UK: City allotments could be as productive as conventional farms, research finds
Two-year pilot study in Brighton and Hove shows value of urban food production, say scientists
By Miranda Bryant
The Guardian
Wed 15 Dec 2021
Excerpt:
City allotments have the ability to rival the productivity of conventional farms, according to new research.
A two-year pilot study by the University of Sussex found that volunteer urban growers in Brighton and Hove were able to harvest 1kg of insect-pollinated fruit and vegetables per sq metre in a season – which researchers said put their yields within the range of conventional farms.
The project, which analysed the yields of 34 “citizen scientists” growing fruit and vegetables on their allotments, gardens and balconies, found that despite limited pesticide use they were each able to grow an average of £550 worth of produce between March and October.
Of the total figure, £380 of it was from insect-pollinated produce – such as squash, courgettes, blackberries, tomatoes, apples and beans – weighing an average of 70kg.
Berries were the most attractive crop to pollinators, the study found.
Across the two-year period, volunteers recorded more than 2,000 pollinating insects among their crops. The most common were bees, which accounted for 43% of all flower visits.
