How much land can feed a family?
Posted on Nov 20, 2007 under Gardening, Self Sufficiency | 6 Comments
After reading about people using several acres of land to be self-sufficient I started wondering how practical it would be where we live. A little more research on the subject lead me to a great article by Greenspree, which takes a detailed look at how much food a family needs and the yields per acre for different types of crops.
The bottom line of the article is that about a quarter of an acre, which is roughly 1000 square meters, can provide most of the vegetable needs for a family of four. Agric says that only about half of that area is needed to be self-sufficient, which sounds realistic, because you can plant different crops on the same patch of land at different times of the year.
The Crop Yield Verification sheet used for the calculations by Greenspree contains a big list of different fruits and vegetables that you can grow and their yield per acre. What I found interesting is the relatively high yield of apples and pears and when planted in the middle of a nice patch of grass where the kids can play, they don’t take up any of the space of your vegetable garden. The only problem with fruit trees is that they need quite a few years of growing before they produce food, so these should not be taken into account when figuring out what we can grow.
I have put 1000 square meters for growing crops on my list of requirements. This should be able to provide my family year round with vegetables and leave some extras that can be sold on the farmers market to bring in some cash to buy things that are not practical to grow on a small scale.
May 8th, 2008 at 2:22 pm
HI, I think you should have an extra digit in there! Its about 10000 sq feet, I really do wish it was nearer to been 1000 sq ft to grow that much veg
May 9th, 2008 at 4:21 am
Hi Scott, thanks for commenting, I was talking about 1.000 square meters, which equals about 10.000 square feet.
So, it looks like we are on the same page here
January 4th, 2009 at 12:51 pm
1 acre = 43,650 square feet.
1/4 acre = 10,912.5 square feet.
February 11th, 2009 at 2:09 pm
Interesting stuff guys – Does anyone know how growing under plastic in more controlled conditions increases yeild. I have presumed the piece above refers to outdoor growing?? Any help appreciated. Rob (UK)
February 12th, 2009 at 1:19 am
Rob, there are many factors that influence the yield. Growing in a greenhouse should increase your yield, if not per crop planted it would surly extend your growing season and increase your total yearly yield.
We’re growing in a greenhouse this year, but for now we’re stuck with snow…
March 14th, 2009 at 1:42 pm
Hey
I understand that the above figure is for growing vagetables to feed a family of about four (correct me if i’m wrong.) This is intresting stuff i agree! I just wanted to add something i read recently..
Apparently, with 5 acres a family of six can be completerly self-sufficient! That includes housing and outbuildings, and the production of all food (even flour and animal feed), water, wool and most wood.
Whoa how cool is that?! x