coming months we will also be visiting Cultivate Food Hub in Wales, Growing Communities in London, and the Cambridge Food Hub.