This news item is taken from the Scotsman of 17/10/08:
The Environment Secretary, Richard Lochhead, yesterday promised to find more public land for allotments.
There are already 3500 people on waiting lists, and fears about climate change and rising food prices are fuelling the spiralling demand.
Mr. Lochhead said: "In the current economic climate, with food prices on the increase, interest in growing our own food has never been higher."
The Minister added: "Fresh food isn't the only benefit to be had from tending an allotment, of course. They encourage physical activity, offer a place for individuals to relax and are valuable to the local community and environment."
Jenny Mollinson, from the Scottish Allotments and Gardens Society, said interest in allotments was increasing by the day.
"This isn't a fringe activity for a minority of people", she said. "It's something that's growing. It's totally out of control."
Ms. Mollinson said many people are motivated by a desire to save money, as well as to produce organic food that is tastier than produce available in supermarkets.

The Scotsman's Editorial Scribe also got in on the act:
Years from now children will ask: "What did you do in the Great Credit Crunch, Grandad?" The past few weeks have seemed like a nightmare, as the certainties of life - little things such as a home, a job and a bank account - suddenly could no longer be taken for granted.
One day Gordon Brown was Mr. Bean, the next he was Superman. It's all too confusing for words.
So today The Scotsman is offering a unique guide, listing the many ways in which we can all - if only for a precious hour - escape "the crisis". Indeed, in a post-capitalist, post-consumerist, post credit-card, post Sir Fred Goodwin world, we might rediscover the finer pleasures in life. [Plug for fatuous space-filling list elsewhere in the paper over.]
Even the SNP seems to be getting attuned to this new, more human world, with the Environment Secretary proposing a big increase in the provision of garden allotments. This might be one of the better ideas to have come from our politicians in recent times, though Richard Lochhead rather spoiled the effect by suggesting we could use these new allotments to grow more food, just in case the supermarkets run out.
Surely the whole point of an allotment is to get fresh air and avoid the cares of the world for an hour - it is not a place to be reminded that famine is on its way.