The Urban Farmer: Growing Food for Profit on Leased and Borrowed Land by Curtis Allen Stone

429 Pages·2016·9.48 MB·English

by  Curtis Allen Stone (

Praise for The Urban Farmer
The Urban Farmer is simply the best guide out there for anyone wanting
to grow vegetables for market. Chock full of practical information on
costs, business planning, the best crops to grow, how much land to farm,
growing techniques, and how to develop markets, this book covers it all.
Curtis Stone shares his hard-won knowledge on setting up and
succeeding at small-plot intensive (SPIN) farming in lively, easy-to-grasp
prose, in all the detail you’ll need to get started. Curtis not only tells us
what works, he reveals, based on his own experience, what didn’t work
for him, and that alone is worth the price of the book. This is a
comprehensive real-world manual from someone who’s done it, and any
market farmer will profit greatly from reading it.
— Toby Hemenway, author of Gaia’s Garden and The
Permaculture City
I have no hesitation in saying that The Urban Farmer by Curtis Stone is
one of the most important, and overdue, books on urban agriculture ever
published. It is simultaneously deeply visionary and immensely practical,
always a heady brew. It allows us to look at urban land in an entirely
different way. If I were 18 again and given this book, it would put fire in
my belly and set me on a career path that is cutting edge, deeply
entrepreneurial and profoundly responsible. It deserves to be a best
seller.
— Rob Hopkins, Founder of the Transition movement and
author of The Power of Just Doing Stuff.
Curtis Stone is at the forefront of a stirring revolution. Urban farming
will change what local food means and I know of no other farmer that is
as successful at it as he is. And the best part is his willingness to share
what is a successful business model. If you’re interested in learning to
profitably start a farm on a shoestring budget, Curtis Stone is the go to
guy.
— Jean Martin Fortier, author of The Market Gardener
A first-rate, hands-on guide to successful and profitable farming on the
very small scale, Curtis Stone’s The Urban Farmer should be required
reading for anyone who thinks that growing food requires hundreds of
acres off in the countryside. Highly recommended.
— John Michael Greer, author of Green Wizardry
Curtis Stone has artfully blended my three favorite things —
entrepreneurship, independence and sustainable food production into
one amazing book. He has also done so in a way that lowers the entry
point for anyone who is truly motivated to no longer have any excuse for
not getting started. To say I recommend this book highly is a gross
understatement. I consider it required reading for anyone with a goal to
start a business, not matter what niche they end up in.
— Jack Spirko, TheSurvivalPodcast.com
If factory farms are not the solution to the biggest issue of our time —
how to feed 9 billion people without cooking the planet — what can we
do? Grow more food in the cities where we live. Urban agriculture is a
tradition dating back thousands of years as well as an innovation
reshaping modern city design. It’s also a lure for a growing number of
idealists drawn by a vision of reconnecting with the land while
becoming part of the solution. But hold on. Anyone who’s tried it as a
business knows there’s more to urban agriculture than romance. It takes
hard work and common sense — two gifts Curtis Stone has in spades,
and he’s always been generous with sharing it. Local growers have
appreciated the lectures and workshops where he spells out the dollars
and sense behind growing city food. Now readers everywhere have the
opportunity to tap into this valuable resource.
If you’re going to invest in your future as city food grower, start with
a copy of The Urban Farmer.
— David Tracey, author of Guerrilla Gardening and Urban
Agriculture
This book is a treasure for anyone really serious about making a decent
living off an urban farm. Back-to-the-lawn urban farming might look
easy, but Curtis Stone shows exactly how that “ease” grows out of
getting a thousand details right. They’re all in this book, generously
shared. This is not just a well-written business text, illustrating the
myriad technical, entrepreneurial, marketing, accounting, farming and
people skills Curtis developed to work smarter, not harder. It is even
more a quintessential “how-to” manual, taking the reader step by step by
step to the roots of running a profitable urban farm.
— Peter Ladner, author of The Urban Food Revolution and a
long-time urban food gardener

Copyright © 2016 by Curtis Stone. All rights reserved.
Cover design by Diane McIntosh.
Upper left cover photo © Andrew T. Barton.
Unless otherwise noted, all cover and interior photographs by Curtis Stone.
All interior illustrations by Anthony Ross (flexanimousart.blogspot.ca).
Printed in Canada. First printing January 2016.
Inquiries regarding requests to reprint all or part of The Urban Farmer should be addressed to
New Society Publishers at the address below.
To order directly from the publishers, please call toll-free (North America) 1-800-567-6772, or
order online at www.newsociety.com
Any other inquiries can be directed by mail to: New Society Publishers
P.O. Box 189, Gabriola Island, BC V0R 1X0, Canada
[phone]
LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA CATALOGUING IN PUBLICATION
Stone, Curtis, 1979-, author
The urban farmer : growing food for profit on leased
and borrowed land / Curtis Stone.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Issued in print and electronic formats.
ISBN 978-0-86571-801-2 (paperback). — ISBN 978-1-55092-601-9 (ebook) I. Title.
630 C2015-906769-3
S494.5.U72S86 2016
C2015-906770-7
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Contents
Foreword, by Diego Footer
Preface
1
A Farm in the City
1. Why Urban Farming?
2. Connecting the Dots: An Urban Farmer’s Place in the
Community
3. Quick Breakdown of Economics
2
A Viable Farming Business On ½ Acre Or Less
4. The Zones of Your Farm and Your Life
5. Crops Better Suited for the City
6. Introduction to Urban Infrastructure
7. Start-Up Farm Models
3
The Business of Urban Farming
8. Starting Small
9. Market Streams
10. Working with Chefs
11. Labor
12. Software and Organization
13. Self-Promotion
14. Finance Options
4
Finding the Right Site
15. Scouting for Land
16. Urban, Suburban and Peri-Urban Land
17. Multiple or Single-Plot Farming
18. Urban Soil
19. Land Agreements and Leases
20. Urban Pests
5
Building Your Farm, One Site at a Time
21. Turning a Lawn Into a Farm Plot
22. Choosing A Site
23. Garden Layout
24. The Perimeter
25. Irrigation
6
Infrastructure and Equipment
26. Base of Operations
27. Tools
28. Special Growing Areas
29. Inexpensive Season Extension
7 30. Transportation