Veg Power, the not-for-profit alliance increasing the UK’s vegetable consumption, announced its ‘Growing to Love’ campaign that supports children’s learning about food, its origins and growth, while also encouraging vegetable acceptance, is set to return in 2025.
In 2024, ‘Growing to Love’ reached 21,000 children from 375 primary schools across the UK. Over 50 of the teachers involved provided feedback to Veg Power which revealed that their pupils found the experience fun with a 4.9 out of 5 enjoyment rating and 90% found the project easy to implement. 98% of teachers surveyed would like to repeat Growing to Love in 2025 - a key indicator of the success of the campaign.
Teachers also commented about the effectiveness of the resources provided and that the project met its learning objectives:
“The tomato growing kits are easy to use and the children love the little booklets that accompany them. The teacher notes are really easy to use, even for non gardeners!”
“The children have loved everything from planting to completing the sticker charts! Fantastic resources! Thank you so much.”
“I found the whole project extremely useful and gave children hands-on experience of growing things from tiny seeds into plants and then being able to harvest the tomatoes at the end.“
#GrowingtoLove was designed to give children responsibility and ownership for nurturing their seedlings into tomato plants while having fun along the way. Each participating school received a ‘Growing to Love’ pack containing all the necessary growing materials including windowsill propagation kits, seeds, organic vegetable feed, compost and plant labels.
The packs were developed in collaboration with the growing resource expertise of Westland, the campaign’s fulfilment partner and a team of experts including nutritionists, behavioural psychologists and educators who support Veg Power.
Supporting materials including curriculum-compliant teaching resources and a website were also available. The campaign was also supported by a range of experts including TV chef, Sam Nixon and former Blue Peter Gardener, Chris Collins.
Commenting on the Growing to Love campaign, Dan Parker, Chief Executive, Veg Power, said, “We have been thrilled with the response to our #GrowingtoLove campaign. It really highlights how much fun the children are having which supports their learning and interest in this area. We hope that their involvement will lead to a life-long enjoyment and acceptance of vegetables.”
Mark Sutherland, General Manager for Hazera Seeds UK added, “Hazera is delighted to be members of Veg Power and support the Growing to Love campaign. We see Veg Power as a hugely significant platform from which to approach and appeal to children in a fun and educational way, encouraging them to eat more of their healthy vegetables.”
The campaign was sponsored by Hazera with additional donations and support from
Edible Edinburgh, Edinburgh City Council, Edinburgh Community Food, Unwins, Westland, EVG, Hazera, Rijk Zwann, Waitrose, Sakata, ISS and Abbey View Produce.
Veg Power is currently planning for Growing to Love to be even bigger in 2025 and welcome those interested in growing tomatoes or encouraging children to love growing to get in touch.
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