While your approach appears to be backwards it may get attention of retired land owners. I have had numerous requests from fellow market vendors over the years who wanted a chunk of my land to expand their growing operations but I could only visualize conflicts. While land owners in my area do rent land to crops farmers the thought of someone showing up unannounced to meander around private property seems dangerous.

How many growers will you have? How will they be recruited and screened? Who will be responsible for insurance?

Is this 100 acres contiguous? Are you going to divvy up a 100 acre farm or buy 100 1-acre plots scattered across England. What are the sizes of the typical CSA growing areas? (Growers ranting about inefficiently scattered fields goes back to Georgian times)

Is the £10,000/acre land close to where the owners would live so they can be conveniently paid off with their produce? Or is the land close to these people you want to connect more closely with their food supply more expensive because it's close to cities?

"The plan is to keep legalities and taxation to an absolute minimum" ... if you don't have iron-clad leases and contracts spelling out who pays for what, and the roles and responsibilities, this could end up a nightmare.

What if the grower abandons the fields or is a failure at growing? Who make sure the owner still gets the vegetables? Or the 7.5% return on their investment?

What if the grower's equipment damages a neighboring property, or damages the owner's property? Who pays?

What if the owner gets a great offer to sell to a rock star who wants to make a heliport, and wants it immediately? Does the grower lose the labor invested, and lose the crop in the field?

What restrictions will be placed on the grower? How will these be confirmed and enforced? If a grower says they will be "organic" and is caught with neonicotinoids and glyphosate how will the owner be compensated for the loss of "organic" status for as long as the rules say it's lost?

Hi Lazy Gardens,

The plan needs to be flexible to work with what is actually available - the land could be as Barrie says from an existing owner who wants to realise the cash, or it could be existing farmland/existing farm (but not with an expensive house on it - that would put the price through the roof!).

I really need advice on how many growers it needs and how much a single grower would need to make a living - I had planned on one 'farmer' effectively running a 100 acre farm. But see that market gardening is rather more intensive - and maybe I could/should start thinking a lot smaller - but it has to provide the grower(s) with full time work/income. The actual crops will have to be selected base on the growing seasons here - I'll take a basic plan from an existing veg-box business - and tune it to the owners tastes, and the farmers needs for his crop.

It maybe that some want organic and some aren't bothered - as long as there are enough in any group, they can have their own 'farm' and 'grower'.

My figures are really based on the existing situation - so I am working backwards from there(!). People are already producing veg boxes commercially, delivered nationally, year round for £15 (a week for two people) and land costs what it costs - so it is viable, if I can put together the pieces. You could put £120,000 in the bank and use the interest to pay for your veg, but my basic plan cuts out all the middle men.

I assume the £15 commercial price includes insurance against crop failures and unhappy customers - organic is certified by the soil association, so I'd expect the farmer, grower to follow existing practice if they will be producing organic.

Equipment/insurance for farming activity has to be with the farmer - the owner should just sign the original cheque, get the deeds to a bit of land, a contract giving other existing owners first refusal if they chose to sell the land, and a management agreement with a farmer/grower.

If some people do withdraw and take their land, it doesn't actually matter as long as enough land is retained to keep a farmer busy for the remaining owners.

I want to get the first up for my own benefit (consumer, not farmer/grower) - but after that the model will be 'open source' for any group to do if they want.

The biggest query so far is - if everyone did this... so had 'free food' - who would the farmer sell his excess to?!? :)

Do you have an idea of how much land a grower could manage?

You need to see and experience a working CSA farm. There is no way one person could care for 100 acres in typical CSA row crops. It is very different from field crops of corn, wheat, and soybeans with highly mechanized care. Most CSA producers work with only a few acres and even then usually have help at key times...ie harvest day, major planting days, pick up times, etc.

It is an interesting concept, but a thorough understanding of veggie production needs to be behind all the planning in addition to expertise in legal, financial, and personnel concerns.

And for your "biggest query so far" question....EVERYONE would not do this. Most people do not have a large amount of money readily available for the initial investment, and those who do would have a multitude of opportunities for investing. A new and unproven idea would only appeal to a very few of those who do have money to invest.

Hi NatureGirl,

I am in the UK and hadn't heard of CSA until LazyGardens mentioned them - I am doing some research on them (good old internet!), France and other European continental countries do have various organisations/societies who work in a similar vein and I have been looking into them too.

I am quite keen that the raw plan is purely commercial - you own land you get food - it has to be sustainable or your food runs out(!). But full blown organic or not should be up to the owners (as long as they can get a farmer to do what they want).

I guess, ideally, I'd find a keen grower who wants to do this and knows what needs doing from that side of things, but until I find such a person, I'll be learning all I can to fill that gap in my plan!

This is a complete side point - but the UK has about 60 million citizens and is about 60 million acres, so really I think (in principle) we should all be getting the 'free food' from our acre already! :) and have loads left over... so maybe use the excess land for cities, leave it to forest etc... but for now, I can afford a bit of land and would happily buy some and get free food to prove that it can work.

I guess, unless you are developing an area- can you buy only an acre of land in an area appropriatly zoned (they don't want homes or building built there), and if so, is this more profitable than simply renting the space to adjecent farmers?

trianglejohn - how many people could your acre and a half feed? Or how many £15 fruit and veg boxes could it produce? Fruit is difficult, as you say it is seasonal quite variable and expensive (time/effort wise) to crop. Is it your full time occupation?

Hi Renee, I am not aiming at 'profit' the prices are just to show it seems to be in about the right ball park. Land is crazy in the UK -- I spoke to one small holder who rents a couple of extra fields, and gets more in subsidy from the taxpayer than the cost of the rent even if they do nothing with it(!). My 'plan' is to sidestep all such nonsense - just land, growing, food - never worry about prices again. Once there is a plan for veg, the next staple would be flour, then add fish, then maybe meat, dairy etc... But veg is first.

Paul - I have two spots roughly 45 feet by 45 feet square devoted to seasonal veggies (one of which is in raised beds), the rest of the acre is full of fruiting vines, bushes and trees. I try to keep everything pruned low so that I can reach the fruit easily. I also have a 20 by 30 foot greenhouse in the middle of everything. Private well for water. Good soil, gentle slope to the east, forest begins along the north side of the yard which is not a square or even a rectangle. All the lots I looked at were odd shaped.

If I am unemployed and work full time in the garden I can easily produce all the vegetables and some of the fruit for 3 or 4 families. If you remove half of the fruiting plants and grow more veggies you could feed as many as 8.

I'm in North Carolina and around here vegetables are easy to come by and often cheap, there are lots of small farms and farmers markets and CSAs and boxed food delivery services. When I explored the idea of growing something to sell at the nearby markets they told me they didn't need any more vegetable vendors, only fruit, which is why I put in a lot of fruiting plants.

Besides the constant weeding, I find that no matter what I do a lot of the vegetables or fruit is going to be "perfect" and ready to pick at the same time. I only have two hands and can only pick so fast. Often I have to decide between crops as to who gets picked and who gets ignored.

In the beginning it is easy to spend every waking moment out in the field working the garden, but after a couple of years you just can't make yourself work really fast and hard all day long. Something is always breaking and needs mending or the dog gets sick or a good friend needs help or someone offers money for a job that is too lucrative to turn down...it's always something.

Hi John - thanks so much for that info. As a side issue, another project I am working on is a semi-autonomous-robo-weeder - a tiny solar powered 'electric sheep' that only eats weeds - release a flock and leave them to it :)

Your plot sounds delightful - doesn't the US have 'food stamps' for welfare? Just give them access to 1/8th an acre and let them feed themselves(!) :)

Paul - I suggest that you go get some work experience on the kind of farm you think you want to develop with this idea - backtrack from one of the food basket sellers to their farmer and volunteer or get hired.

You sound dreadfully sincere and inexperienced. How much farming experience do you have?

doesn't the US have 'food stamps' for welfare? Just give them access to 1/8th an acre and let them feed themselves(!)

OK ... I'll find you 1/8 acre in Detroit Michigan and we'll see how you survive feeding yourself. I'll even give you the tools and seeds.

Sorry LazyGardens - the US is bigger than the UK, I spoke out of turn.