Introducing celt

What is CELT?

Calderdale Ecological Land Trust (CELT) is a Community Benefit Society set up by the Grow and Graze Network with the help of Coop Culture to enable us to own and/or manage land efficiently in the Calder Valley for the purpose of food production alongside nature recovery. We will report to the Financial Conduct Authority and we are now in a position to apply for grants, take out loans and receive donations. We will also be recruiting members to join us on our mission. Our objectives as stated in our rules are:-

(a) Securing land in Calderdale, primarily for the sustainable growing of fruit and vegetables in ways that also improve the soil health and biodiversity of that land;

(b) Supporting the development of sustainable, viable food growing enterprises in Calderdale by brokering relationships with landowners;

(c) Promote the benefits of local sustainable production of fruit and vegetables to both health and as a direct response to the climate crisis;

(d) Increase access to affordable sustainable local produce.

A bit of History

Our organisation initially developed as a response to the Covid crisis when there were food shortages and local people were particularly concerned about access to fresh food and vegetables.  Pennine Cropshare Veg Bag Scheme and Valley Organics Workers Cooperative were overwhelmed with requests for deliveries when the supermarket supply chains were failing.   Representatives from these two organisations came together with other interested individuals to form Calder Veg Collective with the primary focus of exploring ways of increasing the availability of locally grown produce in order to future proof supplies.  Both organisations were already sourcing some produce locally from small scale growers but supplies were very limited.  With a small amount of funding from Sustain we were able to launch the Grow and Graze campaign to explore access to land and identify potential growers.

UK food supply lines

Existing supply lines are too long and too fragile.  We cannot continue to source our fresh produce from Spain and Morocco where water shortages are critical and workers are exploited.  We are a country and region with an excess of water which we need to conserve, store and use when we have droughts.  We may not be able to grow the same kind of produce grown in warmer countries all the year round but we know we can do a lot better to extend the growing season and produce nutritious food at affordable prices    

Wadsworth Lane Market Garden

We are currently renting and managing 3.5 acres of land in Hebden Bridge with the aim of establishing 2 market gardens and an orchard. We have been able to do this because for the last 2 years we have been on a quest for land on which to grow veg and we have finally struck lucky!  Many landowners have come forward with offers of land but it has not been suitable, being too high, too wet, too dry or no access.  A lovely guy, who probably doesn’t want to be publicly named has bought some land for us to use because he really wants to see local market gardening happening in Calderdale. The land is in greenbelt and was previous pasture while being certified as organic. It is gently sloping and well drained but veg growing will still be challenging. We are renting the land from the landowner on a 30 year lease on a peppercorn rent of £10/year.  

Aerial view of Wadsworth Lane Market Garden

Community Shares

In the next year or two, we will be offering community shares to buy the land and pay our benefactor back.  This means the land will be in community ownership in perpetuity.  Land is precious and too much of it is in the hands of too few.  This is our first step into taking back some land for community benefit. We hope that other landowners might be inspired to donate, rent or sell some land through our Grow and Graze Network.

Funding

Through our partnership with Pennine Cropshare and Valley Organics Workers Cooperative, we have been able to raise funds for Community Engagement in Climate Action which are distributed by the Community Foundation For Calderdale. 

We have also obtained funding from the Ovenden Wind Power Fund to erect a polytunnel on our site for which we are currently awaiting planning permission. 

We will continue to apply for funding to support the development of the Grow & Graze project – watch this space!