Jay Rayner was asked on Twitter
Can u elaborate on why allotments have 'appalling carbon footprint'
Answer
Because even a successful allotment has a tiny yield per person hours compared to a conventional farm.
I am not sure how that affects the carbon footprint.
Furthermore I think he is wrong. Conventional farms for a start waste a lot of stuff on site that is not considered marketable. Mixed cropping and rotation creates better yields. I was thinking of the example seen in the environmental film "Tomorrow" - they show this man's farm -
http://www.fermedubec.com/en/ (Sorry, the French site is better). He specialises in high density permaculture, beautiful garden and he claims that he has an overwhelming profit margin from his way of cultivating. Yes it seems labour intensive, yet don't we all need to work ? working hand to plant seems better than driving a tractor over a field all day!
I am not quite up to his standard yet the corn grew quite well standing in a patch of sage and the basil thrived under the tomato plants, the nasturtiums here and there got eaten by the aphids instead of the crops. Not sure that those measures are used in commercial farms!
This person's (Rayner) claims seem quite spurious, where are the figures ?