Catherine Price is a PhD Student in the Sociology Department at the University of Warwick. Her broad research interests are science communication and public engagement with science, particularly through the media. She is also interested in the representation of food in the media. Catherine’s PhD thesis is examining the constructions of science and scientific expertise and alternative expertise in the online GM food debate. In addition, it also examines the understandings of those who reject scientific facts and their reasons for doing so.
The number of community growing schemes in the United Kingdom (UK) has escalated since the 1960s. This has often been seen as a backlash against a lack of control over land ownership and food production, and has coincided with industrialized agriculture. These community growing schemes, in the variety of forms which they take, also provide social and environmental benefits. Food in these schemes is also often grown organically, thereby eliminating the reliance on pesticides, insecticides, and synthetic fertilizers, and consequently, the environment is better protected. In addition, people are able to learn how to grow and cook food.
