Urban Farmers Earn $75,000 on 15,000 Square Feet Space
Curtis Stone; well known as a successful farmer. He believes in high density and grows crops that will go to market. He is not the first urban farmer, but he works well with the community and encourages others to move to places with no urban farms and become pioneers there.
Curtis Stone; well known as a successful farmer. He believes in high density and grows crops that will go to market. He is not the first urban farmer, but he works well with the community and encourages others to move to places with no urban farms and become pioneers there.
In Kelowna where he lives, he is well known for helping out neighbors when they have problems or questions and things farmers need to feed residents with knowledge as well as food. He believes his place at the forefront of urban farming is a great opportunity. As more urban farms are set up, the farmers are taking on the same role, and the hope is that it will help them financially.
Stone has written a book called the Urban Farmer and explains how wages can impact on profit, and it is good that he understands that the farmer needs a salary as well. He also understands the need to start up with as little outlay as possible.
Curtis Stone; If I can harvest one bed (75 bunches) of radishes in an hour, that task is worth $187.50 gross profit (radishes sell at $2.50 per bunch). I would train a person to do this task as fast as I can, but I will only expect them to do 75% of that (at least at first)… Paying an employee $15 an hour, it took two hours of labor ($30) to produce 56 bunches, which sold for $140; that means your gross profit is $110 on that particular task. That’s a 78 percent gross profit margin.
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He has arranged his farm so well, that he works a 48 hour week – less than many other farmers will say they have to work – and also does not work during the winter as he talks to groups and catches up on writing.
While there is a growing trend for local produce, farmers shouldn’t be afraid to set up for themselves. He feels that $7000 is all that is needed to start, providing there is about a quarter of an acre owned. His book will give all the information that is needed.
Top photo of Curtis Stone by Andrew Bartman. Second photo of Curtis Stone (middle) by Katie Huisman. Radish photo (last) by Andrew Bartman.
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Owen Castellanos
Owen Castellanos is the Hardware & Gaming Reporter at TrendinTech, where he tests graphics cards, processors, consoles and peripherals and follows the games industry, from the major publishers to independent studios. He previously wrote reviews and benchmarks for Tom's Hardware and contributed features to PC Gamer, covering everything from laptop testing to the economics of game development. Owen holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin and attends CES in Las Vegas, Computex in Taipei and the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco each year to meet chipmakers and developers. He writes for readers who want to know whether a product is worth the money, and he is not shy about saying when it is not.
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