Rightsizing The Family Farm

21st century farming is starting to look and work a lot differently than the old ideal

Traditionally, farms were places where families bonded and kids learned handiness, thrift, common sense, responsibility, and the rewards of physical work. Most of us are several generations removed from the land now, and don’t have the desire to go back. But there is a yearning to realize some of the values that an agrarian lifestyle embodies.

With appropriately-scaled farming systems, we can, without moving to the middle of nowhere and taking on the commitments of tractors, barns and working hundreds of acres. We can live a more grounded life by creating farm businesses that tie us to wherever we happen to be, even if it’s not in the country, and for however long we are there, even if it is not a lifetime.

Here are 4 models based on following the SPIN-Farming system that are being used now to rightsize the family farm.
MODEL 1
✔ growing space: 240 sq. ft.
✔ crop value: $700
✔ customers: family, friends, neighbors

MODEL 2
✔ growing space: 2,000 sq. ft.
✔ crop value: $6k
✔ customers: farmers market shoppers, online buyers via subscription, chefs

MODEL 3
✔ growing space: 5,000 sq. ft.
✔ crop value: $15k
✔ customers: farmers market shoppers, online buyers via subscription, specialty grocers and food product makers, chefs

MODEL 4
✔ growing space: 20,000 sq. ft.
✔ crop value: $60k
✔ customers: institutional buyers, farmers market shoppers, online buyers via subscription, restaurants

These models have infinite variations, and they can be adapted to a variety of contexts — small towns, suburbia, cities, and metropolises; in the ground, on rooftops and in warehouses. The growing space can be a small garden, a collection of backyards, a community garden plot or part of a larger property. They can be worked part-time, full-time, as a mostly solo operation, or as part of a family or communal effort. They can last as long as there is a business model and markets to support them.

The point is that farms can be created wherever it makes the most sense, and increasingly that includes backyards and neighborhood lots. They are being made productive, not with the romantic notion of “returning to the land”, but to have a more balanced life. By making cropland wherever we happen to be, farming is starting to be practiced by a new generation that spans geography, socio-economic backgrounds and cultures. It’s leaving the traditional farm trappings behind, and creating a new ideal that this time will be known by.

SPIN stands for s-mall p-lot in-tensive.
SPIN Farming is a commercial production system designed specifically for growing spaces under an acre in size. It was developed in the mid-90’s by Canadian farmer Wally Satzewich. Those who practice it use gardens, community plots and vacant land to start and operate moneymaking farm businesses that serve the needs of local communities.