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A close up of a rainbow of double tulips in red, pink, orange and violet shades
Diversity Scholarship winner 2021 Jenny Yeong

Our Diversity Action Group

As a not-for-profit co-operative we are a growing and important part of UK small-scale flower farming and want our members to be representative of the UK’s population. Our Diversity Action Group aims to keep this firmly on our agenda as we move forward.

Flowers from the Farm represents individuals working across floristry, horticulture and flower farming, and we are aware of how far we have yet to go to ensure our organisation, and our industry, is fully inclusive. In 2020, a group of members came together to ask what could be done to encourage greater diversity within our membership and how to actively address societal racism and inequality in a way that was relevant to the flower farming sector. The Diversity Action Group (DAG) was formed to find actionable ways to ensure our membership continues to diversify.

We recognise that there are invisible barriers to accessing growing and education in farming. The first step that the DAG took was to launch a Diversity Scholarship, which offers five recipients a unique programme of advice, mentorship, reference books, tools and equipment, and training courses to help kick-start their career as flower farmers.

The DAG has also created a toolkit to support current members with what they can do to support diversity work within our orgaisation, and our next initiative is to look at access to land. If you would like to support or join the DAG, please email diversitygroup@flowersfromthefarm.co.uk.

Marianne Mogendorff of Wolves Lane Flower Company talks about the work of the Diversity Action Group since it began in summer 2020.

Meet our scholarship winners

We were delighted at the response to our first scholarship award programme launched in December 2020 and are pleased  to introduce our five winners.

Diversity Scholarship winner 2021 Anais Carillo-Hawkins

Anais Carillo Hawkins

Diversity Scholarship winner 2021 Andrea Ferdinand

Andrea Ferdinand

Diversity Scholarship winner 2021 Charlotte Merryweather

Charlotte Merryweather

Diversity Scholarship winner 2021 Elsie Harper

Elsie Harper

Diversity Scholarship winner 2021 Jenny Yeong

Jenny Yeoung

Our 2021 scholarship winners

With great excitement, we announced the 5 recipients of the very first FFTF scholarships in January 2021. We want to thank everyone who took the time to spread the word about the scholarship and help us connect with so many talented aspiring flower farmers.

Having had so many brilliant and strong submissions, it’s clear how vital this scholarship programme is and we’re excited that we can already confirm Flowers from the Farm will open applications for a second time in 2022. The scholarship is of course just one component to the work of the Diversity Action Group and we’re committed to continuing to create space for new talent and to develop opportunities for accessing land going forward.

Scholarship supporters

We’d like to thank the following for their support

Bex Patridge

https://www.botanicaltales.com

Blackshed Flowers

https://blackshedflowers.blogspot.com/

Claire Nolan

https://www.clarenolan.com/

Common Farm Flowers

https://www.commonfarmflowers.com/

Fertile Fibre

https://www.fertilefibre.com/

Floribunda Rose

https://www.floribundarose.com/

Forever Green Flower Company

https://www.forevergreenflowerco.co.uk/

Grace Alexander

https://www.gracealexanderflowers.co.uk/

Milli Proust

www.milliproust.com

Moles Seeds

https://www.wholesale.molesseeds.co.uk/

Niwaki

https://www.niwaki.com/

Plantpassion

https://www.plantpassion.co.uk/

Sage Flowers

https://sageflowers.co.uk/

Simply by Arrangement

https://www.simplybyarrangement.co.uk/

Sofie Paton-Smith

Soil and Fleurs, Cheshire