The not-for-profit Veg Power, announced today that Bayer Crop Science, a leading provider of vegetable seeds and crop protection products, has joined its membership programme. With this latest addition, Veg Power’s work to increase vegetable consumption in the UK is now supported by 25 organisations from across the whole horticulture sector including grocers, growers and suppliers.
Veg Power was founded in 2019 to help reverse the current low levels of vegetable consumption in the UK that are not meeting government recommendations. Almost a third (29%) of primary school aged children are eating less than one portion of veg a day, decreasing to just 23% of 11-16 year olds. While only a third of adults are achieving the 5-a-day target.
To support their work, Veg Power launched a unique whole-sector membership programme in Q4 2020. In return, its members are provided with a direct stake in the future of the campaign together with a range of benefits including exclusive industry briefings and Market Insight reports developed to help member’s capitalise on emerging trends within the industry.
Dan Parker, Chief Executive, Veg Power, said:
“We are absolutely thrilled to welcome Bayer Crop Science on board and extend our membership to 25 different organisations from the horticulture sector. Thanks to this combined across-sector funding we are able to focus on our mission of encouraging and supporting the UK to eat more veg via a range of creative campaigns including our festive sprout recipe card to put some Christmas cheer into food parcels.”
For Bayer Crop Science it also provides the company with the opportunity to promote ‘Vegetables by Bayer’, its new global brand for the Seminis and De Ruiter portfolios.
“We work closely with growers to create crop varieties that meet their needs while having strong appeal to consumers and we have been searching for an initiative that supports growers in other ways. Veg Power has developed into a platform that promotes the role of vegetables in sustaining a healthy diet to all of society. This fits well with our vision of health for all, hunger for none, so we are proud to support it,” says Marion McPherson, head of the crop science division for Bayer UK.
“Veg Power goes beyond helping our growers and enables Bayer to be a better corporate citizen, something we can all appreciate. Across Bayer’s portfolio from seeds to digital tools for farmers, we are well-placed to help society face the threat of climate change, biodiversity loss and food security, joining Veg Power strengthens our work in nutrition,” adds Mrs McPherson.
One of Veg Power’s recent campaigns has focused on putting some fun into festive food parcels through the creation of a Christmas sprout-themed family-friendly recipe card. The card available here, will be sent out to families via food banks in Brighton (Brighton Community Kitchen), Edinburgh (Edinburgh Community Food), Lewisham (Lewisham Local, Lewisham Food Bank), Portsmouth (Southsea Kitchen, Portsmouth Foodbank, Family Church Food Bank) and Southampton (Cooking at Home Project, Activity and Food Program).