Comments on: London, feed yourself! http://www.tracingpaper.org.uk/2008/07/10/london-feed-yourself/ A piecemeal investigation into the origins of our food Wed, 11 Jan 2012 13:42:30 +0000 hourly 1 By: TopVeg http://www.tracingpaper.org.uk/2008/07/10/london-feed-yourself/comment-page-1/#comment-147 TopVeg Fri, 11 Jul 2008 14:58:04 +0000 http://www.tracingpaper.org.uk/?p=107#comment-147 Thanks - an inspiring report, full of useful contacts! Glad to hear Mayor Boris is all in favour. Provenance should be another lever to encourage local production. Provenance not only indicates freshness, taste & quality but also safety. It stresses environmental benefits which come with GYO. Thanks – an inspiring report, full of useful contacts! Glad to hear Mayor Boris is all in favour.

Provenance should be another lever to encourage local production. Provenance not only indicates freshness, taste & quality but also safety. It stresses environmental benefits which come with GYO.

]]> By: Roxanne Christensen http://www.tracingpaper.org.uk/2008/07/10/london-feed-yourself/comment-page-1/#comment-146 Roxanne Christensen Thu, 10 Jul 2008 15:57:15 +0000 http://www.tracingpaper.org.uk/?p=107#comment-146 More and more first generation farmers throughout the U.S. and Canada are re-localizing food production by establishing commercial SPIN-Farming operations in their backyards, front lawns and neighborhood plots. SPIN is a franchise-ready commercial farming system that can be deployed rapidly. It is non-technical, easy-to-understand and inexpensive-to-implement, and it makes it possible to earn $50,000+(US) from a half-acre. Minimal infrastructure, reliance on hand labor to accomplish most farming tasks, utilization of existing water sources to meet irrigation needs, and situating close to markets all keep investment and overhead costs low. SPIN farmers utilize relay cropping to increase yield and achieve good economic returns by growing only the most profitable food crops tailored to local markets. SPIN's growing techniques are not, in themselves, breakthrough. What is novel is the way a SPIN farm business is run. SPIN provides everything you'd expect from a good franchise: a business plan, marketing advice, and a detailed day-to-day workflow. In standardizing the system and creating a reproducible process it really isn't any different from McDonalds. SPIN-style farming removes the two big barriers to entry – sizeable acreage and significant start-up capital. You can see some of the growing corps of entrepreneurial SPIN farmers in action at www.spinfarming.com More and more first generation farmers throughout the U.S. and Canada are re-localizing food production by establishing commercial SPIN-Farming operations in their backyards, front lawns and neighborhood plots. SPIN is a franchise-ready commercial farming system that can be deployed rapidly. It is non-technical, easy-to-understand and inexpensive-to-implement, and it makes it possible to earn $50,000+(US) from a half-acre. Minimal infrastructure, reliance on hand labor to accomplish most farming tasks, utilization of existing water sources to meet irrigation needs, and situating close to markets all keep investment and overhead costs low.
SPIN farmers utilize relay cropping to increase yield and achieve good economic returns by growing only the most profitable food crops tailored to local markets. SPIN’s growing techniques are not, in themselves, breakthrough. What is novel is the way a SPIN farm business is run. SPIN provides everything you’d expect from a good franchise: a business plan, marketing advice, and a detailed day-to-day workflow. In standardizing the system and creating a reproducible process it really isn’t any different from McDonalds.
SPIN-style farming removes the two big barriers to entry – sizeable acreage and significant start-up capital. You can see some of the growing corps of entrepreneurial SPIN farmers in action at http://www.spinfarming.com

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