Community Farm Receives Capital Funding to Kickstart the Project
We’re delighted to announce that we’ve been successful in applying for a number of capital funding grants to kick start our 17-acre Community Farm project on Kinnordy Estate, just outside Kirriemuir.
Our farm aims to build community resilience by growing as much local food as possible for our community, as well as up-skilling individuals by providing training and education in food growing and rural skills. We will do all of this in a nature- and climate-friendly way.
We’ve been blown away by the support of funders so far this year, and are pleased to acknowledge four separate capital funding streams. These funds will support the purchase and installation of infrastructure for stage one of the project; our 2-acre Market Garden. We have also been lucky enough to secure places on two mentoring schemes, to help us grow the knowledge and resilience required for this ambitious project.
UK Shared Prosperity Fund
We have received an award of £75,000 from the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.
The UK Shared Prosperity Fund aims to improve pride in place and increase life chances across the UK investing in communities and place, supporting local business, and people and skills.
This funding is being used to purchase and install a number of pieces of infrastructure. These include: a shipping container for tool storage, composting toilet, packing shed and poly crub. It will also allow us to install the required irrigation system, electrical connections, and equipment for growing, harvesting and selling produce.
“Sustainable Kirriemuir Community Farm was awarded £75,000 from the UK Government Shared Prosperity Fund because it’s a project that brings people together and will make a real difference locally. The project demonstrated its commitment to sustainability and community resilience. It’s about inspiring people to grow, share local, seasonal food and help the community access fresh produce while learning valuable skills. It will be great to see their investment used to turn their vision for a shared food and growing space for the whole community into a reality.”
– Cllr Mark McDonald, Convener of Communities, Angus Council
Angus Rural Partnership
In late 2024, a sum of £19,282 was gratefully received from Angus Rural Partnership with funding from the Scottish Government’s Rural Community-Led Local Development Fund 2024-2025, part of the Scottish Rural Development Programme. This funding allowed us to purchase and install two 30ft x 90ft polytunnels, which will greatly increase the range of crops we will be able to grow at our Market Garden.
Angus Climate Hub
Thanks go to Angus Climate Hub for a grant of £1,000 which has been used to pay for essential tools to start off our project.
Kirriemuir Landward West Fund
Kirriemuir Landward West Community Grant Scheme have generously awarded us with £19,146 to cover the purchase and installation of stock-proof fencing to surround the whole perimeter of the 17-acre field, as well as access gates.
Farm Advisory Service
Through a generous grant of £1,200 from the Farm Advisory Service, our Farm Manager, Amandla, has been accepted onto a mentoring programme which pairs new starters in farming or crofting with experienced farmers. This allows established farmers to share expertise in farm and business management, to help overcome the financial and technical challenges of setting up a farm or croft. We were paired with East Neuk Market Garden, Fife, and Tomnaha Market Garden, Perthshire, for this programme.
Community Supported Agriculture Incubator Programme
We are one of 10 start-up farms across the United Kingdom and Ireland to be selected to participate in the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) incubator programme for 2024-25. The programme aims to support new CSAs to successfully start up, and work towards the network’s vision of “a thriving CSA in every UK neighbourhood.”
“We want to empower our local community to take action to make our food systems more resilient. Our latest Food & Growing project: The Farm, was developed in response to our ambitions to grow as much local, seasonable, climate-friendly food for our community. This injection of capital funding has allowed us to purchase some of the essential infrastructure needed to develop a sustainable and resilient food system at the Farm. We can’t wait to get growing! “
– Amandla Taylor, Farm Manager, Sustainable Kirriemuir
If you’d like to support our Farm Project, visit our project page to find out more.
