Words: Sarah Stone, Director and Founder of Stone Barrell
Filming scrumptious sprouts on their journey from farm to fork – we loved collaborating with Good Food Oxfordshire on another tasty project.
It’s not every day your tripod gets pooed on by a robin. But that’s what we love about running Stone Barrell – every day is different.
For our latest project with the wonderful team at Good Food Oxfordshire (GFO), we were commissioned to create a video to help promote their OxFarmToFork project. The goal? Encouraging University of Oxford Colleges and Oxfordshire institutions to buy more of their fresh produce from local suppliers.
With 49% of farmers scared of going out of business, an estimated 25% living below the poverty line, and 61% saying unfairness in the supply change is negatively affecting their mental health (Sustain 2022), supporting local farmers is something we were excited to do. And with benefits to the climate and the local economy, too, there was no way we were turning this project down.
We interviewed and filmed farmer George Bennett (one of the OxFarmToFork suppliers) at Sandy Lane Farm, and then followed his sprouts a few short miles to St Anne’s College, where chef Ben Gibbons and his team incorporated them into a delicious dinner. (Oxford students have got a sweet deal when it comes to catering…)
Once we’d gathered a whole bunch of footage and photos with George, Ben and their teams, we got stuck into scripting and editing. It was a challenge getting so much great content and information into such a short video – but we are really pleased with the final result. And so is the team at GFO. You can watch the finished product at the top of this page, and see some of our snaps below.
Our work didn’t end there. We wanted to make sure word about OxFarmToFork spread beyond GFO’s current contacts and audience, so we also drafted and sent a press release to local media outlets to coincide with the launch of the video. As a result, the OxFarmToFork initiative was featured on BBC South, the Oxford Mail, Sustainable Food Places, and Sustain, as well as on a number of Oxford College news pages, raising the profile of the initiative among potential future buyers and producers. Ben, George and Jess from GFO were also invited onto BBC Radio Oxford to share more about OxFarmToFork.
Since the launch of the video, two more institutions have so far signed up be part of the project, and GFO tell us they've had loads of positive feedback.
Ultimately, growing awareness of and sign ups to OxFarmToFork hopefully means more sales for great local farmers like George, less food waste (with no more gluts of unsold seasonable vegetables), fewer food miles being racked up by Oxford Colleges and a stronger local economy. It might mean Oxford students get even more delicious meals, too.
Chef Ben Gibbons’ assessment of our work together? “Stone Barrell Rock ⭐️”. Thanks Ben, we’ll take it!
Want to collaborate on a video project that will get people talking? Drop us a message and let’s chat!
