The Business Case for Small Plots and Specialty Crops

Abstract

One often surprising statistic is that the Netherlands ranks number two among agricultural exporters by dollar value despite its small size compared to other countries. The Dutch have accomplished this owing to developments in vertical farming, greenhouses, and by focusing on high value agricultural commodities, famously, Dutch tulips. Similar optimization towards economic output can be accomplished in other geographies, given the constraints of the local environment, which can partially or totally be alleviated by growing technologies including greenhouses. Tailoring agricultural production for microclimates is also important, as every geography carries significant variation owing to landscapes, features and local flora and fauna. This review explores the highest value agricultural commodities that the small landowner can produce and brings together a data-centric approach to planting decisions.

Introduction

Small landowners often attempt to monetize their plots, or at the very least use food production to save money. While it takes effort to set up a market garden business, people can often sell at a local level. Here, the question of what to grow takes center stage, as multiple factors converge which affect people’s decision making. Small plot agriculture has different characteristics than large scale production, it is less of a commodity market, and margins are more unknown, as hours worked are often not logged as work. For established commodity production, tracking of inputs, labour hours and costs generally is much more professionalized and documented.

Many people are concerned about the financial aspect of moving to the country, and one possible mediating factor is the ability for them to produce food, both for themselves and for sale. By focusing on high value crops and maximizing production in their local area, they have been able to use land gainfully and effectively, while making their farmers prosperous.

For a given geography, there are a variety of plants that can grow there, and some optimization for the landscape and climatic conditions is necessary. We focus on the Central Alberta bioregion, combined with projections for future climatic changes to craft recommendations for small landowners to maximize the agricultural production of their plots (by dollar value). We wish to develop a software package which performs this function easier and provides economic estimates and can be integrated with soil testing technology.

Economics

Rural landowners comprise 16% of Alberta’s population and even city dwellers have access to enough land to grow some agricultural products. Land is a significantly underutilised resource in Alberta and Canada broadly. Urban lots are typically a fraction of an acre, ranging from 0.2 to 0.4 acres. The average residential lawn in the USA is ¼ acre (The United States Ranked by Yard Size - HomeAdvisor, 2018), which can be applied to growing food.

Famously, Victory Gardens were applied during WWII to provide food for households, thereby increasing food security. It was reported that victory gardens produced 8 million tons of food from 4 million acres in the year of 1943 (‘Victory Gardens Produced 8,000,000 Tons of Food’, 1943). The number of Victory Gardens was estimated to be 20 million (‘GARDENS HELD KEY TO FOOD EMERGENCY; Critical Situation Can Be Relieved by Efforts of Amateurs, Paul C. Stark Declares’, 1943), for an average acreage of 0.2 acres per plot. US population at the time was 134 million people, amounting to one garden per 6.7 people. The average household was 3.67 people in 1940 (U.S. Households by Size, 1790–2006, n.d.), putting the number of victory gardens at one per every 1.8 households. Eliminating those not able to grow a victory garden due to living in an urban apartment, or being deployed overseas (9.2 million (Research Starters, n.d.)) , Victory Gardens were highly ubiquitous among those with the means to do so. Victory Gardens were seen as a patriotic effort (Secrist, n.d.), and it was claimed by then president Franklin Delano Roosevelt that “42% of fresh vegetables consumed in 1943 came from victory gardens” (Statement Encouraging Victory Gardens. | The American Presidency Project, n.d.).

While food security is less of an issue presently than it was during wartime, still, the small landholder can produce food or agricultural products on their own plot.

Given that one has a small plot and limited machinery, it makes sense to grow high value products, including fruits and vegetables, but ranging to botanicals, herbs, and specialty nutraceuticals. Typically, those at the higher price end also require more care and time spent cultivating, but this is a trade-off that the individual landowner can make.

First, let us begin with what is typically grown in small gardens in central Alberta.

Climatically, central Alberta would be seen as a non-ideal place for agriculture, given its short growing season and harsh winters. This corresponds to USDA zones 3a to 4a in the central parkland region.

This can be ameliorated with greenhouses and indoor growing technologies, but we will keep to outdoor growing for this purpose. A typical growing season in Edmonton ranges from April 18 to September 20, for a total of 156 days (Shen et al., 2005), with a frost-free period from May 20 to September 14 (118 days).

Economically, corn produces a net financial yield of USD $114.65 per acre, peanuts are $324.64, whereas tobacco returns $1950.65 (USDA ERS - Commodity Costs and Returns, n.d.). More specialty herbs can be sold at higher prices, and yield a higher return for the landowner. Several books have been released for small landholders looking to perform small scale farming as a business (The Organic Medicinal Herb Farmer, Revised Edition, 2023).

Table 1. Yield totals for different crops with overlap with Alberta’s climate. Source: (The Organic Medicinal Herb Farmer, Revised Edition, 2023).

Given these projections, it can represent a significant value addition to have specialty agricultural products on one’s land. This needs to be optimized for the growing conditions within one’s bioregion, but any geography has considerable leeway.

Other considerations, including crop synergies or mutualisms can come into play. For example, a plant which thrives in a low-pH environment may benefit form being around conifers which drop acidic needles.

Market access represents an issue for those looking to sell bulk quantities of specialty products, as while there may be demand, it may be based somewhere else. In more remote communities, a trend is observed towards their exports being higher value per unit mass, in order to lower transport costs. Farmers may take to doing more production/ value addition steps near the place of production, such as by developing a bioactive concentrate, rather than selling the whole plant. Thankfully, bioprospecting has revealed many useful compounds in plants, which become in demand nutritional supplements. 

Market access is a significant barrier to adoption. One can grow food and generate interest, but selling takes some effort and time. Providing marketplaces is an important step for adoption, and also enabling bulk buyers to pick up surplus from each individual grower and use them to make products. Fortunately, there are trends towards local food, and supply lines can easily come under strain due to environmental and political stressors(Hassija et al., 2021). While food is more fungible, supply lines for pharmaceuticals have already been stretched; the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists reports 261 drug entities currently under shortage (accesses March 20, 2024) (Drug Shortages List, n.d.), and the USA even created a stockpiling program for drugs at risk of shortage (Rep. Carter, 2023).  

It is of note that shipping volumes through the Suez Canal have dropped from 73 ships per day in December 2023 to 34 ships per day in March of 2024, a 53% drop in traffic ( PortWatch, n.d.). This is just one example of a potentially volatile chokepoint on global trade, as the Suez Canal represents 15% of global maritime trade ( PortWatch, n.d.). Therefore, it is of vital importance to increase resiliency to shocks such as supply chain disruptions, as these will likely feature prominently in an increasingly multipolar world.

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