We are currently unable to offer volunteering at our Dagenham Farm as we don't have enough staff and resources to do it. Click here to request email updates about the farm and what's happening there. Or you can sign up for Growing Communities' regular weekly emails (covering all our activities, news, jobs, recipes etc) at the bottom of this page.
Dagenham Farm produces organic vegetables (and fruit) in glasshouses and polytunnels and outdoors for sale locally and through Growing Communities' fruit and veg bag scheme. To see more photos of the farm click here.
Until December 2018, the farm was home to the Grown in Dagenham project funded by the Big Lottery Reaching Communities' Fund, training local residents in food-growing and preparation skills and helping young people to learn about where their food comes from. (Click on the link above to read more about the project.) We continued our community outreach work in 2019 through the Recipe for Life project funded by the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, working with families on low income, young people and older residents.
The farm opened in 2012 and now produces about five tonnes of veg every year. In the spring, there are significant quantities of leeks, spring greens, spinach and other greens. Then in summer/autumn, we grow salad and tomatoes, as well as chillies, cucumbers, squashes, beans, aubergines, courgettes, strawberries and melons.
The farm aims to produce excellent, organic food closer to where people actually live as well as helping a new entrant to farming and engaging local people in food growing. Dagenham Farm shows the potential for growing - and selling - significant amounts of produce from farms on the outskirts of London and other cities.
The farm's development was originally funded by the Local Food Fund, part of the Big Lottery, from March 2012 to March 2014, when it also became fully certified as organic. The grower's salary and farm costs are now financed through sales of produce. We secured more Big Lottery funding for our 3-year Grown in Dagenham project to involve more local people in the life of the farm and help them develop new skills - this project ended in December 2018. Our Recipe for Life project funded by LBBD in 2019 also offered lots of opportunities for community involvement. We're actively pursuing further funding to continue this work in 2020 and beyond.
Growing Communities Dagenham Farm, Central Park Nursery, Rainham Rd North, Dagenham RM10 7EJ. Nearest tube: Dagenham East. For more information or to find out about volunteering opportunities, email us.
