Pollinate Avon
Introducing an exciting new project to create pollinator abundance in our landscapes and farms! Pollinate Avon is a farmer and community-led initiative to increase pollinator habitats and nature-friendly farming across the Avon bioregion. We have secured £74,000 funding from the West of England Combined Authority to take this project forwards in a meaningful and impactful way, beginning by creating an abundant pollinator farm model here at Middle Ground Growers, on the west edge of Bath.
Our mission
We need creative & collaborative solutions to the climate and nature crisis. The biodiversity crisis we face is largely driven by unsustainable land practices, and yet regenerative land practices have the potential to bring back diverse life to our landscapes and cultures.​
Communities and farmers are not currently empowered or resourced to drive regenerative land-based solutions. There is great potential in collaborating across these boundaries to create beautiful, natural and productive spaces.
Hope & vision for a bioregion coming back to life. We can build better solutions and we can have autonomy at the regional level to create these systems from the ground up, re-engaging people as regenerators of the nature around us.​
To Enable, Facilitate and Catalyse the regeneration of our Avon bioregion and its communities at every scale, from gardens to farms to landscapes. Pollinate Avon aims to implement an inspiring model of ecologically sensitive agriculture in this bioregion, to encourage a shift in farming practices towards ecological and pollinator abundance, whilst engaging diverse communities more with the land around them.
How are we going to do this?
1) Create a model a ‘pollinator abundant farm’ on our 15.5 acres at Weston Spring Farm including a thriving wildflower meadow, wetland, no-dig ‘pollinator garden’, and flower strips amidst agroforestry crop rows.
2) Engage diverse communities with pollinator-friendly farming and enable access to natural spaces. Including opening up public access to the wildflower meadow with a beautiful nature trail weaving through its abundance, with signs and artwork to teach and inspire about all our small ecosystem actors that we rely on!
3) Pollinate & multiply this model at different scales to support landowners, communities and farmers to take on similar initiatives. We are working with other landowners, market gardens and farms to widen this work, offering free support and flower seed to kickstart their pollinator journey. Get in touch at pollinateavon@gmail.com if interested to collaborate in any way!
