Plaid Cymru AM Leanne Wood today hosted an event to launch the first ever map of Community Farms and Gardens for Wales.
The project launch at the Senedd in Cardiff Bay was attended by more than a 100 people and several stalls were set up inside the building to highlight the type of projects that have already registered on the map.
The map has been drawn up by the Federation of City Farms and Community Gardens (FCFCG), which is a UK charity striving to support people to set up and run projects that allow them to grow their own food and have access to the natural world.
In addition to community-managed farms and gardens open to visitors and volunteers, the map features associated groups such as community orchards, school growing projects, community-managed allotment gardens and community supported agriculture schemes.
The organisation’s co-ordinator in Wales, Katie Jones, said the 45 projects shown on the map are just the “tip of the iceberg” as there are more than 130 groups not yet members of the FCFCG.
Ms Wood, who represents the South Wales Central region, has championed allotments for several years and tends a plot in Tonypandy. She is also part of the Welsh Assembly Sustainability Committee currently tasked with examining allotment provision in Wales.
During her speech at the event launch, she said Wales needed to increase its community resilience by reducing the amount of food imports it relies on if it is to mitigate against the threats posed by climate change and peak oil.
Ms Wood also said the Sustainability Committee had found there are “too many obstacles in the way of people who want to grow food and those obstacles have to be taken away.”
She added: “I am hoping that the committee’s report and recommendations, coupled with the map being launched today, will help us to look forward to a Wales in which we fully reap the benefits enjoyed by a strong local food sector that involves a wide range of local people.”
After the event, Leanne said: “I was delighted to be a part of the Community Farms and Gardens map launch. The many stallholders brought a deal of colour to the proceedings and it was great to see the Green Valley Project of Bryncynon Strategy, Mountain Ash, and the Riverside Community Garden Project of Cardiff, both from the region I represent, present on the day.
“This map will help meet the growing interest in locally grown produce and the hard work of the Federation of City Farms and Community Gardens can only be applauded. I look forward to the map’s development over the coming years as more and more projects come forward to register.”
