Market research

We sometimes need to have a handy repository of research talking about who grows their own food, the rise in food growing, the increased need for food security, etc. This page is that repository!

When adding items to this page, please look for "reputable" sources -- mainstream media, academics, industry studies, etc. Not personal blogs or websites of individuals or small groups.

More people growing their own food

 * Food Gardening Sales Total $3 billion for the Second Year In a Row (National Gardening Association, USA, 2011)
 * According to the just-released results of National Gardening Association's 2011 National Gardening Survey, consumers spent nearly $3 billion for the second year in a row on food gardening last year while sales for other types of lawn and garden activities saw a small decline. In 2010, sales for vegetable gardening, fruit trees, berries and herb gardening totaled $2.990 billion and $2.989 billion in 2009. ″That's the highest level of spending on food gardening seen in more than a decade and a 20% increase over the $2.409 billion consumers spent in 2008 before the economic downturn″ said Bruce Butterfield, NGA Research Director.


 * 7 Reasons Why You Should Grow Your Own Food (TLC Home, USA, 2009)
 * That's right, having your own vegetable garden is now trendy. In fact according to the 2009 Edibles Gardening Trends Research Report conducted by the Garden Writer?s Association (GWA) Foundation, over 41 million U.S. households, or 38 percent planted a vegetable garden in 2009. And, more than 19.5 million households (18 percent) grew an herb garden and 16.5 million households (15 percent) grew fruits during the same period.


 * The study found that there was a growth in edible gardening from both experienced gardeners and from an influx of new gardeners: 92 percent of respondents had previous experience and 7 percent (7.7 million households) were new edible gardeners.


 * And one-third of the experienced gardeners grew more edibles in 2009 than in the previous year. The GWA indicates that given the strong response for plans to grow more edibles into 2010, the vegetable gardening trend will continue and there will likely be a new high level of edible gardening activity this year.


 * Another survey done by the American Gardening Association showed a 19 percent increase in new hobby country farms and urban edible gardens in 2009 over 2008.


 * 'Rising numbers' of Britons growing own food (BBC, UK, 2012)
 * Nearly a third of British adults grow their own food, with many believing it to be healthier, a study suggests. One in six adults have started growing their own food in the last four years, according to the poll commissioned by City of London. Half (51%) of those surveyed said they would consider growing their own fruit vegetables and herbs - or growing more - if food prices rose further.


 * Grow your own: making Australian cities more food-secure (The Conversation, Australia, 2012)
 * "So, as part of the broader project of making our cities more resilient in the face of climate change we need to take up the challenge of improving urban food security. Urban agriculture in all its forms can play an important role in this, but it will require new thinking and changes in how we choose to feed ourselves." -- Article by Paul Burton, Professor of Urban Management and Planning at Griffith University.


 * As food prices rise, more people grow their own: Seed and gardening companies see an upsurge in interest (MSNBC, USA, 2008)
 * High prices at the pump and the produce aisle have sent home gardeners into their yards with a mission: Grow-it-yourself dining. Sales of vegetable seeds, tomato transplants and fruit trees are soaring as enterprising planters grow their own food. W. Atlee Burpee & Co., the nation’s largest seed company, has sold twice as many seeds this year as it did last year, with half the increase from new customers, the company’s president, George Ball, estimates. “When we saw the gas prices go up, we said, ’Oh boy,”’ Ball said.


 * Money woes mean one in four is leading the Good Life and growing own vegetables (Daily Mail, UK, 2011)
 * A Which? report yesterday revealed that the primary driving force is saving money as prices for food and basics such as fuel and energy rise relentlessly.


 * More young people growing their own food in Far North (The Cairns Post, Australia, 2011)
 * The latest figures from the TD-Securities Melbourne Institute Monthly Inflation Gauge show Queensland’s spate of natural disasters has pushed up fruit and vegetable prices 11.3 per cent since last month leading some in the Far North to get back to basics and grow their own vegetables. “People are realising that they can save money by growing their food,” Cairns Garden Club president Fran Lindsay said.

Demand for allotments/community garden plots

 * Losing the Plot (The Guardian, UK, 2011)
 * "According to the Allotment Waiting List report for 2011 (naslg.com) there are 57 people waiting per 100 plots in the UK. That adds up to more than 86,000 people in the UK whose dreams of digging for victory are on hold."


 * Allotment waiting lists reach up to 40 years (The Telegraph, UK, 2009)
 * "There are, according to the National Society of Allotment & Leisure Gardeners, over 100,000 people on a waiting list for an allotment around Britain."


 * Three year waiting list for community gardens (Canberra Times, Australia, 2011)
 * "We can't keep up with the demand ... It's continuing to grow and there's no doubt that there'll be more gardens in the future." ... Mr Colls said the increasing demand for community garden space was due in part to the growing numbers of people living in apartments, as well as the smaller plot sizes in developing suburbs.

Recent development of school food gardens

 * FAO: Food and nutrition security (Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, 2010)
 * School gardens are a proven means of promoting child nutrition. They familiarize children with horticulture, provide fresh fruit and vegetables for healthy school meals, help teachers develop nutrition courses and, when replicated at home, improve family nutrition as well. Over the past 10 years, FAO has provided tools, seeds and training to establish thousands of school gardens in more than 30 countries.

In Non-WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialised, Rich, Democratic) countries

 * FAO: Food and nutrition security (Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, 2010)
 * FAO's programme for UPH also promotes home, school and community gardens, where the urban poor grow their own fruit and vegetables and earn income from the sale of surpluses. In the Plurinational State of Bolivia, FAO helped to introduce community greenhouses and micro-gardens in the municipality of El Alto, where 70 percent of residents live in poverty and 40 percent of children under five are malnourished.


 * Some 1 500 families were trained to grow a wide variety of vegetables, herbs, medicinal plants and fruits in small, low-cost greenhouses. The result was a general improvement in child nutrition and family savings (averaging $US30 a month), which were spent on eggs and meat. Similar benefits were reported in Caracas after the government installed 4 000 micro-gardens in the city's poor barrios. In Ecuador, vegetable micro-gardens at 54 child development centres feed 2 500 children and earn enough from sales to be self-supporting.


 * FAO helped women in poor neighbourhoods of Dakar to start micro-gardens in their backyards and on patios and rooftops. Per square metre, the gardens produce each year up to 30 kg of tomatoes, lettuce and beans, which has led to a doubling of vegetable consumption among participating families.

Threat of food crisis, local food growing as solution

 * UN warns of looming worldwide food crisis in 2013 (The Guardian, UK, 2012)
 * "We are entering a new era of rising food prices and spreading hunger. Food supplies are tightening everywhere and land is becoming the most sought-after commodity as the world shifts from an age of food abundance to one of scarcity," says Brown. "The geopolitics of food is fast overshadowing the geopolitics of oil."


 * Food Shortage "The Next Global Challenge" (SBS, Australia, 2010)
 * The Director of the Victorian Eco-Innovation Lab Professor Chris Ryan says we need to look for alternative and innovative approaches to dealing with resource scarcity and environmental change.


 * "Over the next few decades the way people obtain their food, water and energy will undergo a major evolution," he said.


 * “One pathway we can see is people no longer relying on industrial production units hundreds or thousands of kilometres, or even continents, away. Instead they will source a greater proportion of essential resources, goods and services from within their ‘neighbourhood’,” Professor Chris Ryan said.