Another CSA Model - Leasing inner city empty lots

[MikeH]

Alex Leibman, Emily Hanson, Eric Larsen, Klaus Zimmerman-Mayo, Robin Major and John Seitz of Stone’s Throw Urban Farm are making a sustainable name for themselves by leasing empty lots throughout the inner city areas of Saint Paul and Minneapolis to grow food. The sustainable grown produce is in turn sold to the local community. It’s hard work for this six-farmer partnership, but so far the business model has borne fruit.

The founders of Stone’s Throw Urban Farm all have experience farming in the real world as well as education in sustainable agriculture. To launch Stone’s Throw they created a limited liability partnership comprised of numerous city lots that could produce a healthy sustainable diet for the local community.

In finding the lots to support their urban farming enterprise, the team sought to combat one of the main downfalls to starting an urban farm business: the high cost of land within the city limits. Hanson explains that rather than paying exorbitant rents for prime lots, the farmers drive around the city searching for empty space.

“Often times we see vacant lots in our neighborhood especially, and here in Ramsey County we have a tax look up system and you can look up a property’s tax information online and then find the owner. Often it has their contact information listed, or you can find it in the White Pages and that’s kind of how we come by a lot of lots,” shares Hanson. “You know, cold calling people and saying, ‘hey here’s where we are, here’s what we do, we’d love to use your lot.’ You basically offer maintenance of the lot. They don’t have to mow or take care of it during the growing season in exchange for use of the land.”

[steev]

Years ago, in Berkeley, there was a company that put raised beds on a lot nmt 1/6th acre; they raised salad mix, mostly for sale to upscale restaurants and I was told they were grossing ~$30K per year. That would be >$60K, these days.

Urban gardening, and indeed, urban farming are old ideas that need to be re-visited, just because it makes sense.

You do find good graphics!