Children from schools across Barking and Dagenham will swap the classroom for market stalls this summer as they sell fresh, school-grown fruit and vegetables to the public in support of a great cause.
The Young Marketeers and Know Your Onions Barking and Dagenham Market Day will take place on Friday 3 July from 12-2pm at Barking Market.
Children from eight local primary schools and two secondary schools have spent the past few months growing produce from seed with support from expert gardeners as part of Young Marketeers and Know Your Onions, food education programmes run by charity School Food Matters and funded by Barking and Dagenham Council.
Now, they’ll harvest and sell their produce to shoppers, putting their new gardening, teamwork and marketing skills into practice while learning more about where food comes from.
Visitors to Barking Market can expect to find the children selling a colourful selection of seasonal produce, including beans, cauliflower, courgettes, kale, leeks, lettuce, peas, potatoes, radishes, spinach, spring onions and tomatoes, as well as mint and strawberries.
Young Marketeers and Know Your Onions help children and young people develop practical gardening and enterprise skills while nurturing a life-long positive relationship with food, providing hands-on outdoor learning opportunities and increasing awareness of food waste. Giving access to food education equips children with the knowledge, confidence and appreciation of nutritious, sustainable food needed to make healthy, informed choices well into adulthood.
Stephanie Slater MBE, Founder and Chief Executive of School Food Matters, said:
“Food education is a vital life skill, and hands-on experiences such as growing and selling fresh produce can help children build a real connection with food and where it comes from. For 15 years, our Young Marketeers programme has been giving children the chance to learn new skills, work as a team and take pride in what they've grown. Market Day is a celebration of the value of food education and a moment for hundreds of enterprising young gardeners across the country to shine.”
Money raised from sales on the day will be donated to Plan Zheroes, a London-based food redistribution charity that rescues quality surplus food and delivers it to organisations supporting people in need across the capital.
Last year, Young Marketeers reached 120 schools in 14 cities across England. Feedback from participating children highlighted the programme’s impact, with 86% saying they learned a new gardening skill, 60% learning more about where food comes from, and 52% discovering something new about healthy eating. Now in its 15th year, the programme continues to grow and will be delivered in 16 cities in 2026.
