Wildly Successful Farming

Wildly Successful Farming PDF Author: Brian DeVore
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780299318802
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Tells the stories of farmers across the American Midwest who are balancing profitability and food production with environmental sustainability and a passion for all things wild. Whether producing grain, vegetables, fruit, meat, or milk, these ecological agrarians see biological activity on the land as a measure of sustainability.

Wildly Successful Farming

Wildly Successful Farming PDF Author: Brian DeVore
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780299318802
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description
Tells the stories of farmers across the American Midwest who are balancing profitability and food production with environmental sustainability and a passion for all things wild. Whether producing grain, vegetables, fruit, meat, or milk, these ecological agrarians see biological activity on the land as a measure of sustainability.

Farming for the Long Haul

Farming for the Long Haul PDF Author: Michael Foley
Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing
ISBN: 1603588000
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 274

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Book Description
Farming in the ruins of the twentieth century -- A short, unhappy history of business advice for farmers -- Subsistence first! -- Land for the tiller -- Soil, civilization, and resilient farmers through the centuries -- Resourceful farmers -- Woodlands and wastes -- It takes a village: leisure, community, and resilience -- Getting a living, forging a livelihood -- Farmer, citizen, survivor: politics and resilience

The Lean Farm Guide to Growing Vegetables

The Lean Farm Guide to Growing Vegetables PDF Author: Ben Hartman
Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing
ISBN: 1603586997
Category : Gardening
Languages : en
Pages : 274

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Book Description
At Clay Bottom Farm, author Ben Hartman and staff practice kaizen, or continuous improvement, cutting out more waste--of time, labor, space, money, and more--every year and aligning their organic production more tightly with customer demand. Applied alongside other lean principles originally developed by the Japanese auto industry, the end result has been increased profits and less work. In this field-guide companion to his award-winning first book, The Lean Farm, Hartman shows market vegetable growers in even more detail how Clay Bottom Farm implements lean thinking in every area of their work, including using kanbans, or replacement signals, to maximize land use; germination chambers to reduce defect waste; and right-sized machinery to save money and labor and increase efficiency. From finding land and assessing infrastructure needs to selling perfect produce at the farmers market, The Lean Farm Guide to Growing Vegetables digs deeper into specific, tested methods for waste-free farming that not only help farmers become more successful but make the work more enjoyable. These methods include: Using Japanese paper pot transplanters Building your own germinating chambers Leaning up your greenhouse Making and applying simple composts Using lean techniques for pest and weed control Creating Heijunka, or load-leveling calendars for efficient planning Farming is not static, and improvement requires constant change. The Lean Farm Guide to Growing Vegetables offers strategies for farmers to stay flexible and profitable even in the face of changing weather and markets. Much more than a simple exercise in cost-cutting, lean farming is about growing better, not cheaper, food--the food your customers want.

The Market Gardener

The Market Gardener PDF Author: Jean-Martin Fortier
Publisher: New Society Publisher
ISBN: 1550925555
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 243

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Book Description
Grow better not bigger with proven low-tech, human-scale, biointensive farming methods Making a living wage farming without big capital outlay or acreages may be closer than you think. Growing on just 1.5 acres, Jean-Martin and Maude-Helene feed more than 200 families through their thriving CSA and seasonal market stands. The secret of their success is the low-tech, high-yield production methods they've developed by focusing on growing better rather than growing bigger, making their operation more lucrative and viable in the process. The Market Gardener is a compendium of proven horticultural techniques and innovative growing methods. This complete guide is packed with practical information on: Setting-up a micro-farm by designing biologically intensive cropping systems, all with negligible capital outlay; Farming without a tractor and minimizing fossil fuel inputs through the use of the best hand tools, appropriate machinery and minimum tillage practices; Growing mixed vegetables systematically with attention to weed and pest management, crop yields, harvest periods and pricing approaches. Inspired by the French intensive tradition of maraichage and by iconic American vegetable grower Eliot Coleman, author and farmer Jean-Martin shows by example how to start a market garden and make it both very productive and profitable.

Farms with a Future

Farms with a Future PDF Author: Rebecca Thistlethwaite
Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing
ISBN: 1603584382
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 306

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Book Description
Do you want to make your farm more dynamic, profitable, and-- above all-- sustainable? Thistlethwaite introduces readers to some of the country's most innovative farmers, in order to help you build a triple-bottom-line farming business focused on economic viability, social justice, and ecological soundness.

Market Farming Success

Market Farming Success PDF Author: Lynn Byczynski
Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing
ISBN: 1603584935
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 290

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Book Description
An insider's guide to market gardening and farming for those in the business of growing and selling food, flowers, herbs, or plants. Market Farming Success identifies the key areas that usually trip up beginners—and shows how to avoid those obstacles. This book will help the aspiring or beginning farmer advance quickly and confidently through the inevitable learning curve of starting a new business. Written by the editor of Growing for Market, a respected trade journal for market farmers, Market Farming Success condenses decades of growing experience from every part of the United States and Canada. It focuses on the factors that are common to market gardeners everywhere and offers professional advice that includes: • How much you'll need to spend to start a market farming business; • How much you can expect to earn; • Which crops bring in the most money—and whether you should grow them; • The essential tools and equipment you will need; • The best places to sell your products; • How to keep records to maximize profits and minimize taxes; • Tricks of the trade that will make you more efficient in the greenhouse, field, and market. This new Chelsea Green edition of a 2006 classic is greatly updated and expanded, and includes full-color photos, charts, and graphs, plus many inspiring and instructive profiles of successful market-farming pioneers.

Going Over Home

Going Over Home PDF Author: Charles Thompson, Jr.
Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing
ISBN: 1603589139
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 242

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Book Description
Booklist Editors’ Choice “Best Books of 2019” An intimate portrait of the joys and hardships of rural life, as one man searches for community, equality, and tradition in Appalachia Charles D. Thompson, Jr. was born in southwestern Virginia into an extended family of small farmers. Yet as he came of age he witnessed the demise of every farm in his family. Over the course of his own life of farming, rural education, organizing, and activism, the stories of his home place have been his constant inspiration, helping him identify with the losses of others and to fight against injustices. In Going Over Home, Thompson shares revelations and reflections, from cattle auctions with his grandfather to community gardens in the coal camps of eastern Kentucky, racial disparities of white and Black landownership in the South to recent work with migrant farm workers from Latin America. In this heartfelt first-person narrative, Thompson unpacks our country’s agricultural myths and addresses the history of racism and wealth inequality and how they have come to bear on our nation’s rural places and their people.

You Can Farm

You Can Farm PDF Author: Joel Salatin
Publisher: POLYFACE
ISBN: 9780963810922
Category : Farms, Small
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Have you ever desired, deep within your soul, to make a comfortable full-time living from a farming enterprise? Too often people dare not even vocalize this desire because it seems absurd. It's like thinking the unthinkable. After all, the farm population is dwindling. It takes too much capital to start. The pay is too low. The working conditions are dusty, smelly and noisy: not the place to raise a family. This is all true, and more, for most farmers. But for farm entrepreneurs, the opportunities for a farm family business have never been greater. The aging farm population is creating cavernous niches begging to be filled by creative visionaries who will go in dynamic new directions. As the industrial agriculture complex crumbles and our culture clambers for clean food, the countryside beckons anew with profitable farming opportunities. While this book can be helpful to all farmers, it targets the wannabes, the folks who actually entertain notions of living, loving and learning on a piece of land. Anyone willing to dance with such a dream should be able to assess its assets and liabilities; its fantasies and realities. "Is it really possible for me?" is the burning question this book addresses.

Starting & Running Your Own Small Farm Business

Starting & Running Your Own Small Farm Business PDF Author: Sarah Beth Aubrey
Publisher: Storey Publishing
ISBN: 1580176976
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 177

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Book Description
Running your own small farm is demanding enough, but making it profitable presents a host of further challenges. In this business-savvy guide to farming on a small scale, Sarah Aubrey covers everything from financial plans and advertising budgets to web design and food service wholesalers. Learn how to isolate your target audience and craft artisanal products that will delight and amaze customers. With a solid business strategy in place, you can confidently turn your passion into a productive and profitable venture.

The Urban Farmer

The Urban Farmer PDF Author: Curtis Allen Stone
Publisher: New Society Publishers
ISBN: 1771421916
Category : Gardening
Languages : en
Pages : 306

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Book Description
There are twenty million acres of lawns in North America. In their current form, these unproductive expanses of grass represent a significant financial and environmental cost. However, viewed through a different lens, they can also be seen as a tremendous source of opportunity. Access to land is a major barrier for many people who want to enter the agricultural sector, and urban and suburban yards have huge potential for would-be farmers wanting to become part of this growing movement. The Urban Farmer is a comprehensive, hands-on, practical manual to help you learn the techniques and business strategies you need to make a good living growing high-yield, high-value crops right in your own backyard (or someone else's). Major benefits include: Low capital investment and overhead costs Reduced need for expensive infrastructure Easy access to markets Growing food in the city means that fresh crops may travel only a few blocks from field to table, making this innovative approach the next logical step in the local food movement. Based on a scalable, easily reproduced business model, The Urban Farmer is your complete guide to minimizing risk and maximizing profit by using intensive production in small leased or borrowed spaces. Curtis Stone is the owner/operator of Green City Acres, a commercial urban farm growing vegetables for farmers markets, restaurants, and retail outlets. During his slower months, Curtis works as a public speaker, teacher, and consultant, sharing his story to inspire a new generation of farmers.