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‘Growing your own’: A multi-level modelling approach to understanding personal food growing trends and motivations in Europe

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  • Church, A.
  • Mitchell, R.
  • Ravenscroft, N.
  • Stapleton, L.M.

Abstract

Growing food for personal and family consumption is a significant global activity, but one that has received insufficient academic attention, particularly in developed countries. This paper uses data from the European Quality of Life Survey (EQLS) to address three areas of particular concern: the prevalence of growing your own food and how this has changed over time; the individual and household context in which growing takes place; and whether those who grow their own food are happier than those who do not. Results showed that there was a marked increase in growing your own food in Europe, in the period 2003–2007. This increase is largely associated with poorer households and thus, possibly, economic hardship. In the UK however the increase in growing your own food is predominantly associated with older middle class households. Across Europe, whether causal or not, those who grew their own were happier than those who did not. The paper therefore concludes that claims about the gentrification of growing your own may be premature. Despite contrary evidence from the UK, the dominant motive across Europe appears to be primarily economic — to reduce household expenditure whilst ensuring a supply of fresh food.

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  • Church, A. & Mitchell, R. & Ravenscroft, N. & Stapleton, L.M., 2015. "‘Growing your own’: A multi-level modelling approach to understanding personal food growing trends and motivations in Europe," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 71-80.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:110:y:2015:i:c:p:71-80
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2014.12.002
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    9. Gebauer, Jana & von Jorck, Gerrit & Pungas, Lilian, 2023. "Degrowth enthusiasm and the transformation blues of the East: Reflections on integrating post-socialist transformation experiences into the degrowth discourse," IPE Working Papers 215/2023, Berlin School of Economics and Law, Institute for International Political Economy (IPE).
    10. Giordano Ruggeri & Chiara Mazzocchi & Stefano Corsi, 2016. "Urban Gardeners’ Motivations in a Metropolitan City: The Case of Milan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(11), pages 1-19, October.

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