User:Mbuckler13/SPIN Farming

SPIN Farming is a farming production system and business model invented by Canadian farmer Wally Satzewich. SPIN stands for S-mall P-lot IN-tensive, in reference to the small amount of space needed to utilize the technique.

History

In 1981, Wally Satzewich began growing in his backyard in Saskatoon, SK, a city of about 220,000, and selling at the Saskatoon Farmers Market. Like most farmers, he thought that in order to become successful, he required more land. So he acquired 20 acres outside of Saskatoon, along the Saskatchewan River, and invested in an expensive irrigation system and brought in outside work crews. But he continued to live in Saskatoon and grow in his small yard there. Over time he realized he was growing high-value crops, like carrots, spinach and lettuce, in his small backyard, while growing low-value crops, like potatoes and onions, on his larger acreage in the country. This distinction between a high-value and low-value crop made him realize the other advantages to city-based sub-acre farming. He could grow high-value crops in the city because he was not losing them to pests, such as deer and large scale insect infestations. Using a tap water from a faucet as his irrigation system, he did not have to depend on fluctuating river levels or worry about water quality. The small scale of his city crop allowed him to manage it with only the help of his wife, allowing him to stop using work crews. Looking at the income being made from his urban crop, Satzewich found that, despite the land base and overhead of sub-acre farming is a fraction of that of a large-scale farm, sub-acre farming could earn as much, or more, income as a large scale operation, but with a lot less stress and overhead, and with more control over their operation, and with more certainty of success from year to year. Satzewich sold off all his acreage in the country and became an urban farmer. Now, the only land he owns in the city is his own small backyard, and he rents or barters other backyards to make up his half-acre land base. He has been successfully farming this way for 15 years.

Description

SPIN-Farming is a vegetable production system and business model designed specifically for sub-acre land bases. It’s production system is organic-based, nontechnical, easy-to-understand and inexpensive to implement. Its business model is based on “street value farming” which uses financial benchmarks to measure success. The system makes it possible to gross $50,000+US from a half acre, which is about 20,000 square feet.

Techniques

SPIN-Farming techniques greatly reduce the amount of land needed for commercial crop production, and they are therefore particularly suitable for urban contexts. The main techniques are:

• Utilize standard size beds, which measure 2 feet wide by 25 feet long

• Devote a majority of production to high-value crops, defined as one that produces $100 gross per harvest, per standard size bed

• Practice relay cropping, which is the sequential growing of crops in the same bed throughout the season; there are two types of relays:

• Intensive relay cropping – the growing of 3 or more high-value crops per standard size bed, per season

• Bi-relay cropping – the growing of 2 lesser value crops per standard size bed, per season

• Allocate your land base - use the 1-2-3 rule which divides the farm into the 3 different areas of crop intensity; the smaller the land base, the more of its area needs to be devoted to intensive relay production to achieve maximum revenue potential

• Target revenue – use this formula as a benchmark: 1 acre accommodates 480 standard size beds, including paths walkways and infrastructure; if all are intensively relay cropped they will produce $300 per standard size bed, per season; 480 beds x $300 = $144,000 per acre per season

See Also

• Urban Agriculture
• Growing Power
• Microponics
• Vertical Farming
• Rooftop farming
• Wally Satzewich

References

• "Putting Your House to Work" - Wall Street Journal (December 2, 2008)
• "Eco-farmer Blossoms as Urban Planter" - Toronto Star (July 14, 2009)
• Stuart Brown, Masters Program, Charles Sturt University, Urban Agriculture: Is There Now An Opportunity for a Viable, Small Scale Agriculture to Emerge in Brisbane, Australia - June 2008
• Annie Meyers, Undergraduate, UCBerkeley Vitalizing the Vacant - May 2008
• Institute for Innovations in Local Farming and Urban Partners – Farming in Philadelphia: Feasibility Analysis and Next Steps Executive Summary (5 pages) or Complete Study (41 pages) – December 2007
• Michael Ramsay, M.Arch Candidate, University of Waterloo (School of Architecture) Cambridge, Ontario, Canada - Urban Agriculture: Redefining urban communities through local growing – April 2007

External links

• SPIN-farming - The official site for information on the SPIN farming technique, tools, and general information.
• Paula Sobie of City Harvest talks about SPIN
• Small is Beautiful... and Profitable - Rodale Institute covers SPIN Farming