I really don’t understand why people are so quick to dismiss community gardens as nothing more than a hobby. There’s actually quite a bit of research showing just how much food you can grow in relatively small spaces.
A 2022 review of 200 studies found that urban agriculture can produce as much, and sometimes considerably more, per square metre than conventional farming. There’s also research from Sheffield showing that urban growing could potentially cover more than half of the city’s fruit and vegetable needs.
And that’s without really getting into what’s possible with greenhouses, hydroponics, vertical growing or simply preserving what you harvest.
Of course you’re not going to replace an entire supermarket with a few vegetable beds, but why is that even the standard we’re using? If a community can grow a meaningful part of its own food and spend less on groceries, isn’t that already a pretty good reason to do it?
I find it strange how quickly people jump from “it can’t solve everything” to “it’s completely pointless.”
Sources:
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9540868/
I mean, it DOES happen. A few of us in our area garden, have chickens, bees or make baked goods. We typically plan out what everyone is going to produce and how much we need and share. You’d be surprised how much you can grow on a relatively small plot. We used to be in the might of town on a standard plat, and had about 1000 square feet of vegetable garden, bee hives, half dozen chickens and a bunch of fruit trees. We produced about 80% of the produce for our family of 7. Now we’re in the country and have doubled those numbers, plus added goats and pigs. There is a substantial set up cost, and it’s hard to do as a renter, but definitely possible.
Check what COOP is in Italy.
If everyone grew a few things in their yard Ms and traded with neighbors things would improve
At least in the US that’d probably get you a bombing of some sort.
