Environment and resources: Anna de la Vega
Environment and resources: Anna de la Vega
Author
Introduction
Climate change and mass urbanisation present unprecedented threats to global food security. Vermiculture, also known as worm farming, presents an ecological solution to these challenges through organic waste management. Worms can consume up to half their body weight a day in organic waste, from cattle manure to kitchen waste.
"The Fellowship equipped me with expertise and built my confidence to promote a relatively unknown practice." - Anna de la Vega, Fellow
Social enterprise founder and director Anna de la Vega (CF 2016) established The Urban Worm CIC in 2013, shortly after graduating from her MA in Human Security and Environmental Change, as a vehicle for raising awareness of the negative impact of the use of agrochemicals whilst promoting an alternative through the practice of worm farming. Since her Fellowship, Anna has established and supported numerous community worm-farming projects both in Nottingham and nationally, and works with businesses and farmers to provide economic and ecological solutions for organic waste management and soil health. With support from the Fellowship Anna worked with Birmingham HMP to establish a worm farm, providing meaningful activity for inmates whilst addressing waste management issues.
Anna has since been working to raise the profile of vermicomposting in the UK and was invited to become a member of the Royal Society of Arts (RSA) for her commitment to soil and food security. Anna has guest lectured at Nottingham Trent University’s agricultural department and at the London Landscape Show at Battersea Park in 2017, among others. With support from the Royal Horticultural Society, Anna shared her Fellowship findings at the 18th International Vermiculture Conference in North Carolina, USA, in 2017 – the first person from the UK to speak at this conference. The Urban Worm has received numerous grants from The National Lottery Community Fund to engage communities in worm farming, and notably her worm manure is now stocked at Kew Gardens and several of the Royal Horticultural Society's shops.
Anna’s Fellowship investigated approaches to food production and worm composting in Cuba and the USA.
Anna says, “My social enterprise has gone from strength to strength, which I attribute to my Fellowship. The Fellowship equipped me with expertise and built my confidence to promote a relatively unknown practice. I have secured funding to deliver community projects, support volunteers and create employment opportunities.”
"The Fellowship equipped me with expertise and built my confidence to promote a relatively unknown practice." - Anna de la Vega, Fellow
Social enterprise founder and director Anna de la Vega (CF 2016) established The Urban Worm CIC in 2013, shortly after graduating from her MA in Human Security and Environmental Change, as a vehicle for raising awareness of the negative impact of the use of agrochemicals whilst promoting an alternative through the practice of worm farming. Since her Fellowship, Anna has established and supported numerous community worm-farming projects both in Nottingham and nationally, and works with businesses and farmers to provide economic and ecological solutions for organic waste management and soil health. With support from the Fellowship Anna worked with Birmingham HMP to establish a worm farm, providing meaningful activity for inmates whilst addressing waste management issues.
Anna has since been working to raise the profile of vermicomposting in the UK and was invited to become a member of the Royal Society of Arts (RSA) for her commitment to soil and food security. Anna has guest lectured at Nottingham Trent University’s agricultural department and at the London Landscape Show at Battersea Park in 2017, among others. With support from the Royal Horticultural Society, Anna shared her Fellowship findings at the 18th International Vermiculture Conference in North Carolina, USA, in 2017 – the first person from the UK to speak at this conference. The Urban Worm has received numerous grants from The National Lottery Community Fund to engage communities in worm farming, and notably her worm manure is now stocked at Kew Gardens and several of the Royal Horticultural Society's shops.
Anna’s Fellowship investigated approaches to food production and worm composting in Cuba and the USA.
Anna says, “My social enterprise has gone from strength to strength, which I attribute to my Fellowship. The Fellowship equipped me with expertise and built my confidence to promote a relatively unknown practice. I have secured funding to deliver community projects, support volunteers and create employment opportunities.”