SUMMARY OF FINDINGS
The 2024 survey gathered 249 responses from community gardens in Australia, nine more than received in 2023. Of these, 216 responses were from unique gardens.
The survey results indicate that there is a vibrant and active community gardening community in the country. In total, volunteers spend more than 354,000 hours a year working in their gardens, about 15% more than reported last year. Garden membership numbers vary but the majority have between 21 and 50 members. However, there are some quite large gardens – a quarter of all responding gardens reported more than 50 members, seven of which report having more than 200 members.
As reported in previous years’ surveys, while the focus is on growing food, community gardens play a far wider role in the community by running a range of other activities including bee keeping, composting, providing educational workshops, preparing shared meals and food for soup kitchens, raising money for charity, and hosting community activities such as playgroups and yoga classes.
MORE PEOPLE THAN EVER ARE VISITING COMMUNITY GARDENS: Respondents reported that 445,000 people visit community gardens each year, an increase of 145,000 on the visits reported in last year’s survey. It also appears that more gardens are attracting larger numbers of visitors (both members and visitors). In 2023 only 2 gardens reported having more than 100 visitors a week but this year, 17 gardens reported having more than 100 visitors per week, with 9 of those reporting 200+ visitors a week.
POSITIVE BENEFITS OF COMMUNITY GARDENS: Many respondents reported the positive personal benefits for membership of a community garden. Not only does garden membership reduce their food costs and improve their skills and abilities but it clearly has a positive impact on their physical and mental health. Indeed, more than 80% of respondents said that their overall health and well-being had improved since joining a garden:
“… like most people I feel better psychologically and spiritually when participating in gardening and activities in nature. Also, I’ve probably experienced some physical improvements with blood pressure and osteoarthritis e.g. from herbs, veggies, and movement.”
– Anonymous Survey Respondent
SUPPORTING VULNERABLE COMMUNITY MEMBERS: Gardens continued their support for people in need in their communities with more than a third of gardens donating produce to food banks, soup kitchens and charities. Clearly community gardens are playing an important role in supporting their less fortunate neighbours.
FUNDING MODELS: Community gardens cobble together funds in a variety of ways and more than half of them (60%) report unmet funding needs. Most gardens rely on several income streams simultaneously. These include self-funding activities like charging plot fees and holding plant sales, as well as soliciting donations and in-kind support. Many gardens seek grants, from both government and non-government organisations, though chasing these grants is reported to be stressful and time-consuming. Funding is considered a source of personal stress with some respondents reporting they are exhausted by having to constantly chase funding to pay for basic things like insurance, water and infrastructure repairs and upgrades.
CHANGES SINCE LAST YEAR’S SURVEY: There were no changes of significance since the previous survey.
READ THE FULL REPORT HERE
