70 years ago, vegetable growing was all the rage – almost every family home contained a vegetable patch and orchard within it. Back in the late 1940s through to the 1980s, homegrown food was a big thing, with as many families as possible choosing to grow their own fruits and vegetables and lead more affordable and sustainable lives.
Studies have recently shown that once again food growing in the US has hit a high with more families choosing to grow their own produce which has lead to food growing in the US being at the highest levels seen in over a decade according to a report from the National Gardening Association.
Of course, in order to be able to grow produce from your garden, you need to invest in all of the right tools, from water tanks and fertiliser to gardening tools like spades and forks, in addition to ensuring that you have adequate irrigation in place. To get a better idea of what is needed to grow produce click here and have a browse of this useful website.
The statistics show that out of all households in America, five per cent (equating to 42 million households) are choosing to grow their own food at home or in a community garden. This statistic is set to rise by nearly 20% in the next five years.
Since 2008, there has been the largest increase in agricultural gardening seen in younger households with an increase of 63% (equating to 13 million households) since 2008. There have also been two million more households community gardening since 2008 which is an increase of 200% for community gardening.
Studies have shown that more young people are getting involved in home growing food, particularly the millennial population (people aged 18 to 34). Back in 2008, there were just eight million home growers, but in 2013 that figure rose to 13 million, which was an increase of 63%. Millenials also nearly doubled the amount spent on food gardening, increasing the amount from $632 million in 2008 to $1.2 billion in 2013 – that’s a significant increase.
It was also found that an increasing number of households with children chose to participate in food gardening, with an increase of 25% since 2008, going from 12 million families with children growing their own food, increasing to 15 million households.
There was also an increase in food gardening by households living in urban areas with an almost 30% increase, taking the number of urban food gardeners from seven million to nine million. With an additional two million households getting involved in community gardening in the same period, which equates to a 300% increase of community gardening.
What these statistics show is that there is a food revolution taking over in the US. There is an increasing number of people – particularly younger, more health-conscious people – choosing to get involved in growing their own foods. The growth already seen has been incredible and experts predict that this will continue to rise over the next five years significantly.
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