Page 48 - ALG Issue 2 2017

CUT OUT AND PIN TO YOUR ALLOTMENT NOTICEBOARD
Exciting research project needs you!
MYHarvest (Measure Your Harvest) is your opportunity to participate in an exciting research project that will estimate the contribution people who grow their own fruit and vegetable crops are making to UK national food production.
At present, there is a recognition that own-growing in the UK makes a really important contribution to food security, healthy diets and general well-being, but we currently have a poor understanding of how much own-grown food people are able to produce. This will be key to providing the vital evidence base to support the use of land for growing spaces within our cities and towns, at a time when people are becoming increasingly interested in growing their own fruit and vegetables.
The research team at the University of Shef eld are working with members of the public growing food in allotments, gardens and other own-growing spaces across the UK to understand the yield of typical UK fruit and vegetable crops.
By providing the team with the area of land you use to grow a crop and the weight of the crop you harvest you would be:
Contributing to a rst national estimate of own-grown food production in the 21st century.
Helping us to understand how much allotment and garden space we need in the future to ensure suf cient access for the growing number of people in our cities and towns.
To nd out more visit the website: myharvest.org.uk. Twitter: @ myharvestuk. Facebook: myharvest.
The National Allotment Society is very keen for members to get involved with the MYHarvest project. The information gathered will help us to argue for new allotment provision and reinforce
our message about the many bene ts of allotment growing.
Phil Gomersall, our President elect, went along to the launch at Shef eld University and supported the MYHarvest team at the Harrogate Flower Show in April.
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fig 1. growing beds width
length
your crop growing area
fig 3. bathroom scales
your harvest
Use a measuring tape to measure the width and length of each fruit or vegetable crop growing area. Multiply the width by the length to give you the area. Measurements can be taken in either feet or metres, but please select the correct units on the website when logging your crop (please see figure 1 for details).
If you are logging a fruit tree we need to estimate the area of ground that your tree covers (this the tree canopy). All we need to do this is the distance from the tree trunk to farthest leaves (please see figure 2).
Most crops are harvested regularly over the growing season, other crops (like potatoes and onions) can be harvested at one time. You can submit your crop weights as you harvest them (and the website will add up your total harvest) or you can submit a total weight when you have finished harvesting your crop. You can submit your harvest weights in either kilograms (e.g. 2.6 kg) or ounces (e.g. 20 oz - click here to get a simple chart to convert your harvest weight in pounds and ounces to just ounces).
Harvest your crop as you normally would and trim it as you might expect to buy it from a farm store (for crop specific guidelines, see the table below). Small, regular harvests can weighed on kitchen scales. Large harvests can be weighed in batches on your kitchen scales or on bathroom scales using this method:
1. Stand on the bathroom scales and write down your weight
1.7m
3.2m
width = 1.7m x length = 3.2m =
area = 5.44m2
weight 2 = 93kg - weight 1 = 80kg =
crop = 13kg
canopy radius
2. Pick up your harvest and write down your weight with the harvest
3. Subtract your weight from the weight of you holding your crop to calculate the weight of your harvest
You can download these instructions here.
You can also print out a MYHarvest recording sheet by clicking here.
fig 4. kitchen scales
measuring
weighing
fig 2. fruit tree
weight 1 = 80kg
weight 2 = 93kg