Land Sharing is a New Trend
by Bonnie Alter, London 
on 01. 1.09
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall is a national treasure--a writer, organic farmer, chef, t.v. personality and passionate believer in local communities. His latest venture is "Landshare"--a scheme which puts people with large unused gardens in touch with gardeners wanting space. He calls it a "food revolution destined to be the next great thing." With more people wanting to grow their own food and allotments being harder and harder to come by, he just may be right.
It is a simple and optimistic idea. People register their interest as a grower, a spotter --someone who has seen land in their area that may be suitable for growing--or an owner. The register, once it is up and running, will put these people in touch with each other.
The facts are that 80% of Britain's population live in towns and cities, Britain's food travels 17 trillion miles every year to reach our plates and it costs four barrels of oil per person to feed us every year.
So there is a good reason why the concept is growing and others are proposing variations. "LandFit" is another group that is "encouraging local food production by matching would-be growers with under used land." They too want to increase opportunities to grow good locally by bringing untended and ignored bits of land back into use. They see it is a way to not only grow food and encourage organic gardening but also as a way to discourage anti-social behaviour. It's a variation on Jane Jacobs all over again: when you have a well-kept street with local people interested in what is going on then you have a sense of community and involvement.
It is complicated and political because it involves land ownership and the use of private property by others. The group is in the process of discussing matters such as " governance issues, and developing a model agreement between gardener and 'lead stakeholder', and ways in which LandFit style agreements can be supported."
These are two examples of groups trying to come to grips with sustainability in food production, taking control of food production and the growing numbers of people interested in gardening but without access to land. Landshare and LandFit
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The Guardian recently covered the phenomenon of "Urban Sharecroppers" - something that GardenLend has been advocating since its inception in 2006.
At last, the penny is starting to drop and people are realising that in these increasingly financially straitened and environmentally perilous times that cooperation is the only sustainable way forward.
Please join GardenLend at http://find.GardenLend.co.uk and help both yourselves and your neighbours grow nutritional, quality foods locally.
Now that we can truly said not to be lone voices in the gardening wilderness and that such schemes actually do work, why not join us? Membership is free and the usual rules of posting apply - basically good manners and respect for each other.
We do also have a shop on the site for all your gardening needs. Frustrated gardeners and garden owners - now is your chance to take the plunge and to help transform not only your lives but that of those around you and - in time - make for a better planet.
Please read more at http://blog.gardenlend.co.uk
There is an even better way to go about optimizing land space within neighborhoods. Have groups of homeowners with garden space select one or a few trustworthy people to tend their small home gardens, then share the produce between the owner and the gardener. The owner of the land and the gardener can personally consume their shares or donate it to the needy and or sell it at their local farmers markets to recoup costs. This has been put into practice in Boulder Colorado by Kipp Nash with his Community Roots Urban Gardens of Boulder, Colorado. (http://www.communityrootsboulder.com/)
This is also happening in San Francisco, CA. A company called MyFarm finds homeowners who want to have a gardener plant and tend a garden - a small plot provides vegetables to the homeowner, a larger plot provides a discount on the service AND provides vegetables for a CSA that other people can sign up for. http://myfarmsf.com/
This service exists in the U.S., too! Check out http://sharingbackyards.com to register and see likeminded garden-sharers in your area. The project is still in its infancy here, so be sure to contact the site admins if you want to sponsor a branch in your area.
When I saw the title, I thought it referred to shared ownership. I'm disappointed it's no more that the old "feudal lord and serf" relationship.
Yea, it's great to be able to use someone else's land to grow food, but how does long-term stewardship come out of this? Who's going to plant nut trees -- or even fruit trees -- on someone else's land?
It's time for co-operative ownership of agricultural land.
We've built hyperlocavore.com - a yardsharing social network to help folks find and develop yardshares, serial suburban farms and growing groups wherever they are!
Join us! It's free!
Another website, already fully functioning and matching people who want to share land, gardens and allotments (and indeed anything else that is valuable and fully not used) can try http://www.yours2share.com
It's completely free to use, and you can look for people to share your own loand, or look for someone whose land you can use. You could also look for like-minded partners to buy land or rent together, for that co-operative orchard, greenhouse etc.
Landshares are here: http://www.yours2share.com/cgi-bin/mojoClassified/2217/1/8/