Access To Land

Access to land and small market gardens in the UK

March 2017

The Soil Association has been training new organic farmers in the UK for nearly a decade with their Future Grower scheme. This paper explains how the market gardens have become important in the access to land debate. Market gardens are an effective way of practising autonomy in small businesses. It is not only beneficial for the entrepreneur but also benefits the society. However, market gardens are prone to threat by urbanisation; still it is the easiest entry way in farming, for a new farmer.

The paper emphasises on the core issue of land, and its role in why some market gardens fail, some survive and some thrive. By this they also intend to encourage existing producers to do more detailed financial analysis of their businesses, examine the differences between businesses, and to evaluate the viability of different routes to market; with help of various other informal case studies.

Learn more about the work of The Soil Association here

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  Access to land and market gardens in the UK

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