Land required for Vegan Self sufficiency (slight return) (fwd from Plants For A Future elist)

[Guest guest]

Hi some of you may remember the article on land required for vegan self

sufficiency that I posted a little while ago... Here's a response I had from

Ken Fern on the Plants For A Future discussion list;

 

nb. My original article is below Ken's reply....

 

Message: 1

Thu, 6 Jun 2002 11:54:07 +0100

" Ken Fern " <ken.fern

Re: Re: Mininum land for vegetarian garden.

 

Dear Graham

 

Long time no see. I hope everything is well with you.

 

I read your comments on minimum land use with some interest. I think you

will find that the one fifth of an acre for a vegan figure came originally

from a scientist called Kenneth Mellanby. He was commissioned by the

government of the day (back in the 70's if my memory serves me well) to see

if it was possible to grow all the food needs of Britain in Britain instead

of importing so much food. His findings were eventually published in a book

called, I believe 'Can Britain Feed Itself'.

 

Amongst his many findings were that a meat eater needed up to 10 acres to

provide their annual food needs (depending on the types of meat they ate) a

vegetarian up to 2 and a half acres (depending on the amount of dairy

produce they consumed) and a vegan one fifth of an acre. These findings were

average figures based on the population as a whole. They were also based on

average conventional (not organic) agricultural yields.

 

Whilst these figures, used as a comparison, work well to show how much

easier it would be to feed a vegan world, as you point out they can be

confusing for individuals with their own small plots of land.

 

I think it would be very difficult for one individual, even if they were

very healthy, to grow all their food needs on one fifth of an acre, even if

it was prime agricultural land. There would be bound to be times of glut and

times of shortage. However, if a group of, say, five people shared an acre

of land then it would be easier to smooth out the gluts and there would also

be more space for growing the larger crops such as nut trees.

 

As regards comparing yields from conventional agriculture with those

obtained from a perennial gardening system, particularly using woodland

gardening, there are no figures yet published (as far as I know) to show how

productive a perennial system can be so no comparison is possible. It is up

to all of us to start getting our acts together and recording what we are

doing and how much food we are obtaining from our land - when we do this

then we might start influencing mainstream agriculture.

 

Look after yourself

 

Love and Peace

 

Ken Fern

 

-

" quercusrobur2002 " <grahamburnett

<pfaf >

Tuesday, June 04, 2002 6:09 PM

[pfaf] Re: Mininum land for vegitarian garden.

 

 

> Here's an article I wrote a little while back on this subject...

>

> Land required for Vegan self sufficiency- some questions and food for

> thought....

>

>

> How much land does a vegan require to be self sufficient in food?

>

> An often quoted figure, attributed to the Vegan Society, is that one

> person on a plant based diet could be self sufficient on one fifth of

> an acre of land.

>

> However I'm not so sure how helpful such a figure is- it's one of

> those 'how long is a piece of string' type questions-

>

> There are many variables to take into account, here's a few I can

> think of (which could also act as the start of a useful checklist

> when considering any other self-sufficient food growing/land use

> venture...);

>

> What is the land quality? What type of soil do you have? What

> condition is it in?

> What's it's aspect? Sun paths at different times of year?

> Are you on a slope? How steep?

> What are your first and last frost dates?

> Do you have an independant water supply? What irrigation techniques

> do you plan to use?

> Is it 'virgin' land that requires clearing and initial cultivating?

> Any pollutants or contamination that need to be dealt with?

> What weather patterns do you encounter?

> Prevailing winds? How exposed are you?

> In what part of the country/world are you intending to grow?

> Do you intend to add season extending structures such as polytunnels &

> greenhouses?

> What do you want to grow? Have you audited/analysed the nutritional

> (eg, protien, carbohydrate, fibre, mineral, vitamins (including

> vitamin B12))contents of your chosen crops? Which are heavy feeders,

> which are light feeders?

> Will you be planting annuals or perennials (including tree crops)?

> What do you want to eat? What do you like?

> Do you have a big appetite?

> Are you a raw food vegan?

> If not, have you factored in the land/energy required to produce the

> fuel to cook your food?

> What's your lifestyle? How much time/energy do you have? Other

> commitments?

> How fit are you?

> Do you enjoy gardening?

> How intensively do you intend to manage the land?

> Are you using machinery/power tools?

> If so have you factored in the land/energy required to

> manufacture/fuel such equipment?

> How experienced/knowledgable are you as regards food growing?

> Are you using permaculture techniques and strategies such as

> increasing edge, stacking, succession, using multifunctional

> plantings, using zonal planning, etc, etc?

> Are you returning your own wastes (ie, humanure) to the soil?

> Are you growing organically?

> If so, are you growing vegan organically? Have you factored in space

> needed for compost crops and green manures?

> Are you growing 'conventional' organically? Have you factored in the

> land required to graze cattle or grow fodder in order to import their

> manure outputs? What about transporting it to your land (dung

> miles???)?

> If neither, have you factored in the 'embodied energy' and land

> needed to produce and transport the various chemicals & pesticides

> you intend to add?

>

> ------------------------

> One fifth of an acre of prime fertile rich agricultural soil in a

> sheltered river valley with a long growing season, worked by a young,

> strong, fit, experienced person 7 days a week following a well

> integrated and thought out cropping plan, is going to be a very

> different proposition to one fifth of an acre of exposed, thin and

> acidic Welsh hillside being managed by say, a single parent suffering

> from health problems and trying fit growing activities in with things

> like holding down a job, commuting, raising a family, etc, etc!

> Two people managing two fifths of an acre, or five people managing

> one acre are completely different scenarios again, whatever the

> land's condition!

> Then there are all those other human needs that need to be met-

> clothing, shelter, warmth, transport (not to mention emotional needs

> including the company of others!!)

>

> Sometimes perhaps we need to be a little careful about quoting figures

> without placing them in any sort of context or thining about what they

> imply... Just some food for thought, I would welcome any responses or

> comments...

>

> Graham Burnett

> www.landandliberty.co.uk

>

> PS. I've produced a small checklist of issues to think about

> when 'reading

> your

> land' at http://pages.unisonfree.net/gburnett/SEEOG/page13.html

>

> There's some other possibly useful checklists at

> http://pages.unisonfree.net/gburnett/SEEOG/page4.html

>

>

> pfaf, Richard Morris <webmaster@p...> wrote:

> > bigjohn@g... wrote:

> > >

> > > I am doing research to find what the " minimal " amount of land

> would be needed

> > > to sustain just one (1) person every year.

> > >

>

>

>

>

>