Vlog169. What’s The Best Place to Start A Farm? These are the circumstances I’m looking for land in. Subscribe: http://bit.ly/curtisstonesub | Follow my IG: @greencityacres
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About Urban Farmer Curtis Stone:
Curtis Stone runs a commercial urban farm called Green City Acres out of Kelowna, BC, Canada. His mission is to show others how they can grow a lot of food on small plots of land and make a living from it. Using DIY and simple infrastructure, one can earn a significant living from their own back yard or someone else’s.
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Hi Curtis … Makes sense to buy land as close to the city as possible, as urbanisation spreads further out you will eventually be back in the city and your acreage will be right in the market place and city infrastructure.
Wishing you and your family all the best of luck on your new find bro 🙂
How many employees will you need for the new farm? At least for the initial stage?
Your cost of the property around 1.5m CAD? Is the same as it is around here for me in £. Although land can be insane as well with what people market the value at level farming land people are asking 130k CAD for just 1 acre with insane claw back deals if you decide to build on it.
I think you've answered your own question… You have a great deal where you are right now! Get a few more home owners to lease you the land, and you're set! You are after all, … an Urban Market Gardener! I hope you find what you're looking for, but it sounds like a very, very, very difficult thing to do! ~peace
I️ too am in the same process of buying a piece of land. I’m currently waiting on a well test for GPM and quality but getting real close. Although a small portion of the land is workable 2/3 is treed. It’ll give me time to start and chop as I️ go.
I’m from BC originally, live in Vermont now. Can Kelowna support a 10x expansion? I farmed in Sorrento back in the day
Thank you for your videos. You have inspired my family to get into farming. Watched all your videos multiple times!!!
This is all very exciting. I'm looking forward to following your journey and wish you all the best.
So looking for perfect land, right location, decent soil as abundant water for a good deal…….. good luck.
Hi Curtis, so is the house on this property in good condition or is it a fixer-upper?
Grandview flats up by Armstrong is an awesome growing area with a gentle south slope. Of course that is a little ways out from Kelowna though…
why not well water ..is there to much to water for a well or city more reliable / pressure
I had a garden 40 minuts away at a friends farm, that was the bigest pain in the rear you can imagin. You have to haul so much and if you forget 1 imprtant thing you have to make a huge round trip to get it, that is exactly why you dont buy land that far away.
Good luck Curtis I hope your offer is accepted.
Affordable land in the Okanagan valley? No such thing. Too bloody expensive. The reason I moved away from there many years ago. lol
Curtis or anyone , if your looking at land facing north and south does that mean the beds and blocks will run north and south? What's the exact significance?
would like you to get a cultivating tractor. terra tek has a really cool and modern one
by the way are you gap certified?
Very good summary of the context. The money you pay for location assumes/consumes many of the implicit costs that would otherwise destroy your business. You could and this is purely speculating, price urban land at a lesser price and have a satellite farm. I live in Arizona and there are a number of farms that do this where the distance is approximately 1 to 2 hrs. It makes sense here because the two markets areas justify the up front cost with the back end savings of cheap more distant land. Good luck!
the best place to start a farm might be Melania Trump's crotch…plenty of dirt,bugs,fungus etc…though it may smell more than one could deal with
Real Estate will be 30-50% more cost effective by 2019-2020
Interesting points. All valid.
I'll say it again. The best place to start a farm is near a plethora of high end buyers who don't have suppliers unless you want to get into a bidding war to get them to buy your product. From what i can tell Curtis established this model when Noone else had microgreen suppliers and he got their business. I know a chef in CT in the south who does 250 tables a night and buys 3.5 to 5 lbs of microgreen per week. At 15 per lb that's 75 dollars a week. And that's off of 1750 tables a week. You need custumer volume and restaurant buyer volume as well as people willing to pay that price.
Most other items sell for far less making this model tough to achieve. So while curtis I am glad u have done well for yourself I think a good idea if you wanted to teach people how to do this well like yourself is answer these 2 questions. What is the next microgreen, (quick to grow cheap to grow with a high price point) and as disposable income becomes more scare in this economic era based on inflation and a decrease in the average persons salary, is this a good long term model for anyone who doesn't have access to consistent high end buyers.
At the 9:00 minute mark you talked about the quality of the soil. How did you determine what the soil was like at these various places? Did you take soil samples? Did you dig down with a shovel to see how far down the soil goes, or is there some fancy software that can tell you things about the soil.
I have two lots on Mayne Island which has nice deep soil. I have not built on it for a number of reasons: got older; my partner doesn't want to live on an island; it is near a rock fall area which saw one rock fall in last 100 years and I don't have money to build. Would love to talk to you and the mushroom guy about using it for mushroom growing. If you are interested in talking to me pls. contact me. Thank you.
Do you have a soil type in mind? Sandy or clay?
Extra thumbs up for not wanting to grow around chemicals
I love that step back to the broader frame of reference, talking about geography and agroecology.
In Nebraska 37 acres with a 4 bedroom house, well and solar a barn, silo, and three out buildings. Already has apple, peach, pear, plum, gooseberries, chokecherries, asparagus and rhubarb. And an underground growing room. 140,000.
How do you measure whether or not the current demand for local produce is being met in a location? Ive located an area with all 5 key factors, but am worried that the existing urban Ag movement may already be too competitive and or reaching market equilibrium. Would you recommend doing some reconnaissance on other operations?