Briefing Sheet - Top tips for landowners considering making land available
More and more people want to grow their own food – the reasons are various but range from a need and
desire to save money as the recession bites, to know what they are eating, to introduce their children to
where food comes from to being outside with their hands in the soil as a way to keep active and relax. And
they need access to land close to where they live. As waiting lists for allotment plots grow around
Somerset and parish and town councils, whose duty it is to provide growing space, come under pressure to
find suitable available land, public and private landowners, both large and small, are pioneering ways to
give people access to their land to grow food in ways which benefit everyone.
There is also demand for land from new growing enterprises such as Community Supported Agriculture
schemes where local people share the risks and rewards of providing a harvest with the grower. With only
1% of churn in the market for land, new growing enterprises whether community based or more commercial
will need to be established on land already owned.
At a time when population is growing, food and energy prices are rising, the countryside needs revitalizing
and we need to develop resilience to all these realities coming thick and fast, the prospect of bringing food
production back much closer to home makes complete sense. Landowners have a very important role to
play in enabling this. Luckily, there are numerous examples of both private and public landowners
successfully entering into agreements that provide people wanting to produce food with access to land.
Motivations:
 Big estates can be some of the most far sighted landowners because they have to think long term.
 Public sector organisations increasingly need to show that they are responding to identified community
needs and desires. Passing over land management responsibilities can also ease other burdens –
maintenance costs can be reduced by utilising land for community use.
 Many housing associations are finding that this is the case and making land available to residents also
helps achieve their other duties of care associated with being social landlords.
 The Public Health Authority has corporate objectives around tackling obesity and improving diets –
community growing can be an ideal way to achieve this
 Smaller private landowners are minimizing their exposure to risk from putting all their eggs in one
basket at a time when key inputs are subject to ever increasing price volatility and commodity prices are
fluctuating wildly. They are finding it can be prudent to diversify “crops” by spreading bets and
externalising some risk in exchange for access to land at the same time as sometimes helping to create
new employment opportunities
Financial return:
Diversifying into more localised growing and farming opportunities can be an income generator in the
current economic climate. Incomes can start from £3-400 per acre for new allotments. Local authority run
sites charge fees ranging from £25 per plot per year upwards. A typical plot on a private site attract up to
£100 per annum where demand is very high. This can be an attractive income for marginal bits of land that
are difficult to farm or otherwise maintain. Farmers can also sell manure to allotmenteers, hire or loan kit
and offer pest control services.
Bridging the skills gap
Some commentators believe that rising food price rises are the biggest driver to achieving a return to
growing and farming as a vocation for many young people as our half million farmers reach the end of their
careers. But this will not be possible without affordable access to land.
However, it is imperative that there is flexibility for landowners so that they do not get stuck with the “wrong”
arrangement, do not lose their single farm payments or inheritance tax shelter. Civil society organisations
concerned with food and farming around the country are developing mechanisms for this, such as
Landshare in Oxford http://www.landshare.org/land-partnerships.html A key tenet of their approach
advocates the use of turnover rents as a very useful way to help new enterprises get established where
rents increase in line with turnover and ability to pay
Similarly, training gardens for the community to enable them to “self provision” can be provided on
meanwhile arrangement use of land and can be a great way to provide access to space for people to learn
skills, use for growing transplants or for a specific seasonal crop.
Key considerations
In dialogue with other landowners at previous conferences, the following concerns have been raised
Concern
Advice
Ongoing maintenance and sustainability costs
If sensible rents are set, full costs can be covered.
Modern sites are run according to devolved
management – where allotment society committee
does all the administration
Losing control
Control can be maintained by staying connected
with the people involved in the project
Is it a fad?
With increasing population, potentially higher
unemployment for the foreseeable future, and food
and energy prices rises, growing one’s own will
continue to be an important element of some
people’s lifestyles
Pressure from development
New planning guidance has been prepared to
require developers of new housing to build in
growing spaces
What landowners say they need:
A clear way forward with access to case studies, an A-Z of how to turn land into growing spaces facilitated
by people with expertise. Somerset Community Food will be collecting local examples and making these
available on its website in the course of the next year, 2012
Pioneers willing to share their knowledge:
Allan Cavill from the National Society of Allotments and Leisure Gardens has set up 50 new sites across
the south west in the last few years. http://www.nsalg.org.uk/ His recommendations include:
 Robust agreements – suggest no carpet, no glass, no galvanised tin to keep sites clean and tidy
 5-7year rolling agreement for whole site – this is the maximum possible with annual renewals on the
plots themselves with a built in rent review after 3 years
 Water supply – preferable to harvest as much rain water as possible or use a metered supply via
water troughs, avoid tap and hoses!
 Plot Size – 100-125 square metres – half a traditional plot size suits most people these days –
allows a beginner to start with a manageable plot.
Simon Larkins, National Trust, South Somerset
Implementing the Trust’s “Go Local” campaign aimed at reconnecting people with the land, Simon saw an
opportunity to put this into practice by opening new allotments at one of the properties he manages, Lytes
Cary. Having seen posters locally calling for space to grow food he immediately saw an opportunity to
engage and offer something back to the local community. Simon says he now knows many more people
locally now and that the project has generated lots of interest from the wider local community, many of
whom had never visited the Estate before. In short he says: “It can take time to get it right – new sites need
careful planning, as a landowner you need to get involved at the beginning and be clear what you want but
it’s been lots of fun, created lots of new social connections between people and we’ve harvested lots of
great produce!”
Further information
Allotment Regeneration Initiative http://www.farmgarden.org.uk/ari/resources/ari-factsheets.html/
National Federation of City Farms and Community Gardens http://www.farmgarden.org.uk/farms-gardens
For Community Supported Agriculture schemes http://www.soilassociation.org/
Somerset Community Food’s Get Growing Fund – a one off fund for up to £2500 to support new groups
and small scale producers in Somerset. Can offer support for legal and professional fees, training, tools,
skills sharing and networking. The fund will focus on areas with highest demonstrated need where demand
for land exceeds supply
Awards for All - A Lottery grants scheme funding small, local community-based projects in the UK
http://www.awardsforall.org.uk/
Visit www.somersetcommunityfood.org.uk for more information.
Call 01749 678770 or email info@somersetcommunityfood.org.uk