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New urban agriculture project looking for land in Chch

New urban agriculture project looking for land in Christchurch
May 15, 2015 - Press release: Bailey Peryman and Fiona Stewart - ‘Cultivate Christchurch’

A new urban agriculture project, Cultivate Christchurch, is celebrating May 15, Food Revolution Day, by announcing that its on the hunt for land in the city.

“We want to create a working farm model in the city that helps us to connect with young people who are having a hard time in the education system, or looking for work”, says Fiona Stewart and Bailey Peryman, co-Founders of the project. “It’s designed to create an holistic environment that supports young people with finding what is they really want to be doing and gets them going down those pathways”.

Cultivate has been awarded three years of funding from the Vodafone New Zealand Foundation to work with young people who have been excluded from mainstream education. The Foundation’s work in Christchurch also includes a $4million dollar Canterbury Fund set up to support the rebuilding of Christchurch and respond to quake related needs.

The project is also being supported by the Ākina Foundation who specialise in growing social enterprise initiatives. Ākina is providing guidance on the creation of a business model and key expertise to help Cultivate realise its full potential. The team are looking at ways to make the project viable commercially, based around a working food production model in the city.

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Mr Peryman says, “we can see there is a lack of genuinely fresh organic produce available in this city on a daily basis. As arable farmland gets swallowed by housing developments, we want to show that small pockets within the city can be utilised with intensive growing methods to produce significant quantities of food. Who better than our young people, their families and local communities to make this happen?”.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations reports that 800 million people worldwide grow vegetables or fruits or raise animals in cities, producing an astonishing 15 to 20 percent of the world’s food. Given the space available within the city limits of Christchurch, this project is springing to life at exactly the right time to make sure we realise a more vibrant food culture in our communities.

The group is interested to hear from anyone who is able to help or share information. “We’ve all got to eat, so everyone has a role to play in working together and creating healthier communities”, says Mrs Stewart.

“We're currently looking for support partners and sites to begin with in suburban Christchurch, if you can think of a sunny half acre or two somewhere then please get in contact - we're ready to get stuck in”, says Mr Peryman. The project can be contacted via their Facebook page which anyone can see.

www.facebook.com/CultivateChCh

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