In a 2017 nationally representative survey, 38% of respondents indicated they either had or sometimes had a personal garden (Bir, 2019). Anecdotal evidence, and perhaps an overdose of news coverage for all of us at home, alludes to higher rates of people growing gardens in the spring/summer of 2020 in response to the turmoil of COVID-19. But it’s not just anecdotal evidence that suggests consumers are flocking to their yards to cultivate in growing season 2020. Research and sales data also point to market movements in the home gardening sector. Searches related to growing gardens are at an all-time high according to Google trends (Garrity, 2020). Burpee Seeds, a 144-year-old company and the first to offer yellow corn by catalog, hit record seed sales in March 2020 when COVID-19 began to spread (Walljasper and Polansek, 2020; Burpee, 2020). But what is the motivation for growing gardens during a global pandemic?

The motivation behind growing the first victory gardens during WWII was clear: food production. In part due to a large propaganda campaign by the U.S. government, there were 20 million victory gardens, including one on the White House lawn. The victory garden effort accounted for 40% of fruits and vegetables produced during the effort (Garrity, 2020; D’Amelio and Levine, 2020).

The motivations behind the ‘victory over COVID-19’ gardens may not be as ambitious. Some residents may have intended to grow a garden regardless of the pandemic but scaled up their existing garden when presented with more time to tend to such efforts due to stay-at-home orders. Others may have decided to plant gardens although they wouldn’t in a normal year. Perhaps they were not motivated by COVID-19 itself, but instead by additional time at home rather than traveling and/or in the office. Although shortages in grocery stores are occurring for specific items in specific geographic locales, it is unlikely that people believe they can completely eliminate the need for grocery shopping by gardening (D’Amelio and Levine, 2020).

Beyond the production of food and limiting trips to the grocery store, there are many other benefits to gardening. Tending a garden can relieve stress and anxiety, which is important during a pandemic (Garrity, 2020). Gardening is also an outside activity away from computers at a time when peoples’ homes are their offices, schools, gyms and everything else. Prior to the pandemic, 42% of respondents with children were growing produce in a personal garden at home and were more likely to participate in gardening (Bir et al., 2017). This percentage is likely even higher now as families look for activities to do with children without leaving their home. Higher education was already incorporating gardening into educational programming for children prior to the pandemic (Bir et al., 2017), an effort that could easily be incorporated with in-home learning and fun. In agriculture, we are always touting the importance of people understanding where food comes from. The current generation of children may already be learning about small-scale vegetable and fruit production through victory over COVID-19 gardens.

How will a renewed focus in gardening at home influence consumers’ food shopping decisions? Perhaps not very much given growing seasons, preferences for a diversity of items and lack of scale for most home production. But how will a renewed interest in gardening, especially by households previously completely uninvolved in gardening, influence perspectives of residents of agriculture/food production? This impact is yet to be seen, but in an industry where we have regularly cited the vast distance between production and home consumption — while likely superficial for most people — the garden may offer a partial glimpse.

Beyond the Letter

For more on gardening from Courtney Bir, Nicole Olynk Widmar, Elizabeth Schlesinger-Devlin and Ambarish Lulay, read Personal Gardens: Who is growing their own in the U.S.?

References

D’Amelio, John, and Mike Levine. (2020). “Victory Gardens” for the War Against COVID-19. CBS News. Available online: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/victory-gardens-for-the-war-against-covid-19/

Bir, Courtney, Lai, John, Widmar, Nicole J.O., Thompson, Nathanael, Ellett, Jodee, & Crosslin, Caroline. (2019). “There’s No Place Like Home”: Inquiry into Preferences for Local Foods. Journal of Food Distribution Research, 50(856-2019-3192), 29-45.

Bir, Courtney, Nicole Olynk Widmar, Elizabeth Schlesinger-Devlin, Ambarish Lulay. (2017). Personal Gardens: Who is growing their own in the U.S.? https://mdc.itap.purdue.edu/item.asp?Item_Number=EC-814-W

Burpee. (2020). Burpee Seeds and Plants Home. Available online: https://www.burpee.com/gardenadvicecenter/about/about-us/about-us.html

Garrity, Amanda. (2020). Victory Gardens Are Making a Comeback Amid Coronavirus Food Shortage Fears. Good Housekeeping. Available online: https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/home/gardening/a32452189/what-is-a-victory-garden-coronavirus-pandemic/

Walljasper and Polansek. (2020). Home Gardening Blooms Around the World During Coronavirus Lockdowns. Reuters. Available online: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-gardens/home-gardening-blooms-around-the-world-during-coronavirus-lockdowns-idUSKBN2220D3

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