How Growing Your Own Food Helps the Environment

Growing your own fruit and veg can bring many rewards. It can help give a sense of accomplishment which improves your mental health and it can also help you to eat healthier, with the knowledge that your food is fresh and free from any harmful pesticides. As well as the personal benefits growing your own food brings, there are also many environmental benefits that come with it.

This means that, by growing your own food, you’re actively contributing to the future of the planet. Read on to find out more.

Reduced Food Waste

Growing your own food helps to reduce food waste in a number of ways. There’s a certain amount of pride you can gain by producing fruit and veg and it can often taste better than produce bought in supermarkets. While this may be more of a belief rather than an actual science, home food growers are likely to consume more of their own produce than if they buy it from a shop. Another benefit is to use the cuttings or peelings as compost, rather than sending them to a landfill. This can help improve the quality of your other plants and even help produce better fruit and veg. One stop garden shop has all the tips you need to help you get started with growing your own produce.

Less Plastic Waste

Buying produce in supermarkets often comes with packaging, and while efforts are being made to reduce the amount of plastic packaging used, they still have to use it to keep fruit and veg fresh, particularly if it’s being imported or exported. And, despite councils across the country encouraging recycling, a large amount ends up not being recycled, which can then do damage to our ecosystem. By producing food in your own garden not only guarantees fresh food but also eliminates the need for packaging. This can help reduce the amount of waste sent to refuse tips each year, which can make a huge difference to our environment.

If you’re looking for ways to store your veg without using plastic, why not get into woodworking and build some containers? Alternatively, Furnitureliscious has some great furniture restoration tips, so you may be able to repurpose some of your old furniture and create a little storeroom.

Limiting Your Carbon Footprint

Consuming produce from your garden gives you the opportunity to create delicious meals without adding to environmental products. As the food is locally sourced, it reduced the demand for imported food, which in turn can help decrease your carbon footprint. Getting food from one country to another increases the overall footprint, but eating the food your produce can help limit the demand and the amount of fossil fuel that is used to import food from abroad.

Reduces The Need For Pesticides

Pesticides are used by farms to treat crops and protect them from invasive species that can damage and destroy harvests. This can impact the wider environment by contaminating the air and ground, maybe even water supplies as well as having a greater impact on wildlife. Growing your own food reduces the need for pesticides and gives you a greater control over the growing process. This can help improve the taste and quality of the food and provide you with the rewarding experience of consuming fresh homegrown food regularly.

We all need to play our part in environmental issues and making small changes such as growing our own food can have a major but positive impact on the environment.