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market-farming - Re: [Market-farming] Tillage is Tillage

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  • From: "Tradingpost" <tradingpost AT lobo.net>
  • To: market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Tillage is Tillage
  • Date: Wed, 07 Feb 2007 20:05:26 -0700


In 2003, Four Season Farm grossed $100,000 on just an acre and a half of
ground, including 12,500 sq ft under cover. - (about Eliot Coleman, in The
New Organic Grower: A Conversation with Eliot Coleman,
http://www.georgiaorganics.org/Files/Archives/GOnewsWinter05Web.pdf ).

"The premise of this book is that you can make a good living on five acres
or less of intensive vegetable production. .. if five acres is all you can
afford, it is more than sufficient for an economically successful farm."
(Eliot Coleman in The New Organic Grower p.17)

"Most sections of the United States were once fed by small local
farms.Today that is considered an impossible dream. Even where professional
farmers are involved, the idea of the economically viable small farm is
criticized as visionary. Many agricultural experts state that it just
cannot work. Their opinion is based primarily on economic and production
conclusions drawn from large-scale agricultural operations. Unfortunately,
little consideration has been given to the advantages inherent in the small
end of the spectrum... If you understand how the economic and practical
realities change when low-cost production methods are allied with the right
machinery and marketing practices, then the case does not seem hopeless at
all. In fact, the negative opinnion of the experts is contradicted by the
number of successful examples of small-scale food production operations
both here and abroad." (Eliot Coleman in The New Organic Grower p.7)

I admit that book, Sustainable Vegetable Production from Start-Up to
Market, is one I don't have. It's good to see a sympathetic analysis of
small farms, but his labeling of all that heavy equipment for tillage and
cultivation as genuinely "sustainable" will be questioned by some. From
what I can tell, he's arbitrarily ruled out Coleman-style growing as
nonexistent. That doesn't help with a balanced view of growers' options.
However, I don't question your statement that there are successful farmers
earning good livings while stewarding the land they farm on this scale (5
to 40 acres).


paul tradingpost AT lobo.net

*********** REPLY SEPARATOR ***********

On 2/7/2007 at 3:04 PM Paul Bucciaglia wrote:

>Howdy,
>
> I have really, really tried not to get involved in this thread because I
>can sense fairly strong emotional vibes in some of the posts.
>
> But I did want to point something out. I found Colemans book to be a
>marvelous book on gardening. It has also been highly inspirational to
>many first-time market gardeners, which is a laudable achievement.
>However, its utility as a model for forming a farm business is more open
>to debate. That was underscored by Coleman's recent revelation of his
>net income from the sale of produce (as distinguished from profits from
>the sales of books or product endorsements). I don't recall the numbers
>(I believe its in a back issue of Growing for Market), but as an 'east
>coaster' my sense was that it was something less than a 'middle class
>income' for say, a couple or a small family. If I am wrong, please let me
>know (in a sensitive, non-flame kind of way :-)
>
> Should that matter? For some, it won't. But my goal when I started my
>farm was to earn something approaching a middle class income solely from
>farm sales. And so for me a far more useful manual was Vern Grubingers
>"Sustainable Vegetable Production" . Like Colemans book, it focuses on
>Northeast growing, with two major differences. First, it has REAL NUMBERS
>you can crunch. Second, it tends to concentrate on a scale of growing
>that is profitable, sustainable, and attainable (the capital startup costs
>are sizeable but not extreme). These farms tend to be from 5 to 40 acres,
>work quality soils, have mechanized tillage and cultivation, and
>effiecient growing and harvesting systems. I know many very successful
>farmers earning good livings while stewarding the land they farm on this
>scale.
>
> Which is not to say you can't make a decent living off of smaller
>acreages. However, I do think at that scale you have to be more selective
>about what you grow: more cut flowers, tomatoes, and salad mix, and less
>cabbage and baking spuds. As others have pointed out in this thread, the
>beauty of market farming is that its a very creative endeavor with no one
>way to do things.
>
> Stay warm,
>
> Paul Bucciaglia
> Fort Hill Farm, Western CT
> 14 acres of frozen veggies.
>







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