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UK’s urban farms on the rise
photo by Gianpaolo Fusari (wazuluwazu on Flickr CC)
Honey from Newcastle, vegetables grown in Nottingham and London cheese are just a few examples of urban produce now being grown and sold in British cities. All across the country, people are increasingly choosing to grow their own food for reasons of economics, health and in order to feel a connection to their food and the land.
Sustain, a UK alliance for better food and farming, has launched an online project called City Harvest for ‘demonstrating and promoting the benefits of Urban Agriculture’. Sustain’s scheme Capital Growth, funded by the Mayor of London, includes some 1,500 growing spaces in London – a 30-fold increase since its launch in 2008, according to Sustain’s new report, ‘A Growing Trade’.
From the Independent:
Across the country, more than 2,000 new spaces for growing food have been created over the past three years. And this is just the start of the upsurge of inner-city farming. Already, eco-designers have been invited to look round the Olympic site in east London to see if there is potential for a farm after the Games.
For more information on urban farming in London see the following paper, published online by Canada’s office of urban agriculture (don’t be confused it’s still about London, England and not London, Ontario) entitled ‘Economic Costs and Benefits of Urban Agriculture in East London’.
There is also a list of London farms, which are open to visits from the public, on the Mayor of London’s website for young people.
Tags: agriculture, farm, farming, food, london, sustain, UK, urban
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This is one of my dreams for my city is to have this kind of project , a sustainable organic gardening at least 5 for every municipality…Right now we only have one which is very far from my place I’ve got the chance to visit it twice…The experience of seeing your herbs, spices, veggies taken out from the soil, cut from the vines, hand picked from the branches is quite an awe. especially for the kids which they could only see veggies inside the crisper and on market shelves….there is this therapeutic effect after visiting the place…..
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