Growing your own food. Experts in Ontario weigh in on if it saves you money | 24CA News
With meals costs persevering with to sore, extra Canadians discover it tougher to afford primary requirements, which means recent produce is usually left off the grocery checklist.
Global News turned to some Barrie, Ont., organizations to see if beginning a backyard was a viable answer to assist fight the impacts of inflation.
A report from Statistics Canada launched final 12 months discovered that because the begin of the pandemic, curiosity in gardening has grown drastically, with the entire gross sales within the gardening sector up 7.5 per cent to $4.7 billion in 2021. Ontario made up greater than 55 per cent of all gross sales.
Sales for greenhouse fruits and vegetable vegetation rose 9.3 per cent in 2021, primarily in produce like tomatoes and peppers.
Are house gardens a viable possibility?
“I think that there is a growing interest in gardening in general, and I think one of those reasons is in an effort to reduce the costs at the checkout and the grocery (store),” mentioned Deanna De Forest, a board member with Living Green Barrie.
Living Green Barrie is a charitable group concerned in a number of inexperienced initiatives locally, in addition to serving to folks find out about dwelling extra sustainable lives.
De Forest mentioned there are a number of methods folks can begin their very own gardens, for little price, to assist fight the price of meals.
“I think beginning at home gardening can be easy, and it doesn’t have to be expensive, mostly because it can be scaled to the amount of space, time, the resources it has available,” she mentioned.
How to get began
DeForest mentioned whereas there are some upfront prices, folks can discover methods to make it reasonably priced, like up-cycling containers, being aware of the time of day they water, and organising a rain barrel system to keep away from rising their water invoice.
“If you’re looking at combating all the rising costs of food, you might want to consider growing fresh produce that you eat the most of at home, or maybe that’s the most expensive to buy in the grocery store,” she mentioned.
DeForest recommends that folks give attention to rising crops that retailer properly or that give a excessive yield, like tomatoes and salad greens.
She additionally pointed to sources just like the Barrie Public Library’s seed library or backyard software kits.
For these with out quite a lot of area, De Forest mentioned folks might both do smaller pots on a balcony and even hire a neighborhood backyard plot.
The common value for neighborhood backyard plots ranges from round $20 to $50 a 12 months.
Data from Statistics Canada launched in February exhibits meals costs proceed to rise – up 10.4 per cent year-over-year in January – up barely from December.
Since late 2021, the company mentioned value will increase for meals offered in shops, measured year-over-year, have outpaced headline shopper inflation, rising quicker than 10 per cent in August, September and October 2022.
Many meals classes noticed costs speed up from December.
Other reasonably priced choices for recent produce
Jenna Zardo with the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA), Simcoe County, is the coordinator of the Urban Pantry, which presents cooking lessons, offers recent produce containers and runs 11 neighborhood gardens all through Barrie.
Zardo mentioned whereas neighborhood gardening and beginning your personal backyard isn’t a main answer to meals safety, it may be a software in serving to fight it.
Zardo says the neighborhood gardens they’ve arrange with the assistance of different neighborhood companions have enabled folks to develop sufficient produce for themselves with sufficient left over to donate. Some neighborhood teams particularly develop meals to donate to organizations in want.
“We’re actually seeing that the gardeners are growing so much that they’re leaving food out just for the neighbours to take,” she mentioned.
She notes folks may also search for native gardening teams on-line the place folks share gardening information and extra produce.
In addition to working neighborhood gardens, Zardo says Urban Pantry helps the neighborhood via the Good Food Box.
Urban Pantry Good Food Box. Barrie Ontario.
Supplied by Canadian Mental Health Association Simcoe County Branch
Through the Barrie Good Food Box program, Urban Pantry purchases locally-grown produce at wholesale costs after which passes the financial savings on to shoppers.
Zardo says the field of recent produce prices $20, in comparison with shopping for the identical produce on the grocery retailer for between $35 to $50.
Addressing meals insecurity isn’t a one-size-fits-all answer, nonetheless. Zardo says whereas beginning a small backyard or getting concerned in a neighborhood plot will help, the federal government should make coverage adjustments.
“We are seeing an increase in people seeking out our services. We get calls from folks who don’t have any food for their children, they may have already accessed the food bank, or maybe they can’t get down to the food bank if they don’t have reliable transportation,” Zardo mentioned.
Anyone trying to entry sources Like the Barre Good Food Box or neighborhood gardens can go to Urban Pantry Barrie web site.
– with information from Global News’ Craig Lord
© 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
