PP26: Grow your own

World food prices are on the rise and millions have been plunged back below the $1 a day poverty line. The solution lies in scrapping the criminal Common Agricultural Policy (and America’s equivalent), dropping subsidies for bio-fuels and adopting GM technologies. However, these types of large policies are beyond the scope of these minor policy proposals, although I have previously mentioned dropping bio-fuel subsidies.

Instead what any future ‘Neo-Green’ Party could do instantly (and without causing a massive argument with Europe) is to promote British self-sufficiency when it comes to food supply. Complete self-sufficiency is of course a pipe dream; Britain will rely almost entirely on imports for as long as it tries to cram sixty million people onto an island smaller than your average American front lawn. Yet for reasons of security, carbon emissions and jobs the government should promote the best use of what little land is left for cultivation. One element of this should be to promote small scale growing.

· Seeds for all types of foods should be provided free of charge to all who request them for domestic use.
· Local box schemes should receive funding to better allow neighbours and local farmers to share their produce.
· Thousands of new spaces for allotments in urban areas should be provided.
· Subsidies should be provided for companies wishing to build hydroponics facilities close to urban centres. Large green houses could be designed in such a way as to nicely complement cityscapes and provide a very visible ‘green’ presence in town centres. Large buildings could convert their top floors, for example. Hydroponics technology allows for the maximum conservation of energy and water when growing crops and is something that deserves far more attention than it currently receives.
· A fund should be available to which community groups can apply to purchase land and establish communal farming areas. Churches, schools, prisons and universities could all take part. Businesses could use the money to complement their ‘social responsibility’ policies.