In 2022 a number of "Conspiracy theorists" on social media began warning that the Australian government were going to outlaw citizens growing their own food, using some faux 'crisis' linked to climate change as the excuse. Fact-Checkers immediately took to their keyboards to dismiss the claim, stating:
"Draft legislation being debated in the Australian state of Victoria will not prevent people from growing their own food, as has been claimed online. A spokesperson for the Victorian Government, along with two separate experts in agricultural law, told Reuters that the claims about the bill and growing food were not true."
“No one will be prevented from growing their own food as part of these changes,” the Victoria Government spokesperson said via email. They added that the bill was designed to support the agriculture sector, as well as safeguard food security, food safety and access to export markets.
But now, exactly as predicted, by those 'conspiracy theorists' there are moves afoot to do just that: ban people from growing their own food on their own property.
A new study from the University of Michigan has found that “urban gardening” is times worse for the environment than “conventional crops”. The study will be used to create laws to restrict the growing of food by individuals by 2027 according to analysts.
The research was not simply to satisfy idle curiosity either. The research has been funded by government departments and Quangos alike, the small print states: 'support for the project was provided by the UK Economic and Social Research Council, German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, French National Research Agency, U.S. National Science Foundation, Poland’s National Science Centre, and the European Union’s Horizon 202 research and innovation program.'
The study claims the carbon footprint of homegrown foods is five times greater than produce from conventional agricultural practices, such as rural farms, 'data show'. The study from the University of Michigan looked at how much CO2 was produced when growing food in different types of urban farms and found that, on average, a serving of food made from traditional farms creates 0.07kg of CO2.
The majority of the emissions do not come from the growing of the food themselves, the scientists say, but from the infrastructure needed to allow the food to be grown.
Researchers grouped urban agriculture sites into three categories: individual or family gardens, including allotments; collective gardens, such as community gardens; and larger, commercial-orientated urban farms.
Jake Hawes, a PhD candidate at Michigan and first author of the study, said: “The most significant contributor to carbon emissions on the urban agriculture sites we studied was the infrastructure used to grow the food – from raised beds to garden sheds to pathways, these constructions had a lot of carbon invested in their construction.
The impact on the environment is almost five times higher at 0.34kg per portion for individual gardens, such as vegetable patches or allotments.
The study, published in the journal Nature Cities, recruited 73 urban agriculture sites around the world, including Europe, the US, and the UK, and conducted a comprehensive life cycle assessment on the site’s infrastructure, irrigation and supplies. Fruit was found to be 8.6 times more eco-friendly when grown conventionally compared to in a city, whereas vegetables were 5.8 times better for the environment when left to the professionals.
This then is obviously a first step to banning home-grown produce. Exactly what the conspiracy theorists had said in 2022. There won't be an outright ban to begin with, these things are never done that way, first they pay academics to come up with fake or meaningless studies as 'evidence' then they will organise a media campaign to promote the evidence and get the public on board, then they will begin to implement rules and restrictions on what you can grow, where you can grow it, what fertilizer you can use. Then once the lie has been told and the rules set licences will be imposed, together with the state levying taxes along with them. Eventually they will make it so expensive, so difficult, that you won't do it at all.
Why? Because they don't want you to be self sufficient. They want you reliant on that unholy mix of big-corporation + big Government. You will (grow) nothing, and you will be happy.