Stone’s laser focus on profitability led him to develop an approach to urban farming that he details in his new book The Urban Farmer and in the workshops he delivers around the world. We use biointensive farming techniques and grow only about 15 to 20 different products, mostly cherry tomatoes, loose leaf greens, microgreens, and herbs.” Stone says: “We did it by focusing on what’s profitable. Given that typical per-acre revenue numbers rarely exceed five figures, even for the most lucrative crops, the obvious question is: How? The second year, they grew to $85,000, and now, in the third year, they’re on track for $110,000. In the first year, the lean new farm achieved $75,000 in sales. We ‘80/20ed’ everything - cut customers and products that were dead weight and streamlined the farm down to ⅓ acre.” It paid off. So Stone decided to take an ax to the operation, double-downing on the things that worked and cutting the things that didn’t.
The farm was making $250,000 a year, but they had a lot of overhead. The business doubled and doubled, and doubled again, until they were up to 2 ½ acres and 8 staff. He got some books on SPIN (small plot intensive) farming, tried it, and it worked.įarming isn’t generally considered an immediately profitable venture. He saw some people doing urban farming, including one guy in Nelson, B.C., who was doing it by bike. When Stone decided to moved out west, he rode his bike from Kelowna to Tijuana, visiting ecovillages, intentional communities, and organic farms. That experience motivated me to get into farming.” The city was gridlocked, and I thought, How fragile we are! If the trucks stop coming, people could starve. Stone says: “The storms were really scary to live through.
And second, there were a couple of freezing storms in Montreal. He was living in Montreal at the time, when two events combined to create a perfect storm. Stone first became interested in urban farming in 2008.
#Ways to make money on a hobby farm how to
A prolific blogger and vlogger, published author, and online course teacher, Stone spends most of his time now educating people about exactly how to build a profitable urban farming business. Those are the kind of numbers that would make anyone consider giving up the rat race for a life on the farm. Today, Green City Acres encompasses a mere ⅓ acre, and this year they’re on track to clear $110,000 in sales ( take a virtual tour of the farm here ). Ī touring-musician-turned-urban-farmer, Stone established the Green City Acres farm in Kelowna, British Columbia, in 2010. Or, at least, that they need to talk with Curtis Stone, aka The Urban Farmer. The next time you hear someone say that small farms can’t be profitable, tell them (as respectfully as possible, of course) that they have no idea what they’re talking about.
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