Sustainable Food Cornwall has secured a new round of funding for its second phase of the Joining the Dots for Nature project.
Following an impactful pilot earlier this year, the project has been working together with 15 community growing schemes across Cornwall, supporting them to better understand and enhance soil health and biodiversity on their growing sites.
The next phase of funding extends the work to include new front-runner sites, with a continued focus on locations that are within, near, or helping ‘join the dots’ across sections of the Cornwall National Landscape (formerly AONB – Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty).
The project is funded by DEFRA through the Farming in Protected Landscapes’ (FiPL) programme, delivered locally by the Cornwall National Landscape team. The new funding period runs until March 2026.
Building on the foundations of the pilot, this phase will again include soil and habitat surveys, biodiversity enhancements, and practical workshops. Exciting new elements have also been introduced such as public engagement and skill-sharing events, CEVAS training, linking schools with a local growing sites, and a short documentary exploring the role of community food growing in Cornwall’s National Landscape.
Crucially, the new phase introduces a community research strand, which will be developed in collaboration with the University of Exeter, to explore how community food growing contributes to wellbeing outcomes within protected landscapes. This research will build on the 2023 Community Growing Study and connect with the emerging WellFed research project. A formal report will be co-produced by Sophie Bailey (JTD4N development worker), Matthew Thomson (Director of SFC), and Hetty Ninnis, who brings extensive agroecological experience from established sites such as the Eden project and Newquay Orchard.