Here's how the pandemic and economic challenges are changing how Puebloans think about food

Rising food costs and food uncertainty generated during the pandemic have led more Puebloans to pursue gardening.

The Pueblo County Colorado State University-Extension’s master gardener program has 23 participants this year, which is more than double what the program averaged in years past. That number is usually around 10 to 12, said Sherie Shaffer, director for the Pueblo County CSU-Extension.

Megan Moore, program manager for Pueblo Food Project, said the organization already has received three requests this year from people who want to start a community garden, an increase from the two requests it collected in all of 2022. The recent requests came from people who had never before reached out to Pueblo Food Project, she said.

That increase in participants and spike in early requests to start a community garden illustrate a change in how people view food after the COVID-19 pandemic and recent inflation generated uncertainty in food sources, Moore said.

“That conversation is changing significantly in (Pueblo),” Moore said. “I have talked to so many people who say they haven’t gardened before and want to do it. People are so much more interested in becoming part of their own food sovereignty.”

The National Gardening Association in its 2021 study found that more people were gardening compared to pre-pandemic years. It documented 18.3 million gardeners in 2021, with some of those gains coming from younger generations such as millennials and Gen Z.

“I think people are just starting to realize that they can (garden) themselves,” Shaffer said. “I’d say over half of the new participants (in the master gardening program) indicated gardening and growing their own food are some of their top priorities.”

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The NGA also found that the pandemic did drive some changes in human behavior because people had more free time and money, but a study from ScienceDirect, a searchable scientific research database website, also found that of the people who started to garden during the pandemic, one reason they did so was because of the “uncertainty of the fragile food supply.”

Of the 3,743 people surveyed by ScienceDirect, most reported other benefits from gardening such as “connecting to nature” and “relaxation and stress release.” And scholars involved with the study found that gardening can offer a point of social connection that develops bonds with others, and that social benefits people receive by collaborating through community gardens include increased cohesion and support.

“I’m just happy to see that thought (of gardening and how it brings a community together) being more normalized and mainstreamed,” said Serena Sakkal, program manager for Pueblo Food Project.

A separate study published by Oxford University Press determined that governments during the pandemic implemented notable restrictions on how goods were transported. The study also found that in underdeveloped countries, where temporary or seasonal employment to plant and harvest crops is common, travel restrictions and sickness impacted the availability of local or migrant workers, thus affecting the food supply chain.

Food inflation in the U.S. has impacted grocery and food prices, which remained high in December despite declining from an 11.4% peak in August, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Factors such as avian flu in other countries caused the cost of eggs to spike, while drought and effects from the war in Ukraine impacted U.S. wheat yields. The latter is why people might spot empty spaces in a bread aisle when shopping at a grocery store, Moore said.

“Over the last 150 to 200 years, food systems have become more centralized, meaning it’s no longer centered around regions, communities and even states,” Sakkal said. “We’re getting food from all around the world and it’s becoming a more complex and fragile system, especially with how much we’re reliant on heavily processed foods.

“There can be an impact on one ingredient and the downstream effects of that are massive. World events in the last couple of years are really pulling the curtain back and showing us how fragile that system is.”

To cope with those effects, Americans are rethinking their spending habits, according to a survey from Ipsos, a market research company. Eating out and groceries are two areas where people are modifying their spending, the survey found.

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Some local solutions possibly include increasing education about gardening, which graduates from the master gardening program can provide through classes, articles and hosting booths at certain events, among other opportunities, Shaffer said.

Moore and Sakkal said they want to break down barriers that people might encounter if they decide to start gardening. They expect to share more about that mission and how gardening can benefit residents at Pueblo Food Project’s Sun Soil Water Ag Summit next month.

“That can really feel like a scary thing — when you don’t know if you’re going to have access to eggs or produce or other food you rely on,” Sakkal said. “I think that’s something most people can relate to, and that taking more ownership of where your food comes from offers a solution.”

Chieftain reporter Josue Perez can be reached at JHPerez@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @josuepwrites.

This article originally appeared on The Pueblo Chieftain: Pueblo food activists see change in how community sees gardening, food