Food surplus and gleaning
Good food should be eaten, not composted. This page helps growers, gardeners and community projects find a good home for surplus fruit and vegetables in Somerset.
If you have a seasonal glut, surplus from an allotment or crops left in a field, you will find that local fridges, pantries, meal providers and food projects may be able to use it.
Donate your gluts and surplus
Community groups and projects, such as fridges, pantries and community meal providers, can make use of fresh food surplus. Gardeners, allotment holders and growing projects often have gluts of produce and want to find a good home for it. We ask growers with food surplus to contact projects directly to arrange a donation.
Food surplus directories
We have collected and shared information on groups across Somerset that can use surplus food. This directory is being updated. If you run a project and would like to be included, please get in touch.
Contact a project directly before donating, so you can agree what it can take and when.
Some contact details may have changed. Please contact organisations directly before donating.
The Somerset Food Resilience Map can help you find community fridges, pantries, food banks and other projects that may be able to use surplus produce.
For advice on reducing food waste at home or accessing surplus food as an individual, visit Love Food Hate Waste.
Abundance and gleaning projects
Every autumn, apples rot on the ground, hedgerows fill with fruit and some people grow more food than they can eat. The aim is to capture this surplus and redistribute it, harvesting the bounty and giving it to those who need it most. Fruit can be pressed into juice, made into jams and pickles, or sold loose at reduced rates to local families who might not otherwise have access to fresh fruit.
Gleaning is the act of gathering leftover crops from farmers’ fields. A project needs:
Connections to local farmers with surplus
Enthusiastic volunteers who can gather crops quickly
Organisations able to use fresh produce donations
Useful starting points:
Gleaning in Somerset
FareShare South West is a local, independent charity that collects surplus food and redistributes it to people who need it across the South West. Working directly with farmers, growers and volunteers, it rescues fresh fruit and vegetables that might otherwise go to waste.
They would welcome hearing from growers with surplus food that could be gleaned. Give surplus food to FareShare South West.
Grow an extra row
If you are a group or individual with capacity to grow extra produce, consider supporting projects tackling food insecurity across Somerset. Use the Growing projects map to find groups that can make use of your produce.
A brilliant examples of a community group growing produce to donate directly to their community is
Our Community Garden, Monkton Heathfield, which grows for its community fridge.
Last reviewed: Aug 2026
Directory listings and surplus arrangements can change. Always contact a project before donating, and check what food it can safely accept.