Organic horticulture sector calls for Market Garden Support Fund

The briefing argues that agroecological and organic market gardens deliver far more than fruit and vegetables. "They also benefit the environment, public health, education and community resilience, while attracting a generation of committed new entrants and strengthening long term food security."

The briefing aims to demonstrate these benefits and make the case for a Market Garden Support Fund, specifically targeted towards enabling this valuable sector to thrive.

The policy briefing was presented by members of the UK Fruit and Vegetable Coalition [1] to Defra Minister Angela Eagle during her visit to the Dagenham Farm run by Sustain alliance member Growing Communities in March.

Download the policy briefing 'The case for a market garden support fund in England', published March 2026

Why is a fund necessary?

Market gardens and horticulture have traditionally received little or no government support, unlike other farm types, such as cereals and grazing livestock.

Existing Defra schemes do not currently work well for market gardens. The Farm Equipment and Technology Fund (FETF), payments for educational visits (ED1) and the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) are either poorly targeted or exclude market gardens altogether 

The proposal 

What is proposed is a Market Garden Support Fund that would target horticultural operations that meet the following criteria:

• Provide a minimum of 1,000 hours paid employment per year
• Grow a diverse range of vegetables and/or fruit
• Are organically certified
• Are enthusiastic and in a position to engage with the communities around them through activities such as school visits, volunteering, social prescribing, cooking and gardening classes and Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) membership (the capital grant scheme will also be open to organic market gardens not offering public
  engagement)
• Sell produce either directly or through farmer-focused routes to
  market [2] enabling a larger percentage of the retail price to go to
  the grower and a closer engagement with the customer

[1] About the UK Fruit and Vegetable Coalition

The UK Fruit and Vegetable Coalition is a newly formed alliance between the organisations representing organic, agroecological growers across the four nations of the UK.

The Coalition is working together to create a future in which more fruit and vegetables are produced in the UK. A future where we reduce our reliance on imports and where agroecological growing becomes a rewarding, valued and accessible career path for many more people. A future where everyone can eat and enjoy healthy food that is produced without wrecking the environment and climate and our whole planet thrives.

Membership organisations: are CSA Network*, The Food Foundation*, Organic Growers Alliance*, Landworkers’ Alliance*, Soil Association^, Sustain (and Sustain's Bridging the Gap programme), Lantra, Growing Communities*, Organic North, Regather Sheffield, Better Food Shed*, Food Sense Wales*, Wildlife Trusts, Propagate, Permaculture Association*

* Organisations marked with a star are also members of the Sustain alliance.

Contact: coordinator@organicgrowersalliance.co.uk

[2] Farmer-focused routes to market

'Farmer Focused Routes to Market' harness the collective buying power of their local community and directing it towards those farmers who are producing food in a sustainable way, they employ a principle-led approach to selecting the suppliers they work with and commit to paying the price that farmers set for the produce (and not to haggle), to work in partnership, and to pay invoices within two week (see Jaccarini et al (2022) Farmer Focused Routes to Market: An evaluation of the social, environmental, and economic contributions of Growing Communities.