Small Plot INtensive (SPIN) farming is one of the local food industry’s latest trends. The movement unites farmers with small plots of land donated by homeowners. Produce is grown in unused backyards and sold to local buyers. While the land the farmers use is donated, SPIN farming is a for-profit model designed to make the most of land that wouldn’t be used otherwise.
Kye Kocher is a SPIN farmer in Calgary, Alberta. He sells most of his produce to restaurants in town and offers remaining crops to the homeowners he partners with. In addition to maximizing unused land, Kocher says SPIN farming is a great way to educate urban residents on how food is grown.
“It’s a way for people to convert their unused space of a lawn. I’ve had a couple homeowners over the years who have had kids and they want their kids to know where food comes from and how it’s produced, so they do it that way. It’s really wonderful,” he says.
Kocher believes education is a key element in developing sustainable food consumption. He raises concerns over the recent change in government and its potential to take away opportunities for residents to fully explore their food options. On April 30, 2019, Albertans voted in Premier Jason Kenney of the United Conservative Party, a stark contrast from the province’s previous NDP government. The change could mean uncertainty for the province’s local food industry.
“I’m currently part of this local food council for the Alberta,” he says. “I remain anxious about what will happen with our recommendations. We are cautiously optimistic that [the government] will establish an Agricultural Land Reserve and encourage more Regenerative Agriculture.”
While the government’s influence will have an affect on the local food industry, it doesn’t have the final say. Kocher is confident local farming will find its place in Alberta despite the drastic change in office. Ultimately, its fate is in the hands of consumer demand.
“I actually think the clamour of the people is going to get louder and louder. We live in such an entrepreneurial, capitalist climate. Although mostly there’s big corporations like Amazon, Walmart, and Google, I think we’re seeing that shift to small local food anyway, inevitably, because the people want it,” he says.
The impact of clamour is evident in the current trend of going vegetarian or vegan. The cultural shift is forcing companies like A&W and Tim Hortons to offer vegan products to meet the demand of the people they serve. Beyond Meat, a plant-based alternative meat brand, is expected to increase in value by 15% per year for the foreseeable future. Kocher is on the fence about vegetarianism and veganism, saying that while it’s the most responsible way of eating within the context of corporate farming, that may not be the case once other systems of food production come into consideration.
“Meat consumption is completely unsustainable in our current operating system, so I think the younger generations think vegetarian and veganism is the opportunity to live sustainably,” he begins.
“Only if you want to continue to live in a corporate capitalist system where you’re growing as much [food] as possible and exploiting the earth to its fullest in order to yield the highest. If you adapted more sustainable land management practices, meat consumption wouldn’t be a problem. Part of that would involve a family getting a quarter of a cow rather than going to the grocery store and getting whatever cut they want. Eating a quarter of a cow requires a pretty strong understanding of culinary practice that we just aren’t engaged with anymore.”
The question of how to consume food sustainably is hard to crack. The best way to contribute to responsible food consumption is to grow food independently, but in reality, the answer is much more complicated. To grow food responsibly, one must first understand have the time and understand how to do it. Kocher believes the expectation is unrealistic and unfair to those leading busy lives.
“I think it’s foolish to come at this with an idea of ‘everybody just needs to grow their own food for themselves’ because we can’t expect doctors to go to med school for eight years, do 90 hour weeks, and also tend a garden. That’s an unreasonable expectation. Agriculture is an incredibly skilled trade and it needs to be recognized as such, so it’s much more important that we understand that,” he says.
Movements like SPIN farming are a way for individuals to get involved with local food. It allows those interested to easily contribute to local business and sustainable land management without requiring the knowledge on how to grow food. For Kocher, the ultimate aim is to move away from the current food system which focuses largely on corporate farming techniques.
The world currently produces 1.5 times more food than is needed due to the waste mostly generated by corporate farming. This figure is set to rise by one third by 2030 if we do not change our approach to food. As Kocher puts it, “feeding the planet is not a problem right now. Right now, we have a distribution problem”.
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