THE SURGE of interest in “urban farming” – growing your own fruit and vegetables at home, in group schemes or in allotments – is a good-news story arising from the economic recession. Many more people are becoming convinced it makes sense in financial terms and are then discovering how much this kind of gardening adds to their personal fulfilment, family cohesion, natural understanding and taste for good food and cooking.
An activity which so multiplies the rewards from the initial effort involved deserves public support and encouragement, as Teagasc has recognised by publishing its Guide to Vegetable Growing. Explaining the initiative, its author Stephen Alexander said both the authority and the Department of Agriculture had noticed a major upsurge in interest and demand for information, mainly from urban callers but from some farmers as well. It is only in the last generation that most farmers have stopped growing their own vegetables, affected by the supermarket revolution that hit urban populations somewhat earlier and was then intensified during the boom. As a result we have lost a lot of the practical knowledge about our food taken for granted before that when much more of it was grown at home.
Visitors from elsewhere in Europe are often perplexed to observe how little food is grown in urban and rural Ireland compared to their own countries. Who has travelled in Italy, France, Germany, Poland, Romania or Russia and not marvelled at the industry and diligence applied to small holdings and gardens to grow beans, potatoes, spinach, beetroot, cabbage or fruit crops – and often to store them for winter use too? As Mr Alexander says: “People should be aware they can take a large amount of food from a very small area, and this can save the average family a great deal of money annually”. There is no good reason why Irish families should not discover, or rediscover, that reality, which makes a lot of difference to family budgets.
Television and other media have helped stimulate the public interest by highlighting the many benefits of such a modest self-sufficiency. It would be pleasant to discover that it is not limited only to urban households. The economic geography of Irish farming makes it possible to travel long distances without seeing anything growing in fields other than grass for grazing. Isn’t it about time more farmers rediscovered the joys of growing their own food as well – and then found ways to make an unsubsidised income from it?