"'Urban farmers' ... plant the seeds of a food revolution"

The rate of growth (no pun intended) and scale of this project is what impresses me. From The Guardian...

People visiting Middlesbrough last year may have wondered why there were radishes and pumpkins being grown where they might have expected to see carnations and dahlias. All over the town, disused urban spaces were turned into fertile corners bursting with freshly grown fruit and vegetables as more than 1,000 residents took part in a project aimed at changing the way they think about food. This year, the results could be even more spectacular.

The idea of the urban farming project was to make people more aware of food miles, improve health and aid regeneration of the borough, which contains the ninth most deprived area in the UK. Groundwork South Tees advised schools, mental health hospitals, residential care homes and retailers on planting and growing many varieties of herbs, vegetables and fruit. Containers of different sizes were used so people could cultivate whatever space they had.

Middlesbrough borough council turned over parkland, town-centre planters and other landholdings for fruit and vegetable growing. The eight-month project culminated in a town meal outside the Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art, where up to 8,000 people shared meals from the food that had been grown.

This year, Middlesbrough plans to supply seeds and containers to anyone interested, and already has 2,000 individuals and groups lined up, including 31 out of 51 schools, with 280 growing sites. "This has caught people's imagination. But we've gone beyond novelty now and people want to make it a mainstream activity," says Ian Collingwood, a regeneration consultant at the council.

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The food and farming alliance Sustain says there needs to be a change in the way urban land is perceived. "There's a lot of space in towns and cities that is just green desert. It's there just to look at," says Ben Reynolds, London food links officer at Sustain. He has just returned from the US where he was learning about successful urban farming projects. He thinks there is plenty of potential for similar schemes in the UK. As a starting point, he believes that planners, architects and developers have a central role in incorporating food-growing areas into new developments.

Meanwhile, derelict land, public parks and green areas among social housing could be set aside for small-scale agriculture. Even in big cities, where building tends to be high-density, green roofs could support types of food that require little water or nutrients.

Read the whole article.