Food poverty has been hitting the headlines in the last two years. At the allotment it is getting close to harvest time for the Winter food favourites and many are thinking about a celebratory feast. Perhaps pulling that yule log home? There are cabbages a plenty around the plots. Also a few plot holders have been spotted walking home with a stem of brussels over their shoulder. Weaste plot holders are very aware of food poverty. Some need their plot to keep food on their table, others are keen to offer what they grow to others. Food is about community and sharing in every culture.
For those who do not know there is always something to harvest if you plant the right crops at the right times as shown in the Winter Allotment Leisure Gardener Magazine. Also, there are crops already pulled up which need to be checked to see they are staying fresh and undamaged in storage. Allotments were created after the war to help people to have cheap, fresh, nutritional food in their diet. Today they are often cited for their mental and physical benefits to plot holders with some social prescribing taking place. However, they are also for some still vital spaces for everyday food production.
This is a the time of year when many stop and reflect or pull family and friends closer to us. It can be a difficult time for people experiencing homelessness and food poverty. Food poverty may be a long-time issue or a short term issue due to changes in circumstance like the pandemic. Allotments can play their part in helping to alleviate this. Salford City Council has backed the Right to Food campaign since February this year. There were a lot of shocking headlines and battles during lock-down to get children experiencing food poverty fed. Repeated pressure from charities, councillors, and, of course, Marcus Rashford (amongst many), saw a voucher scheme created to prevent half-term holiday hunger. A lot of organisations and individuals created a variety of routes for people to be able to give food to those who had less.
Food Poverty Parcels
In Salford they provided over 3,500 food parcels in the 11 months to February 2021. They also gave out 2,000 vouchers to prevent children going hungry over half term. This was in addition to all of the food parcels provided by the many food banks across the city. There is of course The Food Bank network which in Salford has a collection box on the Salford Quays. Every area of Salford has it’s own meal project, set up and run by local people. Crowd funding and donations from sponsors and charities funding these enterprises.
Salford Food Parcels has a plot on the Weaste Allotment. It provides eggs via the chickens and some fruit and vegetables throughout the year. The growing on the plot is led by one of the Committee with assistance from several of the parcels recipients. Other plot holders are encouraged to pass any spare vegetables and fruit to them to go into the parcels. Children are not always the best for eating vegetables and they don’t fit particularly well in a lunch bag! So working with their community Salford Food Parcels helped to alleviate food poverty for 39 children in their community with a packed lunch three days a week in the 2020 holiday. This was supported by The Booth Charity whose centre is in Manchester.
Alleviating Food Poverty with Allotments
It is shocking to think that despite being in the top seven richest countries in the world, the UK had nearly six million adult and 1.7 million children not able to get enough food between September 2020 and February 2021.[Environment, Food and Rural Affairs committee report]. This is not just about people who are not able to work. The Child Poverty Action Group has indicated that at least one parent works in 72 per cent of families who are struggling to afford enough food. The children and grandchildren of plot holders are always a welcome sight at the plot. It is good to see them joining in and learning about growing. It helps create an understanding that there is another way to get food to the table as well as buying it. Being at the plot growing is also a positive message about food.
More and Different Allotments Needed
It would be lovely to think that those experiencing food poverty could all get an allotment and grow their own. A simple solution that would not be effective for many reasons. Allotments it is suggested are provided by councils on a 15:1,000 households ratio, in Salford there are 649 council-owned allotment plots on 26 sites for 103,556 households (2011) or 6:1,000 households. Housing stock is likely to have grown in the last 11 years too. This explains why waiting lists are never empty.
Those that can and have work often have child or parental care commitments. There is only so much time in a day so to manage a full plot may seem daunting. Plots can be shared by families and neighbours by agreement with the allotment management. Half plots are also available at many sites now. Many of those living in food poverty have a disability or are older with reduced mobility which makes some allotment tasks more difficult on a traditional flat plot. If people want more accessible plots they will need to approach their councillors to allocate more in neighbourhood plans.
BeEasy Access Project
Weaste is currently converting a plot into up to five growing spaces with trugs. These raised growing areas will be suitable for people who are struggling to bend or have reduced energy levels. Weaste is also looking at the potential to provide better access to the site and communal areas, however as a not-for-profit any ground surface and hard landscaping changes will require donations and crowd funding to complete. If you can donate expertise, labour time or materials we’d love to hear from you.