People who cultivate their own vegetables tend to eat more healthy, live longer: Study
Food waste is not only damaging to your pocket, it's also bad for the environment too. Globally, 1.3 billion tonnes of food are wasted every year, generating about 8% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions. These emissions arise from unused food at all stages of the food supply chain, from production to decomposition.
However, our recent study revealed that those who grow their own food in gardens and allotments waste an average of just 3.4kg of fruits and vegetables — 95% less than the UK average. These households adopted various practices to minimise food waste, including preserving or giving away their excess produce.
There has been renewed interest in growing fresh produce in gardens, community gardens and allotments in the UK and elsewhere in recent years. But the available supply of allotments is not enough to meet increasing demand.
Allocating more land for household fruit and vegetable production could make a significant contribution to the availability of fresh produce for urban residents.
Research has shown that using a mere 10% of the available space in the English city of Sheffield for food cultivation could supply enough fruit and vegetables to meet the needs of 15% of the city's population. And more people growing their own food could also reduce waste.
Food Diaries
Our study involved 197 households in the UK that grow their own food. We asked them to maintain a food diary, where they recorded the amounts of fruits and vegetables they acquired each week. We received complete records from 85 separate households.
They specified whether each item was cultivated in their garden or allotment, bought from shops or markets, sourced from other growers, or foraged in the wild. The households also recorded the
