RISE Project
Fiscal Host: The Social Change Nest
RISE supports movement building in regional grain networks
About
RISE: Resilient Infrastructure for a Successful Emergence in the UK’s Grain Economy.
The RISE project has established a Community of Practice (CoP) to address key challenges facing people working on the ground regionally in their transition towards an agroecological grain system. Our vision is to see our movement more connected, organised and skilled as we move forward to change the grain system together. We believe a more diverse, democratic and decentralised grain system is possible.
Our CoP is made up of members of Regional Grain Networks (RGNs) across the UK. RGNs are grassroots groups of people working in regional networks to organise themselves to share knowledge, connect and put practical steps in place to rebuild local grain economies. RGNs tend to include a mix of farmers, millers, bakers, researchers and eaters. They can be vibrant communities of people working together to diversify the fields around them and revive regional foods and artisanship.
Our CoP members are, at present, from the following networks: South West Grain Network, Yorkshire Grain Alliance, Common Grains, Llafur Ni, South East Grain Alliance, East Anglia Grain Alliance, West Midlands Grain Network , Nottingham Mill Coop and the Real Bread Campaign (as an observer).
The RISE project is being coordinated by the Gaia Foundation’s Seed Sovereignty Programme, UK Grain Lab and Coventry University Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience.
RISE is funded by Farming the Future for two years, until the end of September 2027.
The RISE CoP is working together to share learning relating to diversity and inclusion, organisational co-design, and mobilisation of knowledge. Our CoP will provide the focal point for an extensive process of organisational co-design drawing upon consultation and implementation at the local level.
In practice;
- Our CoP meets bi-monthly, around a different topic. These meetings are hosted by varied CoP members and involve knowledge sharing and exploration around a live topic (eg, governance structures, machinery rings, financial sustainability).
- We will be holding four convening events across the two years, in which members of our RGNs will meet face to face. These events will rotate around the UK and will be hosted by RGNs.
- We will be holding six specialist workshops/webinars across the project, in which people with specific expertise will be brought in from outside our CoP to offer us insight into topics which we collectively decide to focus on. These workshops will be open to the public.
To foster a smoother flow of information and stronger communication between RGNs, we are coordinating a quarterly newsletter to share upcoming events, network updates and emergent practices. This newsletter is for anyone interested in being part of the agroecological grain transition. Sign up here: https://risenewsletter.substack.com/
Our values are Diversity, Democracy and Decentralisation.
To find out more about RISE, please contact [email protected]
Our team
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Financial Contributions
Top financial contributors
1
Farming the Future
£25,475 GBP since Jan 2026
RISE Project is all of us
Our contributors 4
Thank you for supporting RISE Project.
Budget
Transparent and open finances.
-£120.00 GBP
Approved
Meetings (Dec-Mar)
from Emma Shires to RISE Project •
-£216.00 GBP
Paid
-£120.00 GBP
Paid
£
Today’s balance£23,299.00 GBP
Total raised
£25,475.00 GBP
Total disbursed
£2,176.00 GBP
Estimated annual budget
£25,475.00 GBP