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No one is doing any commercially meaningful farming (not even for a small business) on 20 acres. Consider for grazing use 2-6 acres per cow is needed. 4 cows,

by Aloha 8y ago

No one is doing any commercially meaningful farming (not even for a small business) on 20 acres. Consider for grazing use 2-6 acres per cow is needed. 4 cows, isnt even a blip. Nor can you farm most crops meaningfully on 20 acre plots either. On lot 1, most of the taxed value is derived from the improvements, not the land itself.

StillBored 8y ago
Lot1: is prime lakefront property, with over a 100 acres next door to neighborhoods where land is in excess of $100k an acre. As for small scale farming: https://ensia.com/features/urban-agriculture-is-booming-but-what-does-it-really-yield/ https://ensia.com/features/urban-agriculture-is-booming-but-... edit: To be exact about $720k an acre, given this nearly adjacent: (.3 acre 4391 sqft, $20k taxes) http://propaccess.traviscad.org/clientdb/Property.aspx?cid=1&prop_id=769036 http://propaccess.traviscad.org/clientdb/Property.aspx?cid=1... again the improvements are worth more than the land, but if the guy had a full acre that wouldn't be true.
CalRobert 8y ago
There appears to be at least one counterexample, if you count "supporting one's family" as commercially meaningful. Currently reading The Market Gardener and it's surprisingly fascinating for a guide to intensively cultivating on about 1.5 acres - about 140k CAD gross, 60k revenue on 1.5 acres - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18406251-the-market-gardener https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18406251-the-market-gard... (the author) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Martin_Fortier https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Martin_Fortier
- huntie 8y ago
  Thanks for the recommendation, I'm going to check it out.
  - CalRobert 8y ago
    I ended up reading most of it in one sitting; surprisingly engaging.
phillc73 8y ago
> Nor can you farm most crops meaningfully on 20 acre plots either. Perhaps your definition of crop is too narrow. Something like hops is well suited to "commercial" sizes starting at 20 acres.[1] Vineyards supplying a co-operative? 20 acres of fruit trees for boutique cider production? I think there's probably quite a few examples of 20 acre crops which are sustainable commercially. [1] "...EU competitive hop farms (more than 10 ha of hops) ..." https://www.dlib.si/stream/URN:NBN:SI:DOC-CWQINAJR/eaf94387-f65c-4087-9e0c-a72d31c22cdb/PDF https://www.dlib.si/stream/URN:NBN:SI:DOC-CWQINAJR/eaf94387-...
insensible 8y ago
Intensive veggie growers ("intensive" means "scaled-up home garden") can make 6 figures on 1.5-2 acres. Selling higher-margin crops direct to customers puts a lot of money in the farmer's pocket.
heurist 8y ago
You can feed a family with vegetables and eggs on less than two acres (some claim 1/4 acre) if you know how.

by Aloha 8y ago

StillBored 8y ago

Lot1: is prime lakefront property, with over a 100 acres next door to neighborhoods where land is in excess of $100k an acre. As for small scale farming: https://ensia.com/features/urban-agriculture-is-booming-but-what-does-it-really-yield/ https://ensia.com/features/urban-agriculture-is-booming-but-... edit: To be exact about $720k an acre, given this nearly adjacent: (.3 acre 4391 sqft, $20k taxes) http://propaccess.traviscad.org/clientdb/Property.aspx?cid=1&prop_id=769036 http://propaccess.traviscad.org/clientdb/Property.aspx?cid=1... again the improvements are worth more than the land, but if the guy had a full acre that wouldn't be true.

CalRobert 8y ago

There appears to be at least one counterexample, if you count "supporting one's family" as commercially meaningful. Currently reading The Market Gardener and it's surprisingly fascinating for a guide to intensively cultivating on about 1.5 acres - about 140k CAD gross, 60k revenue on 1.5 acres - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18406251-the-market-gardener https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18406251-the-market-gard... (the author) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Martin_Fortier https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Martin_Fortier

huntie 8y ago
Thanks for the recommendation, I'm going to check it out.
- CalRobert 8y ago
  I ended up reading most of it in one sitting; surprisingly engaging.

phillc73 8y ago

> Nor can you farm most crops meaningfully on 20 acre plots either. Perhaps your definition of crop is too narrow. Something like hops is well suited to "commercial" sizes starting at 20 acres.[1] Vineyards supplying a co-operative? 20 acres of fruit trees for boutique cider production? I think there's probably quite a few examples of 20 acre crops which are sustainable commercially. [1] "...EU competitive hop farms (more than 10 ha of hops) ..." https://www.dlib.si/stream/URN:NBN:SI:DOC-CWQINAJR/eaf94387-f65c-4087-9e0c-a72d31c22cdb/PDF https://www.dlib.si/stream/URN:NBN:SI:DOC-CWQINAJR/eaf94387-...

insensible 8y ago

Intensive veggie growers ("intensive" means "scaled-up home garden") can make 6 figures on 1.5-2 acres. Selling higher-margin crops direct to customers puts a lot of money in the farmer's pocket.

heurist 8y ago

You can feed a family with vegetables and eggs on less than two acres (some claim 1/4 acre) if you know how.