Pedal power takes Kelowna urban farmer’s crops to market

Curtis Stone SHAW TV interview, May 24th 2011.

“In any other system of agriculture, profits are totally diluted through all the machinery, mortgage and lease payments that you have, plus all your transportation costs.”

By Adrian Nieoczym
Globe and Mail
May. 26, 2011

Excerpt:

Kelowna, BC. Mr. Stone describes himself as a “pedal-powered urban farmer.” Now in his second year, he works three-quarters of an acre spread between six plots located in other people’s backyards. “With the land that I’m running now, I could feed about 120 families,” he said.

A former musician who had not even gardened before starting his business, Mr. Stone is quickly emerging as a leader in the growing urban agriculture movement known as SPIN (small-plot intensive) farming. This past winter, he delivered paid workshops in California and B.C., sharing his techniques with other would-be urban farmers. He recently accepted a gig to do the same next year in India.

Convinced that the era of cheap, abundant oil is coming to a close, Mr. Stone uses mostly hand tools when tending to his fields and relies on his bicycle for most of his transportation needs, be it hauling a 360-kilogram rototiller or making deliveries to one of the six restaurants he supplies with local produce. Mr. Stone figures he pedalled about 6,000 kilometres last year.

Read the complete article here.