Online Commercial Organic Growers Course - Information & Application Form for 2022
The Kindling Trust works with its partners to build a sustainable food system, particularly for Greater Manchester. We believe the city needs to, and can, produce a lot more of its food. Manchester is not alone in this situation. Britain has some of the best agricultural land - what we need are more farmers.
This 4-day commercial organic growing course is intended to encourage a new generation of commercial growers to meet the growing demand for sustainable food. This in person course is aimed at helping new growers in the UK to establish themselves to supply their own local buyers (like Manchester’s co-operative - Veg Box People, Unicorn Grocery and the many farmer's markets around Greater Manchester).
The course will cover the main technical issues, including: propagation, soil types and preparation, salad growing, crop planning and rotation, cover crops, marketing and machinery, and business planning and finances.
We recommend that you do an additional two days volunteering on farms or market gardens that are available to you, in order to gain practical experience and get a taste of working at a commercial scale - you can do this at Woodbank Community Food Hub at one of our regular volunteering sessions. As part of the course you will be asked to complete an assignment and present it to the trainer and the rest of the group on the last day. This is really informal so please don’t be put off by it - it is an excellent opportunity to help you focus what you are learning into the context of setting up a food growing enterprise and to get feedback from the group.
The fee for the course is £180 (inc VAT). Kindling Trust Supporters get a 10% discount.
Places are limited and will be allocated to those applicants who show a commitment to becoming commercial vegetable producers and who are able to attend all the training and volunteering sessions.
We look forward to hearing from you - please complete the application form below as fully as possible by 5pm on Wednesday 17th August 2022 - if you have difficulties with this please email farmstart@kindling.org.uk and request the application form in downloadable format to send on to the same email address by the same deadline. Any other questions please do contact us using this email address too.