Two Pembrokeshire food projects have passed the pilot stage and are now up and running at sites in the county as the organisers prepare to move on to the next stage of encouraging other new ventures.

Led by PLANED, the projects at Steynton Farm, Milford Haven, and Greenacre, Llanteg, received funding through the Welsh Government Rural Communities – Rural Development Programme 2014-2020, which is funded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) and the Welsh Government.

As a response partly post-Covid, to support well-being, and the local economy, the Wales Community Food Distribution Initiative (WCFD), empowered 15 communities across Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire to launch their own food hubs, where volunteers link with local food producers and suppliers to have easy access to healthy and great value food on a weekly basis.

Pembrokeshire Fresh Community Vending (PFCV) has created the opportunity for 24/7 access to Welsh suppliers and locally sourced produce by launching two busy vending machines with 160 lockers. 

As the pilots comes to a successful end, the team are excited to launch the Wales Community Food Hub Toolkit (communityfood.wales/toolkit) to help community groups to create their own food hub.

Abi Marriott, WCFD project co-ordinator, said: 'A big thank you to everyone who was involved in our pilot stages and whose valuable feedback and ideas have helped create this toolkit. We’re excited to see what’s coming next for all the food hubs and to launch our next phase of the project.’

Complementing the community food hubs, was the additional project of ‘Pembrokeshire Fresh Community Vending’.

This project has led the way on expanding the current limited vending market in Wales, to deliver a potential full range of locally sourced food items, from meat and fish, to dairy, and from fresh fruit and vegetables, to luxury chocolates and preserves.

All items are available in state-of-the-art machines shipped in specifically to the UK for PLANED, and operate  24/7 with contactless payments for local residents and visitors alike.

Sue Latham, PFCV project co-ordinator added: 'This was a fantastic pilot project delivered alongside the Wales Community Food Distribution Project  and operating a flexible, inclusive, environmentally and economically sustainable distribution model, bringing together community groups, food producers and suppliers in Wales stimulating Wales food supply chains.’

With PLANED looking to now develop further and expand both the vending outlets and community food hubs across west Wales, if you want to know more about fresh food vending opportunities in your community, or would simply like to discuss in more detail about how PLANED can help you and the wider local food system in west Wales,  then get in touch with the team at wcfd@planed.org.uk

Have you used the vending machines yet? Want to share ideas on new produce to stock? You can find our more and locate the first ones atcommunityfood.wales/pfcv

To locate your nearest food hub visit communityfood.wales/