Page 59 - ALG Issue 4 2020

sites, as we all know demand is far outstripping supply.
Allotments allow people to reduce their carbon footprint, cut the energy used
to process and ship food around the world, and inadvertently help tackle climate change at the same time. There is a renewed awareness that shipping food around the planet is not good for anyone. New plotholders want to reduce their carbon footprint and can see that growing their own is a good way to do that. Is this something we should be emphasising in any or all advertising for additional sites? Allotments also allow members an opportunity for sustainable waste management, through recycling and composting. People are much more aware of the need to reduce plastic and cardboard packaging on food. If you grow your own crops, they are totally plastic and cardboard free. The knock-on effect of fewer people buying fruit and veg in supermarkets
is that less packaging goes to landfill each year. In 2017 11.5 million tons of packaging went to landfill, of that only 7.4 million tons was recycled (Source Defra Statistics). In addition, crops help absorb CO2, a problem which, forecasts suggest, will only get worse with climate change.
When I got an allotment, somebody
told me that there were 27 sprays on potatoes grown by commercial growers; it made me more aware of how much better for you home-grown crops
are. Last year I did further research
into residues in commercially grown crops, and the more I read the more
I appreciated that organic growing
is the way forward. New members
are far more environmentally aware; they know that biological controls for pests are far better than chemicals. In addition, they understand that growing plants and flowers that attract bees, butterflies and a myriad of other insects
that are themselves, in turn, food for birds, is a necessary part of gardening.
I was a Senior Data Analyst for most of my working life and this statistic I find frightening – in 2019 there were 190,000 bee colonies in the UK. Pesticides
and Herbicides caused (on average)
the deaths of 300 bees per colony per day, that is almost 36 million bees per day across all the colonies combined, and 13 billion bees per year. Before lockdown, NADCAA was starting to work with the Devon Wildlife Trust, to highlight the danger to insect life. Is it possible that the new S.W. Branch could possibly partner up with the new S.W. Wildlife Trust? If it means saving our wildlife I do hope so!
COVID-19 has been terrible, but if
one good thing came out of it, it was that it re-engaged people with the environment. With so many people enquiring about allotments during lockdown, non-gardeners suddenly realised something that we already knew, that an allotment is good for
your physical and mental wellbeing, especially during the nightmare that has been (and still is) COVID-19. Allotments help encourage social interaction between plotholders, they promote social wellbeing and the development of community spirit; they are an outdoor classroom for people to learn from
the experience of others. The whole ethos of allotment gardening is that it
is affordable to everyone regardless of their social or economic background. We are custodians of a part of British life that has existed for centuries and we lose or mismanage it at our peril. It feels like the planets are all aligned in favour of allotments. Climate Change, Carbon Footprint Reduction, Residue Free crops and a significant increase in people wanting a plot.
Before the world of COVID-19 and lockdown, the meeting of associations
The whole ethos of allotment gardening is that it is affordable to everyone regardless of their social or economic background
Credit: https://www.isqaper-project.eu/news/242-article- pesticide-residues-in-european-agricultural-soils
from across the South West in Yeovil was, I believe, a turning point for allotments across the region, and
I am very flattered that the short speech I gave has been described
as ‘inspirational’ in the Allotment & Leisure Gardener Magazine. At that meeting I said that I felt that we all owed it to our grandchildren to save, promote and increase the number of allotments that are available to the public. The knowledge we have must be passed on, and the benefits we are all more than aware off ourselves, shared more widely. Here in Newton Abbot there have been over 1,800 unique visits to our website since the start of the year. Over 200 visits to the page for a new field that isn’t open yet and will only have 22 half plots on it. If this is being replicated across the South West, if not the country, we need to rise to
the challenge and pressure councils
for more sites with more plots right now, and provide a ‘Gold Standard’ allotment field layout template to give to all developers that provide allotments under S106 orders.
I see the SWB as an organisation that can bring people together through county meetings maybe by Zoom, as I know travelling has been a stumbling block in the past. Opportunity doesn’t come calling very often; if we fail to capitalise on over half a million people wanting an allotment, if we don’t help the people who want to reduce their carbon footprint, if we don’t help those people who want chemical free food, if we fail to do something to protect our wildlife and most importantly if we fail to pass on our knowledge to the young, then it will, in my opinion, be nothing short of criminal. To conclude, that is the vision. It is my hope that with the help and support of the other elected officers we can build a strong South West Branch, share the good practice from Bournemouth to Penzance and really make a difference to all allotment associations in the South West.
Tim Callard
South West Branch Chair
07805 398618 / tcallard.nas@gmail.com
Allotment and Leisure Gardener 59