A significant part of the regular CVVM Our Society survey conducted in June and July 2023 was dedicated to the topic of homesteading and gardening.
These topics are part of the activities of the Institute of Sociology of the CAS within the framework of the AV21 Food for the Future Strategy.
Specifically, we investigated whether people engage in various activities related to subsistence farming, whether they produce their own food (fruits, vegetables, eggs, meat, etc.) and if so, where and why, whether people who grow or produce something in their households give these products to someone or exchange them with someone, or with how many people.
We were also interested in the other side of the story, i.e. whether people themselves receive home-grown or home-produced food from someone.
Last but not least, we also looked at how bio-waste is managed and how the current food supply compares to ten years ago.
About half (47%) of people grow their own food in their garden, 7% in their flat or on their balcony.
The most important reasons why people produce their own food are obtaining healthy food (25%), fresh food (24%), saving money (19%) and that it's a hobby (15%).
More than two thirds (69%) of people give or trade some of what they grow or produce in their household to someone.
People are most likely to receive home-grown food from close family members (55%) and friends (50%).
The most common way of managing bio-waste is to use brown bins (57%), and almost half of people compost bio-waste in the garden (47%). Around a quarter of people who sort bio-waste in their household take it to a collection yard (26%) or give the sorted bio-waste to animals (25%). Less than a fifth use bulk containers (18%) or donate it to someone else (17%). The use of vermicomposters (5%) and community gardens (1%) is very marginal.
Half (49%) of people work in their garden on a regular basis, i.e. at least once a month during the season, a third (33%) go foraging for mushrooms, berries or herbs, and 12% keep domestic animals.
More than two-fifths (41%) of respondents believe that their household food supply has not changed between now and ten years ago.
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