Should we be growing food in Scottish cities?
Rapid Evidence Review: Urban and Peri-Urban Agriculture in Scotland
By Ishaan Patil
The Herald
May 1, 2024
Excerpt:
But our review suggests it’s worth considering. A spin-off benefit is the potential to create new businesses and business models around producing and getting food to people.
This could include technology innovation, such as vertical farming, which could even be housed in re-purposed buildings. There is already interest, with companies like Intelligent Growth Solutions (IGS), hosted at our Invergowrie campus, pursuing this concept. New ways of growing and storing crops are also part of what we’re working on with stakeholders in our Tay Cities Region Deal-funded Advanced Plant Growth Centre.
New, innovative and experimental forms of food production and distribution could spur new micro-businesses, such as The Wash House Garden in Glasgow, which produces fruit and vegetables, but also runs classes on how to use the produce and rents their space for additional income.
To overcome the barriers, such as land-use changes and support for new business models, it means looking beyond just food policy. Perhaps by looking at land in and on the edges of cities a bit differently, there could be an opportunity to boost what we grow locally, boost innovation and local food networks, and provide the social and health benefits that our more common allotments and community gardens offer by connecting people back to food?
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