Over the past several years, a new approach to farming has emerged, one that is grounded in local food systems and has a close connection to the consumer.
The recent growth of the localvore (a localvore is a person who is dedicated to eating food grown and produced locally) movement has created economic opportunities. Somerton Tank Farms is an example of what is being done.
Roxanne Christensen is co-founder and President of the Institute for Innovations in Local Farming. In partnership with the Philadelphia Water Department, the Institute operates Somerton Tanks Farm, a prototype sub-acre urban farm that serves as the U.S. test bed for the SPIN-FARMING method.
BE: Please tell me a bit about your background relevant to urban agriculture.
RC: I grew up in a one horse town, surrounded by farmland, but have lived in the city for thirty years. Counterintuitive though it may seem city living has most of the benefits of small town life: I can walk to whatever I need, and I know my neighbors for better and worse. But what was missing was farm fresh food. I thought it would be easier to create local city-based farms than to move somewhere and try to reclaim small town life.
Also, what appealed to me is what attracts most people to urban agriculture – the social and environmental benefits are obvious and easy to understand. As I researched urban agriculture I found that most projects were add-ons to nonprofit community gardens, and that many failed because they could not sustain themselves financially. So it became clear that for urban agriculture to become established on any meaningful scale, it had to be economically viable. And that is what led me to help start Somerton Tanks Farm.
BE: How did
Somerton Tank Farms come into being?
RC: Somerton Tanks Farm was a half-acre demonstration farm located on land operated by the Philadelphia Water Department. The Department is a significant land holder with about 100 acres surrounding its various storage and treatment facilities. It was maintaining all this property in grassy lawn and was looking for ways to reduce maintenance costs.
Its economic development director, Nancy Weissman, also wondered whether some economic activity could be generated on some of the land by businesses that would contribute positively to the environment.
So that is what led us to embark on an experiment in urban agriculture. We agreed that ours would differ from all the others in 2 ways (1) it would focus solely on demonstrating the economic benefits of urban agriculture, and (2) that whatever we did would be able to be replicated by others. And that is what led us to
Wally Satzewich, the Canadian farmer who developed the SPIN-Farming system. Wally served as our agricultural advisor.
BE: How would you characterize the new approach to farming you refer to on web site?
RC: A main aim of SPIN-Farming is to make the farming profession accessible to many more people who would not otherwise consider it to be an option. So its approach is entrepreneurial and inclusive. There is no one profile of a SPIN farmer. Some are young and just starting out. Others are older and on their third or fourth careers. Still others are in retirement or post-retirement and looking for something productive to do.
Some are doing it full time, other part-time. Some are doing it alone, and others are doing it with family or friends. Some are doing it in cities while others are doing it in the suburbs or on part of larger acreages in the country. SPIN is giving rise to a new farming class that spans geography, generations income levels, and increasingly, cultures. What SPIN farmers do have in common is there are markets to support them, they don’t come from traditional farm families, and they are starting their businesses without major policy changes or government supports. They are entirely entrepreneurially-driven.
BE: What is spin farming and how can someone get started as a spin farmer?
RC: SPIN-Farming is a commercial sub-acre farming system that makes it possible to earn $50k+ gross from a half-acre, which is about 20,000 square feet. It is as close to a franchise-ready farming system as you can have while still respecting the creative and place-based nature of farming. It is explained in the seven SPIN Guides that can be purchased online for immediate download and which contain 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 McDonald’s. So while most other farming systems focus primarily if not exclusively on agricultural practices, SPIN emphasizes the business aspects and provides a financial and management framework for having the business drive the agriculture, rather than the other way around.
SPIN is low capital intensive and, because of its sub-acre scale, it greatly reduces the amount of land needed for commercial crop production. One acre is about 40,000 square feet, so SPIN farmers are giving new meaning to the term “back forty” because they think in terms of feet not acres.
The land base needed for SPIN-style crop production is no bigger than some people’s backyards and front lawns. In fact, the land base for some SPIN farmers, including SPIN’s developer Wally Satzewich, is backyards and front lawns. The only land Wally owns in the city is his own backyard and he rents or barters the yards of others so collectively he has a land base of about a half-acre. So SPIN eliminates the need to own much or any land.
Many people get started in their own yards, but the first step, before they put a shovel in the ground is to determine what markets they are going to be selling to and what those markets want. Urban areas offer a big advantage to farmers because they offer a wide variety of easily accessible markets, including community supported agriculture (CSA) programs, farmers markets, restaurants and caterers, and onsite farm stands.
For novice farmers it is recommended that they choose farmers markets, which are not as demanding in terms of quality and consistency of production. Once they can dependably produce a wide variety of premium quality crops over the longest possible time frame, they can then start a CSA or service restaurant clients.
