Second Urban farmer Meeting (a wee bit smaller than the first one)

Well today we had another urban farmer meeting – this one a bit smaller, but still a good time!

Although this one was on very short notice, we still had 12 people turn out. And three of those people were new to the group – including another urban farm: City Farm Girls.

The idea of this meeting was to start to look ahead to the working groups we are preparing for the New Year.  We wanted to get some feedback on the categories we had established from the first meeting’s list of ideas as well as solicit input on working group models/ideas.

It was a very good group and we had a number of great talks over 2 1/2 hours. We are currently working on getting the meeting summarized in order to solicit more feedback from others who could not make it.

A summary document and project introduction was finished after the November 22 meeting and will be released to the public on Monday.  This not only summarizes the general meeting and the discussion group results, but also gives a general outline of the project, so it also acts as a promotional paper. we are already receiving lots of good feedback on the project and are excited to move forward.

We also have a number of opportunities for new funding sources which Wes (BOB) and I are working on.  We also have meetings with city planners and Vancity early in 2011 which could also be potential sources of funding.

The ball is really rolling now!  I am curious to see where it will go…

Slowing down for holidays

Well, things are still moving, but definitely slowing down for the holidays.

We are going to have a brainstorming session this Thursday to start developing ideas for the working groups in January.  This will help get me out of my head a bit and start creating a more solid vision for carrying forward.

It looks like BOB may have access to some funding to carry this project forward for the next year, though this is still tentative.  We are hoping to put together a proposal this week to lay out the project and its timeline.  That would be a very nice gift as it may pay two of us for the next 6-12 months!

I am noticing a bit of a struggle I am having at the moment about the approach to this project.  Most urban ag. and farming projects have a real base in community while this project, as it currently stands now, has its base in business.  It is recently making me feel that it lacks integrity.  But as I reflect I can see that it does not since the business focus is there to ensure that these farms remain economically sustainable so they can continue to contribute to their communities.  Now I don’t have a business background and have never really taken the business approach myself so I think that moving into uncharted territory also makes it a bit stressful.

The feedback thus far has been pretty positive, so I am not sure why I feel this way.

One thing I notice is that because there is a business approach, it seems to be easier to et people’s attention.  When I am in conversation and asking for money or support, people seem to be able to see the bigger picture and to see that urban farming could really be a contributor to employment in this city and elsewhere.  And I think with that perspective we can get more support from the city.

Hopefully I hear this week about the OSDP grant we applied for.

 

Successful Urban Farmer Meeting! Phew…

So the November 22 urban Farmer meeting was a smashing success! My apologies that I have not written about it sooner. It’s been a very busy time.

50 people were confirmed for the meeting and we only had 4 no shows. The energy for the evening was great and I we managed to stay fairly on schedule as well! We also had an awesome meal courtesy of Little Nest on Charles Street in Vancouver.

We started off the night with a bit of social time as everyone arrived, got their name tags and was quickly briefed on the evening. We then did a quick introduction to the project, introducing myself, Wes Regan and Brent Mansfield to the group, and explained some of the overall goals and visions.

Then we had dinner and did introductions. This was the opportunity for urban farmers and supporters to talk about their initiatives or to say how they could support others’ work. It was great learning about the diversity of urban farming systems at work in Vancouver. I don’t think any two farms were using the same model – they were all so unique.

After dinner we broke into seven discussion groups which were given the following questions to share their thoughts on:

– What do urban farmers need to be successful?
– What would an urban farming network look like?

Each group gave a great diversity of answers and it was interesting to see which topics were in every group and which topics were limited to certain groups. Each group than shared their ideas (which were written on flip chart paper) with the whole room.

After the discussion groups and sharing there was bit more time to socialize, allowing new acquaintanceships to me made on old ones to be revisited. After a little bit of clean up the night came to a fruitful end!

After the meeting, Wes and I typed up all the ideas and groped them into overall topics, and came up with five main themes:

– Land Issues
– City and Government Support
– Cooperation
– Business Development
– Systems and Infrastructure

We will do some expansion and rearranging on this list, but these would be the general topics that we will use to form our urban farmer working groups in the new year.

Besides developing the beginning of our working group topics, this meeting also realized a number of other achievements:

– Introduced urban farmers and their projects to each other and to urban farming supporters
– Introduced urban farmers supporters to urban farmers
– Catalyzed conversation between Urban farmers and supporters
– Gathered thoughts and ideas from a diverse group on how to progress urban farming in Vancouver
– Catalyzed immediate connections between projects which have already branched into new related projects
– Generated excitement over the possibilities of urban farming in Vancouver
– Supported and promoted a local restaurant (Little Nest) which supports local farmers
– And last but not least, allowed us all to see who is involved in the bigger picture of urban farming in Vancouver.

With this first meting done we now start preparing for the working groups in the new year. This is where the real work begins!

Urban Farming Meeting Imminent

Well, our first urban farming meeting is taking place this Monday, Nov. 22.  The response has been great with 48 people confirming their attendance.  It’s actually a little more than we have room for, but its hard to complain about success!

The interest in this meeting is encouraging as an indicator for the future of urban farming and the amount of enthusiasm around it. I am looking forward to hearing what others have to say about the development of an urban farming network in Vancouver.

One of the things I will be determining today is how to phrase the topics of discussion for the discussion groups.  The two basic themes are:

1. What is Urban Farming?
2. What would an urban farming network look like

The first questions seems simple enough, but there are some important aspects of naming this.

• It’s important that we are all on the same page or at least have an idea of the pages that people are on.
• The idea is not so much to strictly define urban farming but to identify characteristics of projects that we would typically call urban farming
• Defining urban farming more specifically may not be very important to urban farmers, but it certainly is important to funders, so they know what kind of projects their funds are supporting and it would be important in determining the role and scope of an urban farming network
• We can partially define urban farming by what it is not as well, which helps differentiate it from community gardening, hobby gardening, and other UA activities
• The description can contain abstract, factual, physical, etc. aspects of urban farming.  I would suggest a focus on things that can be measured as these are tools to help us measure the success of urban farming initiatives
• My current working terms are as follows:
  • Urban farming describes urban agriculture projects in which many of the following characteristics are often present
    • is income-generating
    • is often collaborative
    • often takes place at multiple sites
    • often use organic practices
    • is often documented electronically as blog or website
  • These terms can clearly help differentiate urban farming from other UA activities and also give a sense of what urban farming looks like
  • Other more abstract or subjective and bigger picture descriptions can also be included:
    • Provides meaningful work
    • Increases food security in cities
    • Helps connect people with their food

However, it seems that the bigger picture stuff might better be left for the working groups and the focus here only on defining urban farming so as to create a shared perspective on what we are trying to achieve.

The second question relates to the overall goal of this project – to develop an urban farming network in Vancouver.  The question for me is do we focus on “What would an urban farming network look like?” or, rather, on “What are the needs of urban farmers?”.  The latter question seems to be a better example of putting the horse before the cart.

So having written that, the latter  question seems better, though I do not know whether to phrase it individually or collectively.  I would want to hear both individual needs and what people see as overall needs.  One thing I have noticed is urban farmers seem to think that everything is OK in certain areas, because, well, everything happens to be OK in those areas.  But how are they adapted for a change in those areas?  You may have land, but is that land secure?  And if it is not, and you are trying to build a business our of urban farming, what will you do if you lose that land?

Another interesting topic will be that of the working groups.  Since these groups will only be effective if they are well attended, I am curious to see what efforts farmers will  make to attend.  It will be a bit of work in the groups, but I think the growth opporunities wil be very beneficial.

So generally the meeting is looking very good and I expect some great things to come out of it.  I can foresee a few challenges, but for a group of almost 50 people, this should be expected!  One of the challenges will be to simply keep guests engaged.  I am hoping to do this by breaking up introductions to allow for questions and also hoping that many people stay after 9:00 for more discussions.

Onward and Upward…

Making a Living by Urban Farming

As I started this project, one of my goals was to explore urban farming as a way of making a viable living in the city.  While viable means different things to different people, I would say it means generating enough income  to significantly contribute to one’s regular expenses, if not cover most of them.  Not an unachievable goal for many people, especially those who lead a more basic lifestyle.

But in conversation with my advising professor today, he reminded me of a good point.  That even in rural farms in BC, most are only able to survive due to off-farm income!  A damn good point if you ask me.

From Stats Canada – Statistics on Income of Farm Families 2007 (http://dsp-psd.pwgsc.gc.ca/collections/collection_2010/statcan/21-207-X/21-207-x2010000-eng.pdf):

This information is for Family Farms in Canada.  Farm families refer to those involved in a single unincorporated farm with total operating revenues of $10,000 andover.

• The overall growth in farm families’ average total income in 2007 reflects increases in both average income fromoff-farm sources and average net farm operating income. As in 2006, off-farm income made up 80% of their total income.

• Average off-farm income rose 7.5% from 2006 to $75,223 in 2007, reflecting growth in all of its major components.

It is important to note that not all farm family income earned from a farming operation is net farm operating income. Income reported as wages and salaries and as investment income may have come from the farm.

An interesting table about family  farm income (click to enlarge):

 

Another interesting table:

So what these off-farm income data do for me is lower my expectations a bit about what needs to be achieved through this initiative.  But what it also does, after my experience this season, is open up the idea that urban farming could presently pay better than rural farming! One key aspect of that is there is no major land costs in urban farming (yet).  Further, the infrastructure required is less intensive and extensive.  And with less machinery infrastructure, that means less fuel costs.  And  obviously with the best markets already being right in the city, urbanf armers save massive amounts of money on transportation costs.

The average family farm net income from farming operations is $18, 480 (range from -$5700 to $114,000).  Interestingly, from 2006 to 2007 income declined on all farm sizes except for large and very large family farms. Such farms were also the only ones whose farm income was more than off-farm income.

In BC, off -farm income represents 91.7% of total farm family income – a value that has been increasing  each year since 2003!  So perhaps urban farming stands a chance after all. Revenues may be lower, but so are expenses.

Urban Farming Shmooser

Well, I have been a busy body in the last while, meeting with all sorts of people and talking about urban farming.  So, what has happened:

It looks like I have secured some funding for the urban farming working groups, though the exact amount is not yet determined.  I am hoping to generate more donations elsewhere and use this money to get matching funds through the OSDP grants, for which the application is due Nov. 12 (very F*ing soon).

I am considering back tracking a bit on the Meet & Greet and holding it after the working groups.  This would be a good time to present the information to the public instead of bringing the public together without having done any work yet.  This will help reduce the amount of organizational work that goes into moving this project forward and greatly reduce the costs associated with it.  The more I think about it, the more sense it makes.  Perhaps we can then leverage the work we have done in the working groups to raise funds for the Meet & Greet.

In the interests of moving this project forward effectively and successfully I have been seriously considering hiring a facilitator to help plan and execute the working groups.  I feel if we want this effort to be successful that it needs to be carried out properly.  A facilitator will greatly aid this process.  I met with a potential facilitator yesterday and had a great meeting – reaffirming that this is a good idea!  Rates are about $100/hour and would include a big pre-planning process.  This is what a bulk of any funds would go to as other things (e.g., space, supplies) can more easily be found for cheap or free.

In terms of the Nov. 22 initial urban farmer meeting the response so far has been fairly positive. I have 12 confirmed attendees out of about 31 invitations, with only one decline so far.  In the interest of keeping the meeting productive I am hoping we will have a clear agenda set by Nov. 1st.  Currently, there are a few issues I think should be discussed.

• This is an ideal time for urban farmers to share their projects with other urban farmers and other supporters of urban farming
• This is an ideal time for supporters of urban farming to hear what urban farmers are doing and thus get a better idea of of the momentum of the movement and how they can best help.  It also demonstrates organization of farmers which bodes well for long-term project sustainability
• This is a chance to discuss a few important topics in urban farming as a group:
  • Defining urban farming
    • Important for differentiating it from other UA activities
    • Important for effectively soliciting for funding or support
    • Effective way to better understand the dynamic differences between various UA activities
  • Discussing desire/need/role of urban farming network
    • The point of these meetings is to unite farmers and develop a network if desired.
    • Chance for collaborators such as BOB to express their vision and role in such a network.
  • Discussing working groups, Meet & Greet, and where we go from here.

I think these topics would be sufficient for good conversation for a first meeting and will help keep us focused.  It would be very easy to get into  some very big conversations about urban farming and not make any progress in this meeting.

Organizational Planning for Urban Farming Network

I think that many of the key challenges around building a successful urban farming movement/network have an organizational basis.

One likely key to the success of urban farming is in developing and maintaining a cohesive organization to maintain relationships between farmers while simultaneously building opportunities for farmers and advancing the image of urban farming as a legitimate employment sector

• • Such an organization could play many roles:
    • Lobbying municipalities for changes in bylaws and regulations
    • Lobbying municipalities to make land available to for-profit urban farming ventures
    • Organizing educational opportunities for urban farmers
    • Organizing social/networking events for urban farmers
    • Building and maintaining a dynamic website as a resource to both the public and urban farmers
    • Assisting farmers in locating land and negotiating lease agreements
    • Acting as an Extension Agent for urban farmers
    • Liaising with community gardens, small-scale urban food processors, and other urban agriculture projects
    • Actively engaging with urban farmers while recruiting new farmers and identifying current ones
    • Generally working to build and strengthen the urban farming industry in Vancouver.

However, there are  a number of challenges in creating and maintaining such an organization:

• Long-term commitment.  My research and experience currently shows that a lot of people come and go in urban farming – probably a good sign of the difficulty in making a living in this field.  Without long-term, knowledgeable people, it is hard to build and maintain a movement.
• Funding.  Not an issue isolated to urban farming, funding is often the key to success in many movements.
• Organization.  Even with funding and commitment, general organization challenges can hamper progress.  However, this is often due to a lack of funding.
• Legitimacy.  Urban farming is a very small economic sector.  A paid position for an overseeing organization seems a bit excessive.  In theory, it probably is.  But in even more sound theory, if such an organization existed, it could accelerate the success of urban farming.

These challenges may exist in varying degrees at different times.  It seems to me that the most important start is in organization, since this can help build cohesiveness between farmers and a vision for the future.  With more cohesiveness, work can be spread amongst many people to advance the success of an urban faming network.  Hopefully organization can lead to more long-term commitment, more funding, and more legitimacy for the urban farming movement.

In saying that (though I am sure I have more to say), it leads me to the present.  I have counted ten urban farming operations in Vancouver (including my own).  To date there is no organization that serves the needs of those farmers specifically or even works to join them together. I think such an organization would be beneficial and, as part of this thesis, may be working towards the development of that organization.  My challenge is how to take a structured, systematic, organized approach to doing so.  Here is some of what I have in mind from now until May 2011:

• In developing an urban farming network/organization I think it needs to start with urban farmers and grow from the ground up (pun partially intended).  While I have talked to a few farmers already, there are several others still to contact.  While originally I thought I would want to start with just a few for initial brainstorming, I can now see that the more farmers we have in the beginning the better.
  • Because there is such a diversity of people in the urban farming ‘scene’ it will be important to get input from everyone right from the beginning.  Further, because the group is so small, it seems dumb to risk leaving anyone out at all.
• The first meeting of urban farmers will serve a number of purposes
  • Initial meeting of peers
  • Introduction to this thesis and its goal of, basically, promoting and growing their business
  • Solicit feedback on the idea of an urban farming network/organization
    • Much of this thesis rests on the assumption that such a thing would be desired!
  • A chance for me to share some of my research thus far and discuss basic barriers to successful urban farming in Vancouver.
  • Solicit feedback on meet & greet and working groups for early 2011
  • Drink beer (its inevitable)
• It may be good to have a few non-farmers, but potentially important partners, also at the meeting.  This may include representatives from BOB, FF/CF, UBC, Food Policy Council.

The first meeting would take place in the next several weeks and help lay some foundation for the meet and greet and working groups that would take place from January to March.  Here is how that may look:

• Meet & Greet (Early-mid January)
  • This is essentially a publicity event that gives urban farmers, urban farming advocates, and politicians a chance to mingle.  This catered event would also serve as a chance to gather more information on the topics we should discuss in the working groups.  The Meet & Greet would include a number of activities for participants to engage in to catalyze conversations and the generation of ideas.
• Working Groups (February – March)
  • A series of working groups will follow the Meet & Greet based on my own research plus ideas generated from the Meet & Greet and the initial farmers meeting.
  • These groups will mainly be for urban farmers, but we may want to bring in some guest participants for certain subjects (e.g., business development)
  • I am currently thinking of a strategy where each group has a specific focus.  For example:
    • 1st meeting:  identifying challenges in urban farming (within a range of t0pics)
    • 2nd meeting: identifying ways to meet those challenges
    • 3rd meeting: identifying benefits of urban ag. (including personal stories)
    • etc…
  • I am still spending a lot of time thinking about this structure and how to make it most effective.
  • The groups may take place every two weeks or so.  The idea here is to get the groups happening in the winter when farmers have more time. Also, to ensure that we can compile info generated at the groups into a paper we can use to advise the city on the state of urban farming in Vancouver.
• Present Findings (April/May)
  • At this point, it may be best to present the findings t the Food Policy Council who may then take this info to the city.  What is likely to come out of the groups is a number of bylaw barriers that exist to further urban farming (I already have a list of some somewhere).  To approach the city as a group of farmers through the food policy council will get us better results than me grumbling at the city’s business license office manager.
• Begin development of network (If so concluded)
  • This would mean start looking for funding as well

Another aspect of all this is how to keep this process organized.  While I can do so quite well to a certain point, one of the challenges may be to successfully organize and carryout the Meet & Greet and Working Groups. I am hoping to talk to a number of supportive organizations to see if they can offer an in-kind donation of skills to help with this.  Perhaps someone who can help organize and mediate these events or who may be able to offer me some useful resources and techniques for getting and keeping participants engaged.  While I do have some experience at this, I think there is a real skill in effective group mediation that would be very helpful for these groups.

Well, I think that is it for today.  it is good to get a lot of that written and out of my head.  Now I need to go back and finish some of my earlier posts.

Defining Urban Farming

In order to ensure I stay on task I am going to develop a working definition of urban farming so as to track how my perspective on urban farming changes and evolves.  Accompanying the definition will be essential components of urban farming that should be considered as important aspects of the definition, though not within the definition itself.

When defining urban farming I think we can work from a simple definition of urban agriculture.  And in saying that I should immediately make clear that the two are not the same.  We would start with urban agriculture as an overall concept of urban food production, of which urban farming would be one approach.  Urban agriculture is often synonymously used with community and allotment gardens, so the development of these definitions helps differentiate between the different forms and functions of urban agriculture.

Urban agriculture: The growing, processing, and distribution of food or livestock within and around urban centres.

• UA can be for profit, sustenance, recreation, education, demonstration, protest, restoration, or other uses
• UA can involve groups or individuals
• UA growing and processing can take place in residential yards, public parks, community gardens, right-of-ways, private lands, rooftops, windowsills, kitchens, parking lots, driveways, bicycles – anywhere the creative mind will allow it to occur.
• UA distribution can take place by car, van, bike, foot, skateboard – you name it!

What does urban agriculture offer?

I’ll come back to this.

Urban Farming: The growing, processing, and distribution of food or livestock within and around urban centres with the goal of generating income.

The above points from urban agriculture hold true with urban farming, with several additions, differentiations and addendums:

• Income generating urban farming can be done by private individuals, private companies, or non-profits.  What happens with the income is somewhat irrelevant.
  • Income could simply go the the urban farmer doing the work or could be a way for a non-profit to raise funds for programming while a the same time serving an educational goal (SOLEfood).  Private farmers could also have an educational and community component to their operation.
• Urban farming is less likely to take place in park land (though produce from community gardens could be sold).

Oh, I can see this is going to be a challenge.   I can think of a few projects that do not generate income yet I would still consider urban farming.  So I have been thinking how to redefine the term to be more encompassing.  I am also realizing that the definition may not be so important.  One of the reasons for the definition is to differentiate between the different types of urban agriculture, but there is a broad array of projects that can exist in many categories.  So maybe I simply need to define the types of urban farming that this thesis is trying to support.  or maybe define what it is not trying to support.

One thing it is not trying to support (though really it still is) is community gardens.  I say this only because there seems to be pretty good involvement already at the community garden level.  And while the possible outcomes of this thesis may be directed at urban farmers who are trying to make a living by growing food, they will be beneficial to all who grow food in the city.  For example: bylaw changes, workshops, tool sharing, and a resource website would be beneficial to more than just urban farmers.

So now what?

So may be urban farming needs to only be loosely defined and the definition can be sharpened by whoever needs to in order  to narrow the scope of urban farming to meet their needs (e.g., grants).  This may require making differentiations of different aspects of urban farming.

Let’s try this again:

Urban farming often consists of many of the following criteria and circumstances:

• The farming activity is being done in an urban area
  • Differentiating urban farming from peri-urban and rural farming
• Takes place on relatively small parcels of land
• Takes place on private land
  • Not in publicly owned space such as parks
  • But through guerilla gardening/farming, could take place on public land
• Often takes place on multiple pieces of land
• Income is generated from the sale of produce
• Produce is used for personal consumption in an effort to be more self-sustaining (beyond basic community gardening or backyard gardening)

 

TO BE CONTINUED (ongoing editing will take place on this post to keep all this info in one place).

Can’t keep up

I have so much information and so many ideas going through my head right now about what is happening in the world of urban ag. that I can’t keep up.  Let’s try to get some of them out here…

1. There is a good amount of literature coming around on urban ag., but much of it is too academic.  It is based on interviews, but practitioners are not doing the writing.

2. There is a lot of asking and not a lot of giving in urban ag.  We need this and we need that.  Not enough of we offer this and we offer that.  And in detail, not vague grandiose concepts.

3. Not enough focus is given to entrepreneurs.  Where do we get money?  we borrow it or use our savings – like all other businesses.

4. Not enough focus on the business of agriculture – whether urban or rural. Urban farmers need to be creative to make thing s happen.  And if you want to be financially successful then a business plan would help.  or what about calculating yields of crops in small areas.  These are business basics.

5. No one has any urban ag. numbers.  How many urban farmers?  How much revenue being generated?  How many jobs? How much community involvement. How much food?  How much environmental impact?  Is everyone delivering their local produce in single occupancy vehicles?

6. Land access IS (probably) the urban farmer’s biggest obstacle.  Then tenure.  Then policy and regulations.  New farmers can dodge regulations and buy tools and read books.  But they cannot make land appear out of nowhere (well, in some cases we can).

7. Cohesion and staying power weaken any potential of a movement. websites are useless if they are not dynamic and regularly updated.  Groups are useless without regular dialogue and engagement.  Thus we need leaders.  And, really, we need funding to pay those leaders.  Or they will go elsewhere.  We need to pay our talents or they will be wasted.

In organizational news I am going to look at reformatting my blog to make the content easier to manage and access – for me and others!

More Land Thoughts

After writing my last post I realized I was already trapped in the “give me give me give me” mind set and was neglecting what it is that urban arming can offer in return.  Realistically, for everything that urban farmers ask for they need to be able to give something in return.

So when it comes to land, what do urban farmers have to offer?

• Stewardship
  • Urban Farming is a strong complement to other initiatives to improve the livability of cities.  Most notably is the move away from lawns and pesticides in the urban environment.
  • Urban farms pose an opportunity to improve urban ecosystems by making them more diverse, more dynamic, and more productive.  This dynamism can improve soil and encourage wildlife in the city.
  • However, unless standards are followed, urban farming does not necessarily mean organic farming.  My experience is that most urban farms also embrace organic principles, but this is not required.
  • The issue of urban farming standards will surely be contentious, but standards would help substantiate urban farming and, hopefully, create more stability for urban farmers.
• Aesthetics
  • Urban farming has more aesthetic requirements than rural farming, adding an important dimension to the urban farmer’s responsibilities.
  • Maintaining an appealing appearance in the city is important for urban farmers’ success.  Poorly kept farm yards or other urban growing space are targets for those not in support of urban agriculture.  They are also targets for neighbours who see poorly kept yards as a detriment to their neighbourhood.
• Regeneration
  • Urban farming can improve neglected public and private space in the city and can add to diverse landscapes which make cities interesting.

That’s some rambling for today.  I may edit this posting as more ideas come.

First Brainstorm

As I look into the future working groups that this project aims to facilitate I keep getting ideas and thoughts that I need to get written down before I lose them.  Which really is the whole point of this blog.

I have lately been thinking about working group topics related to urban farming – what are the topics that we need to discuss and explore in order to meet challenges of moving urban farming forward?  Let’s start with land related issues:

• Access to land
  • This is one of the major challenges for urban farmers.
    • Many urban farmers are utilizing private land (residential back yards) to grow their produce
    • Should the city make land available for urban farming entrepreneurs?
      • If so, will this conflict with the needs and desires of community gardens in the city?
• Land tenure
  • Access to land is one thing, but security on that land is another.  How can urban farmers be secure on their (others’) land?
    • Model lease agreements may be helpful
    • Registering urban farmers with the city may also be beneficial
    • What is the minimum period of time a piece of land needs to be available to be valuable to an urban farmers?
• Land Security
  • Community gardens already have issue with vandalism and theft of products.  This is unfortunate since this produce is valuable to the gardener from both a health perspective and an economic perspective.
    • For the urban farmer the focus is greatly on economic.  Crops represent income and if they are damaged or go missing then the farmer’s livelihood may be at stake.  Urban farmers are more likely to experience vandalism than rural farmers, though this may be the equivalent of pest damage on the rural farm!  Yes, humans can be pests!
• Land maintenance
  • What will be the urban farmer’s responsibility for land maintenance when using others’ yard space (or even city space?)
  • In the city, aesthetics is more of a concern than in the rural setting since living conditions are more concentrated.  Some issues to explore include:
    • General farm yard aesthetics (weeds, piles of organic waste, staking plants, etc.)
    • Proper storage of tools and pots (not left outside and laying around)
    • Odours relate to compost
• Use of neglected land
  • Interestingly, this is not yet a major issue in Vancouver since the city is growing and densifying so quickly.  But in many major US cities (Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, Detroit) there are thousands of acres of abandoned and derelict land that are now being utilized for urban farming.
  • But there is underutilized land in the city – some of which is not easily developed.  Utilizing this land for urban farming can help diversify urban landscapes while simultaneously creating employment.
  • There are two large areas of interest as central hubs for shared urban farm land.  One is the space to the North of Pacific Central Station – currently a 20- or so-acre gravel parking lot that is underutilized.  One section is being developed into 2 synthetic turf playing fields while another part is used for storing materials for the new roof going onto the stadium downtown.  Another spot is off of Great Northern Way (North side) between Main and Clark
• General land use in Vancouver
  • This city is rapidly densifying, with dozens of cranes tainting the landscape at all times.  It seems that any open space in the city, that is not already park land, is inevitably fated to be a condo.  If the city wants to support urban farming it will have to act now if it is to be able to provide land for urban farmers (or community gardens).  While park space can be converted to farming space, we have to remember that park space already plays an important social role in our communities as leisure and recreation space.  Digging up parks to grow food is not necessarily a step forward (though it is a nice option to have in times of crisis).
• Land zoning
  • The only land in Vancouver that is zoned for agriculture is in Southlands (and it is all horses there anyhow).  Thus, it seems that growing food within the city for the purpose of selling is illegal.  While this has not appeared to be an issue, the city could act proactively to designate urban farming as an accepted practice in all city areas (under conditions which do not disturb neighbouring residents or businesses).  Without this zoning, neighbour complaints, or even an urban agriculture adversary, could jeopardize the stability that urban farming businesses require to be successful.

Well, that’s all I got in me for tonight.  I’ll post more soon.

Reading and Research

Well, I am off and running with some research already.

One of my focuses right now is finding literature on urban farming as a business.  Found a few good academic papers as well as some urban farmer websites.  I am hoping to be able to contact other urban farmers and get an idea of their experience.  I may do an online survey and then follow up with some phone interviews.

I had a great meeting with someone from some group last week that I cannot yet talk about!  Hopefully that keeps you curious (who ever you is!).  It was a meetign that just gave me some momentum to carry forward and an idea of what the final result of this thesis may be.

It’s been interesting to see some of the universal challenges, such as business licensing and urban zoning.  Perhaps Vancouver will be able to set a good precedent in these areas.  But it’s also nice to see how many projects are actually out there.  I am curious to see what kind of incomes people are making!

OK, back to my 25-lb tomato sauce!

Bad weather, but decent sprouts

Well, the weather is still crap, but with the heating cables the sprouts are still doing decently.  They are still only about 70% of what their potential is, but I have planted extra trays to make up for it.

I thought I would post a picture of the new sprout site, to show its urban context.  The location is only about a ten-minute bike ride from downtown and only five minutes from my house!

I am meeting with a catered next week which would be my first foray into the catering world.  I had not thought much about caterers before but have now identified several who fit the sunflower sprout profile!

That’s it for today.  I’m preparing for the biggest harvest of the season tomorrow and finishing up a grant application so need to get back to it!

Weather Sucks

Well, the weather really sucks right now for growing sprouts so I have been utilizing heat cables as a supplement.  They work very well and really improve growth.  Depending on the day temperature I either leave them on just at night or all day and night.  They have definitely helped salvage a few batches!  As I have been busy getting things up an going this year it has been more difficult to pay attention to the weather forecasts for making adjustments to sowing dates.  And, of course, the forecast is only good for a day so making adjustments is difficult.  Though I have learned that early growth is important in setting a good foundation for later growth.

Last season was so hot the main issue I had was over mature sprouts.  This year it is the opposite so far.  But I am still a few weeks ahead of where I was last year, so the weather will improve.

Back to the Blog

Well, I have been a very naughty blogger (insert spanking joke here), so I am going to try and give an update to bring ya’ll up to speed.

After a difficult search for land I finally found a spot about 5 minutes from my house.  The location is perfect for sprouts – good sun, fenced and secure, access to water, and otherwise non-gardenable land.  It is basically across the road from Strathcona Park.

The New Site and a cold apprentice!

This season I have taken on a part-time paid apprentice which has made work a little easier and a bit more rewarding.  So far she has been very good and has contributed to to the process.

The season has been off to an erratic start.  My goal is to double production this year, so there is a lot of pressure to produce sprouts.  I started the season several weeks earlier than last year which has given me a chance to work out some kinks (insert another spanking joke here).  But it has been difficult since the weather has  been cold which results in a much smaller (though still good quality) sprout.

I have made a few improvements to the sprouting bench and expanded it by one section , allowing me to produce  over 100 trays a week if wanted (not wanted).  I have built doors on hinges that may access a little easier and added some light mesh to allow for cooling on hot summer days.

Artsy shot of the growing bench.

But the sprouts have been very popular so far and I have added 3 new restaurants to my client list with more to come (I hope!).  I will also be targeting catering companies soon.

My biggest change this year will likely be my switch to organic seeds.  I had trouble sourcing the seed last year and I think I now have a good source of reliable organic seed.  It is a little bit smaller, but actually grows fairly well and uniformly.  My first trials were OK, but I did not have the optimum sowing rate.  But I have 30 kg to work with so hopefully I get it right soon.  If the trials work out with these batches than I will continue with the organic seed and apply for organic certification.  If they do not perform well enough than I can return to the previous stock that I used.  I would really like to stay with the organic seed as conventional seed is subject to lots of chemical use.

The first market this year was not great as we did not have a very good location.  But the second market was much better and we sold out by 11:30 (which is way too early!).  But we got lots of regular customers back and they were all excited to be buying sprouts again.

The production manual’s first version is finished and I have actually shared it with a few people.  As this season progresses I will modify it to take into account changes I incorporate this season.  I received a 96% grade for the manual as part of my directed studies project which is reassuring!  But I have yet to meet with my professor to get his feedback – which is way more valuable than the grade.

I am also in the process of applying for a grant for the business this year.  We should have the business plan done this week.  I would use the funds to develop a marketing plan, upgrade the growing benches, cover my start up costs, and develop a product recall plan.  It has been a good process writing the plan and has given me a glimpse of the future.  The goal right now is to double production again by 2013 and to introduce new products including pea shoots (in process), wheat grass (soon), micro-greens (oh, where to start?), and vegetable starts.

Well, I hope that is a sufficient update after a long absence.  I will do my best to keep things a bit more up to date!

Reviving the Yellow Bucket Project – kind of…

Well, after a long hiatus I am back on track for composting my waste.

My original idea was a mobile composting toilet, but it was just too challenging to keep up with.  I had to carry around this bucket at school and then take it to the bathroom with me every time.  It was just a bit silly.  Actually, it wasn’t that silly.  It was a great idea.  It was just hard to keep up with.

So now I am back focusing on humanure composting at home.  I am still just working with urine as it is much less complicated and, I believe, holds more nutrient value than feces. Further, it is much easier to manage – both in the home and in the garden.

The way I have been doing this at home is with a sawdust bucket, with some bokashi added.  This is a good model but is designed to handle feces as well, thus making it more than is necessary. With the sawdust it results in a greater volume of material to compost and I just do not have the space.

So I am switching to the bottle method.  Basically, pee directly into a bottle, put the lid on, and when it is full, dilute it with water and use it in the garden.   This will be way more manageable and will allow for immediate use.  It is the middle of winter right now so I won’t get maximum benefit, but I think I will still see results from winter additions in the spring.  I will use the fertilizer mostly at home, but also at a few other sites around town.  I will probably use a dilution rate of about 10 parts water to one part urine before applying.

I wish I had been keeping up with this a bit better.  I feel strongly that humanure is one of the missing components of today’s sustainability talk. Nobody wants to talk about shit and piss. But that won’t make it go away.  And you can ;t significantly reduce your C footprint by dumping your feces and urine into the ocean.

On the lookout for land!

Well, after a very successful season I am pretty much fully wrapped up now.  I should have my production manual finished within the next 2 months and will soon start doing seed trials for next season as I am considering trying to get my production Certified Organic.  There may be a few challenges since I am urban-centered, but I am confident I will be able to adequately address any concerns of the Certification Committee.  I am now more concerned about finding good enough certified organic seed.  This year I used a hybrid seed that performed so perfectly it is almost hard to believe (though I will give my production method a bit of credit as well!).  I am not as concerned about volume of production as I am about uniformity.  The sprouts this year were so uniform the trays looked like a perfect carpet of sprouts.  Quite beautiful.

My big challenge right now is still finding an appropriate urban location for production!  I have been too busy lately to do a thorough search, but I do have a few potential spots.  I am just holding out for something a little closer to home!

improved machete shot

Thought I would post, for redemption’s sake, some new and improved videos of the machete harvest.  One is a close up of the cut and the other is a longer version of a series of cuts to give you an idea how the harvest operates:

Deconstruction

Well, I have started taking apart the sprouting system to store it for the winter.  It was the first time I had been out to the set up in a fgew weeks and it felt pretty strange to not be growing sprouts!

As promised I have a video for you of me on my bike leaving the market for the last time.  Go to: http://www.vimeo.com/6868149 (be sure to turn down your volume before playing the video!).  I will also have some awesome pictures that a friend took one day at harvest so I will put together a little picture show as well.

I have yet to find anyone to build me a mechanical sprout harvester!  I presented the idea to an engineering class about to embark on year-long projects but had no takers.  I have one other approach I can take and if that does not work I guess I am stuck with the machete. I don’t mind.  I mean by this point I am the sunflower sprout samurai.  But the mechanical system would allow me to harvest sprouts at the market which would be a great display.  We’ll see what we can do!

A week without sprouts

Well, the sprout season is over and the downtime is nice.  But I am already looking ahead to next season.  My biggest challenge will be finding a piece of suitable land in the city for production.  I do have a few leads but still have some looking to do.

I will also be making a few changes to the system.  Nothing too major – just some improvements.  Including:

– Enclosing the sprouting bench with a mesh as well as the coroplast.  This way the coroplast cane removed when it is quite hot and the mesh will do a good job of keeping bugs out while still allowing for air flow.  I did not have any bug or insect problems this year, but they were able to get into the bench.  They can be a disease vector so if it is easy to keep them out then I will do so.

– Improving storage facilities.  I will enclose the tray transfer bench below and use it to store the harvest bin (for cleaning), harvest supplies, and buckets for soaking and rinsing seeds. Extra trays and tarps can be stores here as well.

– I may make some wooden platforms for the harvest to keep the area cleaner (depending where I end up).

– I will try to slightly increase the size of he harvest area to make manouevering a bit easier.

– I may build a stacked germination bench where trays go when they are covered and before they hit the sprouting bench.  With this model they would be covered by something other than another tray which will reduce the risk of cross contamination between batches.  I will likely also do some winter greenhouse trials to see the difference between growing the trays without weight on top and with excessive weight to see how it affects sprout quality and overall sprout weight.  If I used the germination bench without a weighted cover it would make things very much easier.  The weight just seems to really improve sprout quality and size.

– I will definitely be using a lighter soil mix next year, though still have several yards left from this season to use.  I can mix it with perlite to lighten it up.

All done!

Well, that’s it.  The season is now over! 2500 bags of sprouts later!

I am now about to get into writing about the project.

It feels good to be done, but I am already thinking about next year.  I am still hoping to get a mechanical sprout harvester designed and built (though this is becoming less and less likely).

My challenge now is finding a piece of land for next season.  I have a few leads, but really need to look around well for the ideal piece of land.

I have a few more videos and pictures still to post just for fun.  Here are the remnants of my last harvest!

The dreaded manual

Well, now that production is mostly under control it is timeto start writing the production manual for small-scale and urban sunflower sprout production.  This will be quite a project and wil include an annotated version of the Code of Practice for the Hygienic Production of Sprouts (CFIA document) and all documents referenced therein; a step-by-step production manual; a short DVD showing the production in action; and a commentary paper meant to accompany the manual and detail the challenges of production.

I am hoping to get this done by December since that is the end of the semester in which it is due, but Icould see having some challenges with that!  HOwever I am working with my neighbour who will help edit and format the project for me.

This week I am going to try and implement a few improvements to the system.  I am going to raise some of the harvest set up a bit more off the ground.  This should make the work a bit easier on the back and also more hygienic.

Onward and Upward

And on we go still.

Just did the Saturday market today after doing the Friday harvest by myself for the first time.  It took two of us six hours to do the harvest and it took me seven on my own.  Go figure.  However, I find it was easier to keep the harevst area cleaner with two of us and there was less switching between tasks, which often means an extra hand washing.

The sprout project is going very well at the moment. Sales are good, production is good, and most glitches are being rectified.  Here are a few things we have worked out:

– Switched from bleach to “Aseptox”, a no rinse sanitizer that is basically like hydrogen peroxide and breaks down into oxygen and water.  Much better for the environment and still affordable.

– Controlling algae in trays.  getting some algal growth in the covering trays which are full of soil, but with no plants.  I now cover the covering trays with an upside down tray that has no holes to prevent water from getting in.

– Refined machete harvesting to get less waste and a cleaner cut though I still miss the odd few trays.  Not sunflower sprout samurai yet!

– Switched from making ice blocks to reusable ice packs.  This saves time and water and the ice packs seem to stay cold quite long.

– After many adjustments to seed planting density I think I have now found the optimum density.  It is quite a bit less than what I calculated from my trials but my harevst volume is increasing as the density goes down.  This allows for taller sprouts and bigger cotyledons (though it is hard to tell how much of this is weather).  The lower density also seesm to be resulting in more hulls popping off the sprout, making them easier to harvest and process.  Basically I have reduced planting density by almsot 30%!!

Some glitches still to be worked out:

– Need to build a little storage box for buckets to keep them cleaner and more organized.

– Could use better aeration on the benches as temperature get up past 40C.  This is good for growth, but seesm to lessen sprout quality.  I think this will wait until next year as I hope the hot spell is almost over.  It also means more financial investment and I am loathe to spend any more money.  I can see now where the flaw in my design was and it is easy to amend.

I will be working with my neighbour to start writing about the project and developing the production manual.  She will help me with outline, planning, layout, and editing in return for cutting down a tree in her yard.  A good deal I think.  This production manual will be a big job so I hope I can find the time once the semester starts again.

I still need to meet with myrpofessor to over the production as there are a few issues where I would really like feedback on including sanitization.  Especially of the seeds.  Typically seeds, are sanitized beofre they are soaked to indue germiantion, but I think they should either be done afterwards, or both before and afterwards.  Since microbial growth will occur during soaking, it makes snese to do a sanitization afterwards as well.  I do not think this will affect germination as the seeds are still fully encased in the hull at this point.  I also need to know if I can use the Aspetox for seed sanitization.

I ma also starting to look ahead to next year which means finding another place for the sprouting set up.  I would also like to do more collaborating and this looks like it might be in the works.  I’ll keep you posted on this.

Yikes, it’s hot!

I wish I had the time to update this blog mroe regularly, but the sprouts take a lot of time. Let’s go over a few glitches we have come up against and worked out. As a start we are still having great success with the machete as a harvesting tool.  We have also refined our setup so as to lose less sprouts in the  machete follow through and keep more hulls out of the cleaning and rinsing water. I am trying out a new santizer that seems to be working well.  The sprout equipment needs to be kept clean to avoid contamination so everything is cleaned and sanitized regularly.  I was using a mild bleach solution which works very well, but because we are working outdoors I did not want to risk accumulation of bleach in the soil over time.  It took me a while to find an alternaitve that I thought would work, but finally I have found one thanks to the home beer-brewing industry. It had not occurred to me to look to home brewers for sanitizer, but once I found it of course it made total sense.  The one I found is a powder (One-Step) that when mixed with water basically forms hydrogen peroxide (H2O2).  It breaks down into oxygen and heat so is good for outdoor use.  It kills microorganisms by inundating them with oxygen.  I am not quite sure how that works, but it seems to be working well.  It is also cost-effective.  I have not yet used it for sanitizing seeds, but i think it will be fine. Usually seeds are sanitized after being rinsed, but before being soaked to promote germination.  It is this soaking process that increases the risk of microbial infection in sprouts which is why the seeds are sanitized before soaking, – so there are no s to breed during this process.  But it makes mroe sense to me to be sanitizing the seeds after they have been soaked, so you can nesure you have eliminated micoorganisms before you sow the seeds.  Actually, sanitization should probably happen both before and after soaking to ensure there are no pathogens present.  As long as the sanitizer does not affect the seeds after it has started to germinate this should be fine.

Ahh Damnit, I wrote a bunch of stuff and it got lost when I tried to publish this page…

It’s too hot to do it again. Sorry.

More Success

Well, the past few 2weeks has been a wild ride!  I shift between being elated and overwhelmed with anxiety.

The sprouts have been selling well at the market.  I do 2 markets each week – Wednesday and Saturday.  The Wednesday market has been inconsistent so it is hard to determine production levels for that market.  Last week it rained, which really kept people away.  The Wednesday market is a new one so it does not yet have the following and dedication that the Saturday market does.  I think my bag sales over the past 3 weeks were 32, 54, then 24.  So who knows what to expect this week.   I have a big harvest planned for Tuesday, so here’s hoping for good weather and happy customers!

The Saturday market just keeps getting better.   Last week I sold over 110 bags and harvested my display trays when I ran out.   I amalso getting a lot of repeat customers who tell me they love the sprouts.  That has taken a lot of the stress away as I am constantly fretting over sprout quality.

I am loving getting all my gear loaded up to take to the market on my bike.  This Saturday I had three coolers and 5 trays, so it was a real show!  It is a blast crossing some of the busiore streets and seeing how people in their cars react to this big bunch of sprouts going by on a bicycle!

On the production side things have been up and down as well, though are now quite smooth.  The weather plays  a huge role in sprout quality and size, so it is hard to know what i am going to get each week.  even though the cooler weather results in a smaller sprout, they are of better quality (more tender).  I really keep an eye on the forecast and can shift my production one day if need be.  As the summer goes on, I may add a  day to production to ensure I get enough growth each week.

I had a bit of growth problem one week and realized it was that I did not have any drainage on the additonal bench section I added to production.  Once teh drainage was in, groweth seemed to normalize. However, one batch alsways seems to do better than the other.

Another challenge has been dealing with keeping things clean as we harvest.  The system is getting pretty good, but it is hard to keep things off the ground.  Any thing that hits the ground has to be sanitized and cleaned – so it is a hassle.  Tonight I build two small tables to put supplies and coolers so we can keep things off the ground and clean.

We have also revolutionized sprout harvesting!  Instead of using scissors I am now harvesting sprouts with a machete!  One foul swoop and the whole tray (well, most of the tray) is harvested instantly.  Here is a video for your viewing pleasure!

After a few weeks with the machete my technique us getting pretty good and we get a much more consistent and clean harvest.  We do lose some sprouts on the machete follow through, but the time gained is worth the loss of sprouts.

So this will be another big week of harvesting ansd then I am taking next week off to go camping adn to a music festival.  I am looking forward to the break, though am a bit nervous about losing the production.  But I think it will be worth it!

More soon, including a video of me on my bike heading to market and the production area as we work.