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permaculture - Re: [permaculture] Urban Farming in Wheat Ridge Colorado

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  • From: Toby Hemenway <toby@patternliteracy.com>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] Urban Farming in Wheat Ridge Colorado
  • Date: Wed, 23 Apr 2014 07:57:47 -0700

Land cost in cities, as a share of farmed food cost, is highly variable, and
is much less than it seems to be. Most land on residential lots in urban
areas is a by-product of the need for housing--in other words, I didn't buy
my urban house for the land--I'd be making that payment anyway, to own the
residence. So my urban lot is very inexpensive, as a share of home-grown food
costs. In truth, home-grown food costs should come out of the food budget,
not the rent or mortgage budget, and they reduce food costs.

Little of this is the case with a rural farm, where the property is bought
mostly for the land value.

Thus, amortizing the overall cost of an urban lot into the cost of food grown
isn't accurate accounting. Urban land for farming is, in many cases, very
inexpensive. Also, many urban farmers are given land for free or for a
produce share, making it very cheap.

Toby
http://patternliteracy.com


On Apr 22, 2014, at 10:11 AM, Jay Woods <woodsjaya@gmail.com> wrote:

> The cost accounting is very important.
>
> It is likely that stable, bulk foods are far cheaper in the market.
> However, specialty crops, perishables, and processed foods are likely to
> come out cheaper from your garden and kitchen.
>
>
> On Tue, Apr 22, 2014 at 12:25 PM, Paul Cross <charybda@newmex.com> wrote:
>
>> One of the best ways to discover how incredibly inexpensive food is in
>> supermarkets is to start an urban farming project with very careful
>> accounting. Keep track of the harvest and taking into account the land
>> costs, labor, inputs, distribution, taxes, benefits, etc. I imagine you
>> will find that rising food prices in supermarkets are not solved by urban
>> farming. There are a host of other benefits, though.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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> https://plus.google.com/+Avantgeared
> Permaculture: -- portal to an expanding global network of landtech pioneers
> -- who are designing ecological land use systems with integrated elements
> for synergy, sustainability, regeneration and enhanced nature-compatible
> human habitat





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