This week we're planning the planting calendar for the year - more or less finessing spreadsheets for hours and hours. While on the computer I happened to check the
Tiny Farm Blog and found a very insightful quote on the subject of scale that I'd like to share with you because it is a subject that is important to the business end of farming and often overlooked:
[Mike farms a total of 2 acres in Southern Ontario]
"This idea of SCALE has been on my mind quite a bit, lately. More and more people these days seem to want to get back to the land and start farming, and the farming they want to do is usually of the tiny variety. Like what’s pictured on [my] blog. Small-plot growing is understandable, accessible, hard work, economically tough, genuinely community-building, fun…all of that stuff. Big tractors and combines and other imposing (and EXPENSIVE) machinery don’t figure into the picture. In my few years of market gardening, I’ve only ever driven my Kubota compact tractor, and I know nothing practical about larger scale growing gear.
This is interesting for the simple reason that, if “we” (referring, at least, to Canada and the US) are going to change what we eat, where it comes from, on any sort of large scale, it’s difficult to imagine our part of the world, with its convenient supermarkets and complex food chain, suddenly fed mainly by hundreds of thousands or MILLIONS of postcard tiny farms. Gathering food for tens and hundreds of millions of people from all those tiny farms would be…complicated. So it seems to me, there’s tiny farming and mid-size farming, and figuring out how they fit together. Hmm…"
There is no right answer to what is the "appropriate" scale but there are some reasonable limits. I suspect that Tiny Farm is as small as you can be and still make a living and I seriously doubt that a 1600 acres lettuce monocrop is sustainable. There is a big middle ground. "Appropriate scale" really depends on what you want to do with your life, whether your techniques are sustainable for your soil and climate, and what your target market is.
Chelsea and I came to farming as environmentalists and pioneers, but economic success is what keeps us farming. Activism doesn't pay the mortgage. The most important variable to us is economic. We've got to be able to make a decent living - more than just pay the bills. We believe that farmers should be respected just as much as any other small business entrepreneur, and financially rewarded as such. This is not merely because we are proud; it is the key to making sustainable farming into a movement capable of feeding the continent. The simple fact is, if it isn't profitable - people won't do it (and worse, banks won't loan money on it).
People say you don't get rich farming but Chelsea and I intend to put our kids through college, build a house, and retire on farmers' salaries. If that isn't rich I don't know what is.
Here are some of the reasons that encourage us to be smaller.
- More face to face interaction at the farmers' markets.
- A higher profit margin per item (especially if you only do retail)
- Less employee drama - aka no employees.
- Less administrative costs.
- More hands in the dirt time.
- Less upfront investment.
Here are some of the reasons that encourage us to be bigger.
- Oklahoma needs 10 times more local and organic produce than is currently growing.
- More labor saving equipment (thus lowering our prices for the customer).
- More full time helpers - and pay them well (Green Jobs)!
- More wholesale clients - with more predictable and consistent demand.
So that is our dilemma! I'm not done with the planting calendar just yet so I'm not sure how big the farm will be but I'm guessing we will rotate through about 12 acres next year. Hopefully that will allow us to hire a few full time employees as well as some summer help. With any luck we will be able to get some new farm tools too!
What do you think about appropriate scale?
-Don
We'll move in by Jan 31 whether the house is finished or not because that is when our current lease is up. Hopefully by then the office, bedroom, and bathroom will be finished. That will make us foodies sans kitchen. Whoops!
