Research has shown that Britain could increase growth of fruit and vegetables up to 8 times if all available urban and under-used green space were turned to cultivation.

If parks, playing fields, watersides and other open spaces alongside established allotments the potential rea would be enough to grow nearly 40% of the UK’s fresh fruit and vegetable consumption, most of which comes from overseas, according to the study.

The report by Lancaster University does not suggest it is practical to turn all greenspaces in to growing spaces the research highlights the potential offered by often overlook spaces 

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Researchers used Ordnance Survey MasterMap Greenspace to identify urban green spaces, and estimated how much food they could produce using comparisons with UK agriculture. Find out more about the greenspace map

More and more people in Scotland want to grow their own fruit and vegetables but land availability is a big challenge. greenspace scotland champions the development of the Our Growing Community model to support communities in urban scotland to take a more holistic and strategic approach to community food growing.

See our Food Growing section.