Gardening is gaining popularity in Canada amid rising food prices, according to a recent survey.
The survey, done by Angus Reid and Dalhousie University’s Agri-Food Analytics Lab, found that 52 percent of Canadians are already growing food at home, up 1 percent from 2020. Among them, 9 percent started gardening after the pandemic began.
Although 17 percent of respondents used to grow food but don’t anymore, 8 percent of Canadians say they’ll grow food at home this year for the first time. This suggests that more than one million of Canada’s nearly 14 million households will make the change. Urban residents comprise 85 percent of new gardeners, and 46 percent are under 35 years of age.
At 10 percent, the Atlantic region expects the largest proportion of new gardeners in the country, followed by Quebec and Ontario at 8 percent.
Saskatchewan has the highest overall percentage of gardeners and Ontario the lowest. However, Ontario and the Atlantic region have seen the highest increase of people gardening since the pandemic began.
Sylvain Charlebois, director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab, says the heightened interest is not a passing fad.
“Gardening is clearly getting a second wind in Canada due to COVID. Results clearly show that gardening remains a popular activity in Canada, even two years into the pandemic,” Charlebois said in a press release.
In terms of motivating factors, nearly three-quarters of Canadians (74 percent) say they enjoy gardening or believe it to be a great hobby, and 49 percent believe the food they grow is of better quality than what they buy at the store. Saving money motivates 41 percent of gardeners, while 12 percent worry about food shortages, and 3 percent garden for extra income.
