In the past, I have talked and written about what a world that based its food and farming systems on the concepts of agroecology would look like. I believe in the idea that having a vision for that moment when we reach our final goals is a good way to measure progress and make corrections along the way. But once we get that picture in our heads the next question is: “how do we get started?”

Well, here’s an idea. What if we committed one percent of our land in the United States to food production based on the principles of agroecology?

I live in the Upper Midwest, so I can use the place I call home as an example, but this idea could be implemented in urban areas as well as the wide expanse of the High Plains.  The numbers may be different and the model will need to be adjusted to fit the land and the communities, but the concept would be similar.

What’s the potential?

Our farm in Iowa occupies about 15 acres of land and is surrounded by hundreds of acres of corn and soybean field production (not ours, of course).  On that 15-acre plot, we have grown as much as five acres of uncovered vegetables and two high tunnels worth of covered vegetable crops. There are fruit trees and raspberry/blackberry canes to go along with wild plum and mulberry trees. In addition to the produce, we also have maintained flocks of chickens, ducks and turkeys.

And, before you think we were milking the land for every drop it is worth, we recognize that we have to maintain a balance with nature. We nourish the soil, we maintain untilled and wild areas, and we feed the pollinators.  We seek local markets and local supplies and services.  We are constantly doing what we can to learn how we can meet our obligations as land stewards and community members.  All of this fits within the agroecology model.

In recent years, we have scaled our farm back, but we are fully aware of the potential this land we steward has for raising food for our local community.  Our farm’s history includes many seasons where we were able to produce 12.5 tons of produce.  Additionally, we routinely harvested almost two tons of eggs each year and two to three tons of poultry.

Accounting for difficult weather years and even situations where pesticide drift reduced our production, it is safe to say that 15 tons of food in one year was a reasonable average.

Fifteen tons of food in one year on fifteen acres.  All while maintaining a diverse habitat and good soil health.

Straw mulch in intercropped field

How much space and where?

If you ask a small-scale, diversified farmer, you might get several answers to the question, “What does an optimal setup for a farm like ours look like if we want it to thrive?”  We just completed our 22nd year farming — so I think I have enough experience, with plenty of failures and successes, to venture an opinion.  So for the purposes of this article, I will use my own preferences.  If you have other ideas, you can make the appropriate adjustments.

First, I’ve come to the conclusion that this type of farm, in Iowa, would benefit from being sized at around fifty acres of land.  I am certainly not saying fifteen acres or one hundred is a bad idea, depending on location and focus.  Remember, agroecology embraces complexity.  But, to make this thought exercise work, I need to pick a number.  So, I’ll stick with fifty acres.

Second, small-scale, diverse farms benefit from consistent contact with at least three or four other farms of a similar scale — preferably close enough where resources could be shared.  And third, multiple farms with slightly different production focuses helps introduce diversity into the farm cluster without requiring each individual farm to adopt an uber-diverse product line that is beyond the capability of one small farm to maintain.   This allows the farm cluster to utilize the natural insurance diversity gives us and the benefits of nature’s services for production.

The other way to answer the question about how much space we need is to ask how much food we need over the course of one year.  At our peak, the Genuine Faux Farm supported 150 families, which totaled somewhere in the neighborhood of 500 people. Did these people rely on us for all of their food needs?  Of course not. But, it still gives us a measure of exactly how well local production could do if we gave it a real chance to succeed.

Let’s start by committing less than 1 percent

It seems that we are often stymied by the overwhelming size of the food system problem. And, the solutions often seem too big for us to actually put the energy into making them happen. So, here is a thought that might be “bite-sized” enough for us to consider in my home state.

We are entering a point where land transition from an aging farming population is an important issue.  Two-thirds of the land in Iowa is owned by persons who are aged 65 years or older and 40% is owned by people who are 75 years old or older.  We should see this as an opportunity to move towards agroecology now.

There are approximately 26.2 million acres used as cropland in Iowa and another 1.3 million that serve as pasture land.  What would happen if we dedicated just six adjacent 50-acre parcels of fertile ground per county (there are 99 counties) to some small-scale, diversified farms that were supported by the community?  This would require just under 30,000 acres, which is approximately 0.1% of the crop and pasture land in the state.

If we wanted to reach one percent of the land, we would have to have ten of these clusters in each county.

If we took our farm as a model for food production, it might be feasible to expect as much as one ton of food per acre committed to the project – remembering that not every acre should be dedicated to food production and every farm is different.  If you apply this to six 50-acre farms (our 0.1% commitment), you have an estimated 300 tons of food, per season, in one county. That’s almost 30,000 tons for the state.

Various resources suggest that Iowa currently imports approximately 90% of the food we consume.  That should be embarrassing to us.  We make claims that we feed the world, but we aren’t able to even feed ourselves.  This is as good as any reason to take this proposal seriously.

I suspect most people would think 1% of all of the tillable land in Iowa isn’t too much to ask to use for agroecology and they might be even more willing to accept 0.1%.  But, sadly, if someone actually tried to put a plan like this into action, it would be a difficult battle, even if it does make sense.

Still, for the sake of argument, what if we could identify 1% of productive land and put a bunch of 50-acre small-scale, diversified farms on them?  That could result in the production of 300 THOUSAND tons of food.  In Iowa.  On 1% of its cropland.

Genuine Faux Farm truck being filled for delivery

What if?

There is always a danger when you take a small sample and simply multiply it out and pretend it gives real results — just as I have done here.  But, this is an experiment for us to think just a little harder about what is possible.

What could happen if these farms could be placed next to each other so labor, tools, expertise and support could be more readily shared?  What could happen if these farms could “specialize” their diversity so they could grow 20 crop types instead of the 50 a single-farm CSA often requires?  What could happen if we made this land accessible to new and aspiring farmers of all backgrounds?  What would happen if these farm clusters could also provide farm incubation opportunities for young and aspiring farmers?

What could happen if we considered the real value of our food and made sure the good food they produced was being consumed locally?  What could happen if we identified these farms as a key part of our communities so they are supported and be productive for decades… or for generations?  What could happen if we made it a fact of life that these farms would also support pollinators and wild areas?

What if?

I’m willing to gamble one percent of our land on that experiment.