Birmingham Schoolchildren Sell Home-Grown Produce at Bullring Open Market

Children from schools across Birmingham sold produce they had grown for charity at Bullring Open Market.

“I am so proud of us! I want to make sure we sell everything!” declared one young trader as children from schools across Birmingham arrived at the Bullring Open Market on Wednesday 9 July. 

The children spent the day selling the fruit, vegetables, herbs and plants they had grown during the spring and summer terms as part of Young Marketeers, a food education programme run by the national charity School Food Matters and funded by The National Lottery Community Fund and Birmingham City Council Public Health. 

Broad beans, baby carrots, lettuce, herbs, potatoes and tomato plants were among the produce on sale, with children proudly telling shoppers they had grown everything from seed. Alongside School Food Matters’ expert gardener, they had spent months planting, tending and harvesting their crops before putting their teamwork and enterprise skills into practice on Market Day. 

Young Marketeers helps children learn how to grow produce from seed while developing valuable teamwork, enterprise and marketing skills and encouraging a lifelong positive relationship with food. Sales on the day raised just under £100 for FareShare Midlands. 

One child marvelled: 

“Wow, those onions are amazing! I can’t believe we’ve grown all this!”

Another simply summed up the experience: 

“I love gardening! This is the best day ever!”