Food prices are the highest they have been since 1997, more than a third of household rubbish is wasted food and the Government is warning about the environmental damage of buying food from abroad.

In National Allotments Week, reporter Rebecca Evans looks at why so many people are queuing up to grow their own food and what the council is doing to help.

Ulrika Jarl had to wait two years to be able to grow her own vegetables. But she knows she is one of the privileged few.

According to the Brighton and Hove City Council website, almost 2,000 people are on the waiting list for an allotment in the city.

Their popularity has shot up in recent years as people become more conscious of where their food comes from and city dwellers try to get back to nature.

Ulrika, who shares her allotment at the Lower Roedale site in Hollingdean with her partner and another couple, said having an allotment was worth the wait.

The 31-year-old from Lewes Road, Brighton, said: “By the time we got this it was in a real state but it’s just really lovely to be able to grow your own vegetables and know it is free from pesticides.

“It is obviously quite a privilege to be able to do all these things and I realise it’s not as easy for some.

“We are still learning but having had it a year I know a bit more about growing food.

We see it as a long-term thing and one day our kids can come here and learn about food, too.”

There are 38 allotment sites in Brighton and Hove, providing plots for 2,500 tenants.

Even though the city is one of the best allotment providers in the county, demand still outstrips supply.

However, the lack of “green lungs” in built-up areas is being addressed by the Brighton and Hove Food Partnership, which has recently been awarded a grant to fund green initiatives.

It received £500,000 from the Big Lottery fund for a three-year Harvest Brighton and Hove project, to identify and utilise new green spaces for growing food.

The project, which begins next month, will also promote food growing in the city and initiatives such as scrumping for unharvested apples.

Vic Else, director of the partnership, said: “There is not a huge amount of land in Brighton but we encourage small-level growing too.

“People are interested in the topic and can save money.

They are more aware of the part food plays in the world.

If you grow salad on the window-sill you can get salad throughout the summer rather than paying £2 for a bag that goes rotten within 24 hours.

“We are looking at ways to grow food on land around housing associations and around offices and we are working with schools, which tend to have lots of space.

“There is a huge willingness in Brighton and Hove.

Other places have growing projects but we are doing a whole city approach.”

Advocates of home-grown food highlight that it saves money and also reduces waste.

Currently about 35% of residential rubbish in Brighton and Hove is food waste.

In March, Brighton and Hove City Council, which is also a member of the food partnership, reopened the allotment waiting lists.

Matt Hewes, council access manager, who oversees allotment provision in the city, said it wants to get as many people growing their own food as possible.

He said: “Our main push is to maximise the number of people who can have access to an allotment.

We obviously think it’s important people have access to open spaces to grow their own vegetables.

We are also totally behind minimising food waste.

If you can allow people to grow their own vegetables and reduce food waste that can only be a good thing.”

Experienced gardeners, including Argus columnist Adam Trimingham, have noticed a quiet revolution in the users of allotments over the past decade.

Alan Phillips, who has grown organic vegetables in his patch at Weald Avenue Allotments, Hove, for 12 years, said gardening was changing.

The 62-year-old of Carlisle Road, Hove, said: “Over the past ten to 12 years what has been really interesting is the diversity of people that take up allotments.

When I started it is fair to say between one quarter and one third of allotments were empty and you could pick and choose the ones you wanted.

Now there is a waiting list of three to five years depending on the site.

“In Weald we have quite a diversity of people including younger couples, families and a lot of people from other cultures growing different things, which is enjoyable.

It is not just, as it used to be before, primarily elderly retired men.

“At this time of year you get some wonderful things like raspberries and apples, which are just beginning to ripen.

There is nothing quite like it.

“However, people should not have to wait three to five years for an allotment.

The council needs to deal with the backlog.

“In the centre of Brighton a lot of people are environmentally sensitive but there is not that much space for growing things.”

For the many on the waiting lists, community gardens such as Moulsecoomb Forest Garden and Wildlife Project, give them the opportunity to grow fruit and vegetables without an allotment or a garden.

Warren Carter, who jointly set up the project in 1994, said: “The way we do it is anyone who volunteers gets to take home some vegetables.

People pick the vegetables and sometimes we get chefs up to cook them.

Last Friday we were cooking pizzas in our clay oven with fresh basil and tomatoes.

“Local produce can be out of the price range for a lot of people but the more food that is grown in Brighton the better.”

For more information on the Moulsecoomb project, visit www.seedybusiness.org.