A Welsh Food Revolution?

There are many good reasons to change the way we source our food. The price of food is on the increase, we don't fully understand the effects of additives in processed food, climate change is turning parts of the world into desert and biofuels have replaced food crops resulting in food shortages. It is estimated that world food supplies would have to double in the next 40 years to feed a population of nine billion, while at the same time, farmers must cope with climate change, oil price rises and new plant and animal diseases.

A report from MPs out last week said "Only 10% of the fruit consumed in the UK by value is grown here. Apple orchards have reduced by nearly 33% in just 10 years and less than a third of the apples eaten here are grown here", while in 2005 Britain imported 1,500 tonnes of potatoes and exported exactly the same amount.

According to Sustain

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has calculated that, globally, agriculture generates 30% of total man-made emissions of greenhouse gases, including half of methane emissions and more than half of the emissions of nitrous oxide.
In the EU, over 30% of the greenhouse gases from consumer purchases come from the food and drink sector.
Latest conservative estimates from the Food Climate Research Network in the UK suggest that almost one-fifth of the UK’s total greenhouse gas emissions are associated with our food and drink.

We have to change the way we source our food and the single greatest contribution we can all make in reducing our individual carbon emissions is to eat as much of our own-grown food as possible.

Growing-your-own provides good exercise and has obvious other health and financial benefits. It can also help to bring people together. On my allotment, young and older people work together sharing plants and tips in a spirit of communalism. We all rely on each other - a plant disease on one plot can affect us all.

Demand for allotments is growing. At the beginning of the year I did some research which showed that there are 2,500 people on waiting lists for an allotment in Wales and that some people will have to wait up to nine years! The 1908 Small Holdings and Allotment Act says the council has a duty to provide land if they are satisfied there is demand and if six electors petition that council, their representations have to be taken into consideration. Since then I have found plenty of examples of groups of people who have petitioned their council only to be told that the council has considered their request, but there is no land available.

I've visited community owned urban food production gardens in Cuba and I'm keen to see if we can do something similar here in Wales. Tomorrow, I am hosting a "summit" of all the contacts I have made while working on allotments and I am hoping that the meeting will generate ideas for making more land available for those who want to grow their own.

Riverside Community Garden

Plaid Cymru AM Elin Jones, who is also Minister for Rural Affairs, today joined Riverside Councillor Mohammed Islam and myself on a visit to the innovative Riverside Community Garden project.

The scheme enables local people to get together to grow their own fresh food. Allotments have so many benefits, all of which can be seen at the Riverside project. It brings people together from different generations and cultures as well as providing great opportunities for health improvement. They have strong links with Riverside Farmers' Market and are hoping to be able to sell their excess produce there in the future.

I’ve recently obtained figures which show that there are lengthy waiting lists in many local authority areas for allotments. Elin is committed to expanding local food production, particularly in urban areas. Riverside Community Garden shows the potential we have to be more self sufficient and therefore sustainable in. RCG a model that is worth promoting as one that should be rolled out in other urban areas. All we need is more allotment land!

'Growing' Concern for Allotments

GARDENERS wanting to grow their own food face a wait of up to NINE years for a plot on a council allotment site in Wales. I have carried out a national survey of local authorities in Wales to find out how they are responding to the growing demand for allotments.

A total of 2,750 people are on the waiting list at the fourteen local authorities that supplied complete data. Some councils are looking to provide more land, but other local authorities have said that they have no plans to release more land for food growing.

Even more troubling is the revelation that many people face waits of several years to get one. The longest waits are in Monmouthshire, where there are just two local authority sites and 86 people queuing for a plot, with a waiting time of between three and nine years.

I’ve spoken to allotment holders and people on waiting lists all over Wales. Councils are supposed to provide enough allotment land, yet these figures show that most are not. Local food growing has so many benefits - people get good exercise, good quality cheap food and it enables us to stay in close contact with nature, which has proven benefits in terms of mental health. The climate crisis adds further impetus to expand local food growing projects. Plaid has campaigned for more growing land for our communities for some time, and these figures show the need to continue that campaign.

I am calling for the Welsh Government to put together and fund a national strategy for local food. A good start would be a dedicated member of staff in each local authority who could co-ordinate local food growing and organise community gardening projects. We could then promote allotment gardening and expand the opportunities to teach young people how to produce food and work with the land.