The Scottish Government

Living off the Land

Monday, September 24, 2007

Tom Gray says: More allotments for those urban dwellers who appreciate the health giving benefits in both the production and eating of fresh produce. More farms for those who wish to enjoy rural living, engage in food production and subsidise, from off farm income, the priceless lifestyle to be enjoyed there. More opportunity for those youngsters condemned to urban living to not only see and be told how food is produced by those who enjoy producing it, but actually gain the faintest hope that they could one day have the chance to enjoy producing it themselves.

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Comments

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• 1. Patricia Murray - Edinburgh

  Tuesday, February 12, 2008 15:39

  I support the increased emphasis on growing your own food. I have a small garden which we do on occassion successfully grow vegetables and herbs, however, would welcome a dedicated allotment space. The issue is with supply and demand. I have just read Edinburgh Council's allotment strategy which states there are 450 people on waiting lists for 1100 allotments. I'm aware that in Glasgow there are similar issues. A serious committment needs to be made to expand allotment capacity so that the number of people enjoying home produce can be increased, as not only is the food better for you it would also, as much research has shown, improve our mental and physical health which hits on many of the other Scottish Government agendas.
  
  Another suggestion would be to increase the number of community/green spaces with allotment elements included.
  
  Patricia Murray

• 2. Iain Anderson - St.Monans, Fife

  Tuesday, February 12, 2008 21:43

  Agree totally on expanding allotment provision. I am a member of the East Fife Allotment Association who are trying to establish a new allotment site in Upper Largo. We have submitted a formal response to the consultation highlighting the opportunity for people to grow their own food and encouraging the government to actively support this. In England the lottery has a new £50million fund to support community food initiatives. We can perhaps learn from our friends down south.

• 3. Daye Tucker - Balfron

  Tuesday, February 12, 2008 23:42

  Allotments are one element in the fight to regain control of what we eat. Allotments have the potential to create an outcome which results in social, educational and health benefits for communities.
  Councils sooner, rather than later must identify and make available, ground for their communities to manage. Excess produce must be allowed to be sold and the funds invested back into the community. It's a win win situation.

• 4. Heidi - Glasgow

  Wednesday, February 13, 2008 16:33

  Heartily agree with comments posted. I run a community allotment for volunteers. Local school-children are scarily ignorant of where food comes from and what it looks like. Some have never seen vegetables with mud on them, let along a pea coming out of a pod! I think we should encourage more schools to have their own allotments on school grounds. Understanding how to grow your own produce empowers people to take ownership of their health and diet. A cheaper and easier solution than dealing with the obesity costs to the NHS in later years surely?

• 5. Ewan Wells - Ormskirk

  Sunday, February 17, 2008 17:22

  Allotments are big news here at the moment. They are coming under fire due to their perceived bad council management in the last few years. Users are now banding together and there are moves afoot to get an independant management company involed, together with users having more power in the spending budjet. There appears to be a revival, and renewed interest in growing your own produce.
  

• 6. Jennifer Dunn - Glasgow

  Tuesday, February 19, 2008 14:46

  More allotments would be good, but there's not always land available in urban areas to make into allotment space. Brownfield sites may not be suitable because of land contamination, and people who use existing greenspace might object to it being turned into allotments.
  
  Another solution would be to have vegetable patches in tenement gardens. Not all, but a lot of tenement gardens aren't well used at the moment.
  
  In tenements factored by social landlords, it should be reasonably easy to encourage them to pilot some vegetable patches. Private factors would be more awkward, but there's nothing to stop occupiers taking a lead.
  
  Another part of the problem is that people in tenements often don't know their neighbours so may be reluctant to use a communal space, but then, putting a shared resource other than the bins in a back court would encourage some community feeling.

• 7. Rhona MacKenzie - Longniddry

  Tuesday, February 19, 2008 15:09

  How about some intergenerational work and "joined up" thinking in local communities. Many elderly residents have gardens that they worry about maintaining - could'nt those individuals/ families who desire to grow their own veg offer to maintain the garden in return for use of ground for growing vegetables. My husband did this for years within our village to the benefit of all involved. Might need some mediation but worth a thought!

• 8. Daye Tucker - Balfron

  Friday, February 22, 2008 11:52

  There are some great ideas here. What about designing raised,suspended, rotating beds, a pulley system, for tight tenement space areas? A design competition/challenge for our design students. Recycled compost from neighbours excess waste. Neighbourhood competitions.

• 9. Sue Matthews - Edinburgh

  Monday, April 14, 2008 22:26

  I think the idea of bridging the age-gap with shared garden/allotment space sounds great. I was dissappointed to see a number of allotments replaced with flats over the last year on my street. (I appreciate that there is a housing shortage, but its not as if Edinburgh Council was meeting its 'affordable housing policy' when these apartments will sell for in excess of £500,000.)
  
  I also feel strongly about encouraging vegetable/plant/herb growing within schools. I loved learning how to grow food at school and wish we could have been taught more!
  
  Its worrying how much knowledge is being lost from generation to generation in self-sufficient food production. How is it possible that today's children can barely identify vegetables in the supermarket, when only two generations ago our nation's health/nutrtion depended on small-time/local food production.
  

• 10. Tom Gray - Perthshire

  Wednesday, April 16, 2008 04:55

  In attempting to answer Sue's question, might I suggest that two generations ago children were two generations closer to their rural roots and I have no doubt that considerably more parents and grandparents at that time had first hand knowledge of food production.
  Our key problem is our ancient landowning structure which has driven many needlessly to urbanisation and rejection of the countryside. This has created a huge urban/rural divide.
  The next problem, which has simply exacerbated the first, is the guard them like the crown jewels attitude toward uncapped farming subsidies.
  National food production policy has been driven largely by the self interest bodies, "stakeholders" as they are commonly called today. Farming and landowning lobbyists, with the ear of successive governments friendly to their cause, have guarded uncapped subsidies as the key to further prosperity. Inevitably and sadly this prosperity has only benefited the ever-decreasing number of farmers and estate owners free to gain the subsidies on land once farmed by family farmers.
  The result is Scotland-wide rural clearance, serious lack of opportunity for new entrants to agriculture and a population further distanced from food production.
  The real stakeholders in all this should be consumers. They provide the subsidies and need to ensure their distribution in the best interests of consumers.

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