IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecolec/v110y2015icp71-80.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

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

Author

Listed:
  • 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.

Suggested Citation

  • 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
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800914003693
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2014.12.002?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Duncan, Craig & Jones, Kelvyn & Moon, Graham, 1996. "Health-related behaviour in context: A multilevel modelling approach," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 42(6), pages 817-830, March.
    2. Milligan, Christine & Gatrell, Anthony & Bingley, Amanda, 2004. "'Cultivating health': therapeutic landscapes and older people in northern England," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 58(9), pages 1781-1793, May.
    3. Robin Kortright & Sarah Wakefield, 2011. "Edible backyards: a qualitative study of household food growing and its contributions to food security," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 28(1), pages 39-53, February.
    4. Neil Ravenscroft & Niamh Moore & Ed Welch & Rachel Hanney, 2013. "Beyond agriculture: the counter-hegemony of community farming," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 30(4), pages 629-639, December.
    5. Rick L. Williams, 2000. "A Note on Robust Variance Estimation for Cluster-Correlated Data," Biometrics, The International Biometric Society, vol. 56(2), pages 645-646, June.
    6. Litt, J.S. & Soobader, M.-J. & Turbin, M.S. & Hale, J.W. & Buchenau, M. & Marshall, J.A., 2011. "The influence of social involvement, neighborhood aesthetics, and community garden participation on fruit and vegetable consumption," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 101(8), pages 1466-1473.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Hua Zheng & Noriko Akita & Shoko Araki & Masayo Fukuda, 2022. "Provision of Allotment Gardens and Its Influencing Factors: A Case Study of Tokyo, Japan," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-23, February.
    2. Lucie Sovová & Esther J. Veen, 2020. "Neither Poor nor Cool: Practising Food Self-Provisioning in Allotment Gardens in the Netherlands and Czechia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-18, June.
    3. Rebecca St Clair & Michael Hardman & Richard P Armitage & Graeme Sherriff, 2020. "Urban Agriculture in shared spaces: The difficulties with collaboration in an age of austerity," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 57(2), pages 350-365, February.
    4. Pace Ricci, Jean Marc & Conrad, Elisabeth, 2018. "Exploring the feasibility of setting up community allotments on abandoned agricultural land: A place, people, policy approach," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 102-115.
    5. Georgiana-Raluca Ladaru & Diana Maria Ilie & Maria Claudia Diaconeasa & Ionut Laurentiu Petre & Florian Marin & Valentin Lazar, 2020. "Influencing Factors of a Sustainable Vegetable Choice. The Romanian Consumers’ Case," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(23), pages 1-20, November.
    6. Bliss, Sam & Egler, Megan, 2020. "Ecological Economics Beyond Markets," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 178(C).
    7. Wellner, Marie & Theuvsen, Ludwig, 2016. "Community Supported Agriculture Als Neuer Impuls Für Die Regionalvermarktung? Stand Der Forschung Und Abgrenzung Von Anderen Alternativen Lebensmittelnetzwerken," 56th Annual Conference, Bonn, Germany, September 28-30, 2016 244757, German Association of Agricultural Economists (GEWISOLA).
    8. Xueting Tong & Zhanwei Wu, 2020. "An IoT-based Sharing Plant Factory System for Nature Connectedness Improvement in Built Environment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-18, May.
    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.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Alyssa W. Beavers & Ashley Atkinson & Lauren M. Varvatos & Mary Connolly & Katherine Alaimo, 2022. "How Gardening in Detroit Influences Physical and Mental Health," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(13), pages 1-11, June.
    2. Litt, J.S. & Schmiege, S.J. & Hale, J.W. & Buchenau, M. & Sancar, F., 2015. "Exploring ecological, emotional and social levers of self-rated health for urban gardeners and non-gardeners: A path analysis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 1-8.
    3. Marilyne Chicoine & Francine Rodier & Fabien Durif, 2023. "The bright and the dark side of commercial urban agriculture labeling," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 40(3), pages 1153-1170, September.
    4. Mari Johnsrud & Ursula Småland Goth & Hilde Skjerve, 2024. "The Impact of Urban Allotment Gardens on Physical and Mental Health in Norway," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 21(6), pages 1-8, May.
    5. Shingo Yoshida & Hironori Yagi, 2021. "Long-Term Development of Urban Agriculture: Resilience and Sustainability of Farmers Facing the Covid-19 Pandemic in Japan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-23, April.
    6. Sadiq R. Younes & Bruno Marques & Jacqueline McIntosh, 2024. "Public Spaces for Older People: A Review of the Relationship between Public Space to Quality of Life," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(11), pages 1-16, May.
    7. Heather McMillen & Lindsay K. Campbell & Erika S. Svendsen & Renae Reynolds, 2016. "Recognizing Stewardship Practices as Indicators of Social Resilience: In Living Memorials and in a Community Garden," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(8), pages 1-26, August.
    8. David H Chae & Sean Clouston & Mark L Hatzenbuehler & Michael R Kramer & Hannah L F Cooper & Sacoby M Wilson & Seth I Stephens-Davidowitz & Robert S Gold & Bruce G Link, 2015. "Association between an Internet-Based Measure of Area Racism and Black Mortality," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(4), pages 1-12, April.
    9. Krause, Werner & Giebler, Heiko, 2020. "Shifting Welfare Policy Positions: The Impact of Radical Right Populist Party Success Beyond Migration Politics," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 56(3), pages 331-348.
    10. Gerben ter Riet & Paula Chesley & Alan G Gross & Lara Siebeling & Patrick Muggensturm & Nadine Heller & Martin Umbehr & Daniela Vollenweider & Tsung Yu & Elie A Akl & Lizzy Brewster & Olaf M Dekkers &, 2013. "All That Glitters Isn't Gold: A Survey on Acknowledgment of Limitations in Biomedical Studies," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(11), pages 1-6, November.
    11. Doidge, Craig & Andrew Karolyi, G. & Stulz, Rene M., 2007. "Why do countries matter so much for corporate governance?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(1), pages 1-39, October.
    12. Dave, Dhaval, 2008. "Illicit drug use among arrestees, prices and policy," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(2), pages 694-714, March.
    13. Miozzo, Marcela & Desyllas, Panos & Lee, Hsing-fen & Miles, Ian, 2016. "Innovation collaboration and appropriability by knowledge-intensive business services firms," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(7), pages 1337-1351.
    14. Gagnon, Louis & Karolyi, G. Andrew, 2009. "Information, Trading Volume, and International Stock Return Comovements: Evidence from Cross-Listed Stocks," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 44(4), pages 953-986, August.
    15. Nicolas Jacquemet & Adam Zylbersztejn, 2014. "What drives failure to maximize payoffs in the lab? A test of the inequality aversion hypothesis," Review of Economic Design, Springer;Society for Economic Design, vol. 18(4), pages 243-264, December.
    16. Ceddia, M.G. & Bardsley, N.O. & Goodwin, R. & Holloway, G.J. & Nocella, G. & Stasi, A., 2013. "A complex system perspective on the emergence and spread of infectious diseases: Integrating economic and ecological aspects," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 124-131.
    17. Liamputtong, Pranee & Suwankhong, Dusanee, 2015. "Therapeutic landscapes and living with breast cancer: The lived experiences of Thai women," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 263-271.
    18. Eva-Lotta Nilsson & Anna-Karin Ivert & Marie Torstensson Levander, 2021. "Adolescents´ Perceptions, Neighbourhood Characteristics and Parental Monitoring -Are they Related, and Do they Interact in the Explanation of Adolescent Offending?," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 14(3), pages 1075-1087, June.
    19. Liebig, Stefan & Schupp, Jürgen, 2008. "Leistungs- oder Bedarfsgerechtigkeit? Über einen normativen Zielkonflikt des Wohlfahrtsstaats und seiner Bedeutung für die Bewertung des eigenen Erwerbseinkommens," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 59(1), pages 7-30.
    20. Rachel M. Shellabarger & Rachel C. Voss & Monika Egerer & Shun-Nan Chiang, 2019. "Challenging the urban–rural dichotomy in agri-food systems," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 36(1), pages 91-103, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:110:y:2015:i:c:p:71-80. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolecon .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.