Comments on: Suburban Agriculture http://jcarrot.org/suburban-agriculture/ Jews, Food, and Contemporary Issues Fri, 09 Jan 2009 22:57:30 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.2 By: Roxanne Christensen http://jcarrot.org/suburban-agriculture/#comment-10894 Roxanne Christensen Fri, 05 Sep 2008 19:13:52 +0000 http://jcarrot.org/suburban-agriculture/#comment-10894 Whether or not "suburban" gives agriculture a bad name, "agriculture" can help to redeem suburbia's negative image. And more and more suburban farmers are cropping up due to a new sub-acre farming method called SPIN-Farming. SPIN is a franchise-ready vegetable farming system that makes it possible to earn $50,000+ from a half-acre. SPIN's growing techniques are not, in themselves, breakthrough. What is novel is the way a SPIN farm business is run. SPIN provides everything you'd expect from a good franchise: a business plan, marketing advice, and a detailed day-to-day workflow. In standardizing the system and creating a reproducible process it really isn't any different from McDonalds. By offering a non-technical, easy-to-understand and inexpensive-to-implement farming system, it allows many more people to farm commercially, wherever they live, as long as there are nearby markets to support them. By using backyards and front lawns and neighborhood lots as their land base, SPIN farmers are recasting farming as a small business in a city or suburb and helping to accelerate the shift back to a more locally-based food system. SPIN is now starting to be practiced throughout the U.S.,Canada, UK, Australia, Ireland and the Netherlands, and you can see some of these entrepreneurial farmers in action at www.spinfarming.com Whether or not “suburban” gives agriculture a bad name, “agriculture” can help to redeem suburbia’s negative image. And more and more suburban farmers are cropping up due to a new sub-acre farming method called SPIN-Farming. SPIN is a franchise-ready vegetable farming system that makes it possible to earn $50,000+ from a half-acre. SPIN’s growing techniques are not, in themselves, breakthrough. What is novel is the way a SPIN farm business is run. SPIN provides everything you’d expect from a good franchise: a business plan, marketing advice, and a detailed day-to-day workflow. In standardizing the system and creating a reproducible process it really isn’t any different from McDonalds. By offering a non-technical, easy-to-understand and inexpensive-to-implement farming system, it allows many more people to farm commercially, wherever they live, as long as there are nearby markets to support them. By using backyards and front lawns and neighborhood lots as their land base, SPIN farmers are recasting farming as a small business in a city or suburb and helping to accelerate the shift back to a more locally-based food system. SPIN is now starting to be practiced throughout the U.S.,Canada, UK, Australia, Ireland and the Netherlands, and you can see some of these entrepreneurial farmers in action at http://www.spinfarming.com

]]> By: Bobbi http://jcarrot.org/suburban-agriculture/#comment-10880 Bobbi Fri, 05 Sep 2008 03:40:03 +0000 http://jcarrot.org/suburban-agriculture/#comment-10880 Tikkun olam, exactly. And a political statement with every tomato plant and squash blossom. We ripped up the side yard. The backyard will go next spring. The front yard grass is going brown...dare I herb up the front? Tikkun olam, exactly. And a political statement with every tomato plant and squash blossom. We ripped up the side yard. The backyard will go next spring. The front yard grass is going brown…dare I herb up the front?

]]> By: Isaac Hametz http://jcarrot.org/suburban-agriculture/#comment-10867 Isaac Hametz Thu, 04 Sep 2008 20:12:47 +0000 http://jcarrot.org/suburban-agriculture/#comment-10867 Hey Pablo, I would also be a little peeved if someone called my farm operation "suburban agriculture". What ever happened to calling it "micro-farming"? Either way, all the power to you brother. Its great to hear people ripping up the grass and putting in the veggies! Hey Pablo,

I would also be a little peeved if someone called my farm operation “suburban agriculture”. What ever happened to calling it “micro-farming”?
Either way, all the power to you brother. Its great to hear people ripping up the grass and putting in the veggies!

]]>