BRIEFING By Claire Thirlwall CMLI 1. Produce © istockphoto
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Climate emergency and local food production As part of a regular series, landscape architect and author Claire Thirlwall explores tools, projects and guidance available to help our professional understanding of this issue’s topic.
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or many UK residents, empty supermarket shelves in spring 2020 was their first experience of food scarcity. Despite appearances, there was no lack of food, but rather our fragile supply chains were unable to adjust to the sudden surge in demand. It was an important reminder of the consequences of the just-in-time system. Reliant on short lead times and low stock levels, even small fluctuations in demand can affect food availability. It isn’t clear if the subsequent surge in interest in vegetable growing was a response to the perceived scarcity, or just those with more time at home looking for a rewarding hobby. Google
Trends shows a surge in worldwide searches for the term “growing vegetable” increasing fivefold in late March 2020, with other terms such as “easiest vegetables to grow” showing a 300% increase. I was one of those suddenly growing vegetables at home for the first time in many years. I tried cucumber, watermelon and rare heritage tomatoes. It was a rewarding and welcome distraction, but despite the hours of time spent, it only counted for a tiny fraction of the food we needed, especially with all of our meals being made and eaten at home. As ethnobotanist James Wong wrote in an April 2020 article “Why we’re all growing vegetables”1,
“it would be irresponsible of me not to clarify one thing: the claims that growing your own is cheap and easy are simply not based on facts.” He acknowledges that growing our own food is rewarding and benefits our physical and mental health, but concludes that “the idea that growing your own will guarantee the average person significant cost savings, let alone any semblance of self-sufficiency, is best left to 70s sitcoms.” If conventional food growing at a domestic scale can be viewed as supplemental at most, what other options could be considered to build resilience into the supply of food in the city? 59
