Growing horticultural food during the pandemic – who does it and how many are there?

Lockdowns as well as a sharp intensification of home office use have increased the time spent at home during the pandemic.
At the same time, studies indicate a growing interest in fresh and local food produce.
This study aims to understand drivers of cultivating fresh produce at home or in a garden during the pandemic in Germany.
Indeed, little is known about the people who cultivate fresh produce.
The data derives from an online-survey conducted in 2021 with n=10 participants living in Germany.
We used quotas for gender, household income, age and region.
Among respondents with a home or an allotment garden or those who are members of a community garden, the proportion of cultivators is around 65%. They cultivate predominately in beds and raised beds.
Also almost 21% of people without gardens produced food, mostly herbs in balcony boxes and pots.
When comparing private cultivators with non-cultivators, we find that they significantly differ in many sociodemographic factors, as well as in most personality traits.
Results from a binomial logistic regression indicate that people, who are more open to new experiences were more likely to cultivating fresh produce during the pandemic.
Further, women, those living in rural areas, and those with access to a home, allotment or community garden were more likely to cultivate.
Our findings have value for decision makers who wish to foster private and small-scale food production.

XXXI International Horticultural Congress (IHC2022): International Symposium on Urban Horticulture for Sustainable Food Security (UrbanFood2022)

M. Lehberger, K. Sparke

big five personality traits, private gardening, home gardening

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2022.1356.24