10% Grown Locally = 4,000 acres, 8,000 jobs and a $360 million economy

[Peter McDermott]

What would it look like if 10% of the food that families in Cleveland ate was grown within the city limits?

This question leads to an interesting and pretty inspiring story problem.

Follow me for a bit here:
1. According to the latest U.S. Census data, the City of Cleveland is home to about 438,000 people.

2. According to organic gardening guru John Jeavons, it's possible to grow enough food to feed one person year-round on about 4,000 square feet - about one-tenth of an acre. This is assuming a 6 month growing season (which we can extend considerably using simple, relatively inexpensive technologies).

3. 438,000 people x 4,000 sq ft = 1.75 billion sq ft = 40,000 acres (to feed the entire population)

4. 10% of 40,000 acres = 4,000 acres


So in order to feed 10% of Cleveland's population locally we would need to devote around 4,000 acres of land to community gardens and urban farms..

What does that look like? Well, that's roughly the size of downtown Cleveland:

Interestingly enough, this is also about 10% of the entire land mass of Cleveland proper.


So what would 10% local food mean for our economy:
1. 4,000 acres in production = 4,000 one-acre urban farms

2. Joe Kovach at the OARDC in Wooster, OH is doing research on intensive fruit and vegetable production that can gross up to $90,000 an acre or $10/row foot growing a combination of fruit trees, brambles, and annual fruit and vegetable crops.

3. 4,000 acres x $90,000 = $360 million in gross revenues per year

4. A one-acre urban farm will on average employ 2 full time farmers as well as seasonal part-time labor. If we just consider the full-time positions, that's 8,000 new green jobs that we could create in the City of Cleveland.


Let's make it very simple: 10% Local = 4,000 acres = $360 million = 8,000 jobs


Now I am making a few assumptions here. Only an experienced and skilled intensive gardener could produce the yields that Jeavon's suggests are possible on 4,000 square feet. $90,000/acre is also pretty extraordinary. But it's no more extraordinary than the inefficiency of industrial agribusiness, which is wildly inefficient both in terms of space and energy. That is food calories produced per square foot and EROEI (energy returned on energy invested) - i.e. calories of food produced per calorie of energy input (pesticides, fertilizers, fuel for heavy machinery and transportation, etc.).

Plus, when you consider the impact that this increased production would have on supporting industries like food distribution, value added processing, food waste composting, etc. we are looking at a potential local food economy in the billions of dollars.

And that's just the economic benefit. How much storm water could 4,000 acres of urban gardens capture? How much money would that save the Northeast Ohio Sewer District (now building more than $2 billion in new sewers to meet clean water...)? How much raw sewage would that divert from flowing into Lake Erie during heavy storms? How might that impact the health of children who swim at Edgewater Beach? How might the health those same children benefit from access to fresh, abundant, locally grown fruits and vegetables? How much carbon emissions could we reduce by not shipping our apples in from Argentina? Our broccoli from California?

The benefits go on and on and on...

So what do you think? Is it possible? How can we make it happen?

I think this economy is waiting for us. Now is the time to make it a reality.

[Laura Marks]

My backyard garden is approximately 1000 sq. ft. I eat out of it all year round and well over half of what I eat is grown 50 ft. from my kitchen.

The City of Cleveland plans to tear down 1000 dilapidated houses this year. What do they plan to do with that space? It should NOT get planted in grass that will need the care of mowing. The land should go to native plantings that will increase biodiversity and to community gardens and CSAs to produce more local food.

[John McGovern]

Great calculations - your headline would look great on the front page of the PD! Your idea leads to many questions, but most importantly, it gets us all thinking about this stuff.

A co-worker recently sent me an informative article on food production written by permaculture guru, David Blume wherein he states that by employing permaculture principles, 500 sq. ft. is the maximum amount of land necessary to grow enough food for one person. If this number could be achieved, the amount of land required to achieve the economic goals you mention would be reduced by 7/8th's.

David Blume's article can be found here > http://www.permaculture.com/drupal/node/141

[Lisa-Jean Sylvia]

Looking at this from a slightly different angle, but I am just wildly excited to think about the majority of Clevelanders eating food that can be grown and isn't over-processed, full of chemicals and just not real. Gus Schumaker, former under-secretary of Agriculture spoke yesterday at the New Agrarian Center about folks' eating from "the center of the grocery store" because it is more economical. However, I believe that people eat processed foods because that is all they know to eat -- that is why I ate processed food. Even though I could afford healthy food, I just didn't know how to like it. As we are working to transform Cleveland into this green oasis (I can't wait, by the way)...we have to remember to teach people to like all this good stuff too. By the way, I am working to learn how to like radishes, any ideas?

[Liz Donnelly]

Peter,
Your data is intriguing! Would I be able to reference it in my new e-book on family fitness (due to come out around Christmas)? I think it's very inspiring for readers and might just encourage folks to take the next bold step into supporting sustainable & local agriculture. Thanks for sharing!
-Liz
www.trainingbyliz.com

[George Coder]

Your vision of future urban agriculture in Cleveland is indeed intriguing. I agree that elements are in place to begin thinking about how we could make it happen. First, our existing food system is not sustainable, and is designed to deliver profits to the few rather than nutrition to the many. Second, Cleveland is losing population and land is becoming available especially now with the number of abandoned homes increasing. And finally Joe Kovachs is just down the road ready to show us how to get maximum production from limited urban land. The question is how do we get from where we are now to the picture you paint.

Let me think out loud on that one. I believe the people at Kent State have GIS data from which we could identify land that has access to good transportation. Perhaps we could start in Joe Cimperman's ward since he seems sympathetic to our cause. Once a lot or two had been identified we could buy some rakes, gloves and containers and pile leaves on the chosen lot. It is that time of year. Cimperman would probably join us and we would of course want his constituents to join us as well.

Once the leaves were in place we could place the rakes and gloves in tool library and perhaps add to it through the winter as a way of encouraging constituents to get involved in the program.

We could also begin a composting and vermiculture program with that leafy lot in mind. Again the constituents would be encouraged to seek out compost and participate actively in this program. Perhaps some of them could even be interested in the Extension Services Master Gardener Program. The Extension Service would be one of our partners in this endeavor.

In the spring we could encourage Cimperman to pass out free seeds. $20 worth of seeds will produce several hundred dollars worth of vegetables. Where else can the government get that kind of return on their investment? The seed companies might become our partners as well.

Also in the spring the land could be tilled. Maybe even by a community rototiller in the tool library.

When the garden is growing may be the time to introduce the idea of extended season gardening perhaps not for that year but for the future.

If there were interest in extended season gardening row covers and a small hoop house could be provided. Perhpas some younger residents could be interested in attending the Washington Park Horticulture High School.

It would take several years to build this kind of program and the objective would be to provide food for people in Cleveland's "food deserts." Perhaps we should help needy people to feed themselves before we begin thinking about $90,000 per acre. The ideal would be to see these needy people eventually become the proprietors of the $90,000 per acre business.

As the program grows more and bigger hoop houses would be built on yet more lots and experience would be gained on extended season and intensive gardening. Once this fire started to burn others would notice it and begin similar operations of their own.

Somewhere later in this effort a community canning kitchen could be added to the mix. The community canning kitchen would have a classroom and would be used by the Extension Service to run their canning classes. The canning kitchen would also have akichen that met all sanitation requirements so growers could add value to their produce. Value added products would be jams and jellies and salsa - whatever the market could absorb.

Along the way Cimperman could be pushing for legislation that would help us like they have done in Youngstown where you own the lot if you garden on it for a given number of years. He is already fighting our fight on the bees and chickens.

In short I am saying first things first. Lets help hungry people feed themselves first and lets do it in a way that is environmentally responsible. Lets build a community of well fed growers sensitive to their environment. Lets meet the social and environmental objectives of the triple bottom line, and when the people and the environement are taken care of move on to the $90,000 per acre if there is interest. But lets be smart enough in all that we do from the beginning not to preclude the $90,000 per acre option.

George Coder

[karen g]

I'm enthused to see this research. I'm attempting the same in Columbus. I feel that you guys are so far ahead of us down here. I too have heard the guys from Wooster talk about their possible yields. I totally believe it. The big problem is upsetting the balance of things currently enjoyed by corporations. Supply and demand economics and all. It really gets me that the students from farm backgrounds have such limited options to study sustainable farming. We can't even find anyone to manage a 2 acre community garden in this city or the funding to really do it right. But for the meanwhile I've started blogging on our own version localfoodcolumbus.wordpress.com Really didn't know about you when I met some local farm market people who had created the domain.. So here's to a Green Spring kareng

[Timothy D. Smith]

I think it has a lot to do with what you're growing and how you're growing it.

One of the least efficient ways to grow food is sticking it in the dirt. If we can think outside of the box and go vertical, growing in trays on racks, you can significantly increase the area in which you're growing. This of course, greatly increases the yield per acre significantly.

So consider this: spinach grows to "baby" size in about a week to 10 days. You can harvest 1/4 pound from a square foot. But if you have four racks stacked vertically in a hoop house or greenhouse, you've now grown a full pound in that same sq. ft.

Repeat that 10 times over the growing season, and you've now got 10 lbs of baby spinach. Fresh Express charges $3.59 for a 6 oz. bag, so your 10 pounds ends up being 26.6 bags worth $95.73 (16oz. x 10 ÷ 6 x $3.59) Now, all of a sudden, the 43,560 sq. ft. in your acre is worth $4,169,998.80

Isn't math fun?

[Sudhir Kade Raghupathy]

Nice points, Tim. My passion is for social entrepreneurship / social justice in the urban core. Recent revelations and developments with Cleveland Greenhouse Project, Glenville Green Space, and our latest implementation plan, "Social Entrepreneurship in the Urban Core" (from the Sustainability Summit) to create a grassroots support mechanism for social ventures all bode well for rapid transformation of these great urban spaces. Add to this the work we've been doing to implement strawbale greenhouse and herb spiral construction, integration of smart urban permaculture strategy, and the vertical farm techniques and you create just the right social justice outcomes by improving the environment, creating new viable vocations for the underserved and stigmatized, and providing great therapeutic value. I've suggested some meaningful models to integrate all these outcomes by focusing on the most appropriate points of place ( chemical dependency facilities, MRDD centers, prisons, jails, juvenile detention facilities, VA hospitals, schools) to create multiple wins and revenue streams (especially considering value-added product creation and distribution) to accelerate social justice outcomes whilst generating multiple revenue streams to mitigate costs and prosper and build community. Models like this one.

Let's not forget the great acreage represented by our flat rooftops in all the urban core, and of course the vacant land bank properties which can be had for a pittance to get these envisioned 10,000 urban growers rolling. Micro grants of 3K are being provided by the City of Cleveland to spark the social entrepreneurship in this urban agriculture domain.

Over time, as viable vocations displace criminal activities, safety increases to enrich community building prospects. The many therapeutic benefits (nutrition, exercise, horticultural therapy) to all stakeholders who participate is a nice bonus. Great stuff here in this thread - thanks everyone!