28 November 2025

Inclusivity and resilience to food insecurity were at the heart of the Kingston Community Food Growing Scoping Study, which combined a case study of an urban farm growing Asian vegetables with a series of workshops and interviews at the local university and involving community food groups. The aim was to explore how local food growing can help national priorities around net zero and a food transition, as well as mitigate food insecurity, which is disproportionately felt by different groups. 

“We also want to better understand specific issues in relation to engagement in food growing in different groups, as well as the specific benefits that may be accrued by them. For example the Au Law Farm work demonstrated the importance of growing Asian vegetables as part of community identity and belonging among specific demographics,” explained project lead Ronald Ranta. In terms of local food resilience, this chimes with new research by Professor Tim Lang, which points to the need for decentralised food systems embedded within communities as a crucial way of increasing national food security. 

The second part of the project involved workshops, surveys and interviews at Kingston University, led by Sarah Sumpter, alongside widespread interviews and workshops with community food growing groups. The findings from this project fed directly into the local council’s five-year food strategy. Without such coordination, disparate local groups are not always part of local authority planning, whereas in this case, numerous sessions brought together a range of people to discuss the benefits and barriers of growing food, as well as views on policy. The findings from these discussions emphasised how to achieve an inclusive food transition, with specific examples such as shared space in new builds, reducing allotment sizes to reduce waiting lists and use of public spaces to grow herbs and crops. As so much of food policy and resilience planning remains centralised, this project demonstrates the kind of community preparation that could be successfully replicated elsewhere.