Gleaning works to reduce farm-level food waste by rescuing surplus fruit and veg from fields after the commercial harvest. Much of this either doesn't meet supermarket standards or has been left behind because of a shortage of labour - the most "perfect" are picked first and the slightly smaller, more awkwardly placed or misshapen fruit which are still nutritious and good to eat, stay on the tree. 

7 million people in the UK are struggling to afford to eat and 2 million tonnes of good-to-eat food is discarded each year (FareShare, 2022). Charities like Foodrise and FareShare are key to coordinating gleaning efforts and ensuring that surplus fruit and veg isn't wasted by redistributing it to the people who need it most. 

It’s a brilliant initiative and, given the current cost-of-living crisis causing the need for food to skyrocket, one that's more important than ever before.  

In 2025, we hit up Greenway Fruit Farm in Sussex with our friends from Sussex Surplus and FareShare to help rescue surplus pears, left behind from this year’s bumper crop 

With the summer being so warm, the trees produced far more than could be sold commercially, so our team rolled up their sleeves to pick, pack, and load 83 crates — that’s 1¼ tonnes! — of perfectly good pears that might otherwise have gone to waste. 👏

These will now get distributed by FareShare Sussex to local charities and community projects supporting vulnerable people across Sussex.  

Seeing the boxes stacked high was a stark reminder of the real issue we're fighting, but it was great to know they were going to a good home. We couldn’t recommend it more.  

Find your local gleaning group here.