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Give it a grow!
Grow your own and you’ll reap the rewards – new research reveals that city veg patches can be as productive as farms! Volunteer growers participating in a two-year study harvested 1kg of insectpollinated fruit and vegetables per square metre per season – yields comparable to a commercial farm, and with fewer pesticides.
The 30 green-fingered citizen scientists grew their produce in allotments, gardens and balconies in Brighton, each cultivating an average of £550 worth of goods per year.
They also recorded more than 2,000 pollinating insects visiting their crops.
Study leader Dr Beth Nicholls says, ‘The UK imports approximately £8 billion of fruit and vegetables each year. But our results show that green spaces in cities could play an important role in meeting that demand at a local scale.’