Ben Franklin Book of the Year Award Winner!
MetroFarm
The Guide to Growing for Profit In or Near the City for the City
Urban Farming – How to Grow for Profit In or Near the City Michael Olson: Author of MetroFarm and syndicated host of Food Chain Radio.
You can earn a substantial income – eight times the average personal income, and more – by farming for the city.
You can be old or young, rich or poor, married or single. You can own land outright or rent it year to year. You can grow small fruits on prairie bench land, houseplants in coastal valleys, flowers on steep wooded hillsides, vegetables in city greenbelts and ornamentals in neighborhoods of million-dollar homes.
All you need to do to earn the money, is take your crop to market and win the consumer dollars. There is a well-proven strategy for winning that competition, and you will find it embedded throughout the 576 pages of MetroFarm.
576 pages
252 photos, charts and illustrations
50 practical exercises
5 chapter-length interviews
MetroFarm is the Guide
Understanding Agriculture
- How Plants Grow and Develop
- How Plants are Grown and Developed
Developing a Strategy to Win
- Competing with Giants
- Developing a Grand Strategy
- Developing Business Strategies
Surveying the Market
- Organizing a Survey
- Surveying the Wholesale Sector
- Surveying the Retail Sector
- Surveying the Direct Sector
- Surveying the Cooperative Sector
Evaluating and Controlling Land
- Evaluating Land
- Controlling Land
Selecting the Right Crops
- Selecting the Category
- Selecting the Crop
- Selecting the Variety
- Selecting the Seeds
Organizing the Business
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- Establishing Ownership
- Establishing Management
Establishing Space Intensive Production
- Recognizing the Right Precedent
- Drafting the Design
- Building Soil
- Applying Fertilizer
- Managing Water
- Controlling Pests
- Forcing Growth and Development
- Managing Equipment and Labor
- Providing Shelter
- Scheduling Crop Production
Preparing For Market
- Planning for Quality
- Harvesting the Crop
- Sorting for Grade
- Storing the Harvested Crop
- Processing the Crop
- Packaging the Crop
Selling MetroFarm Products
- Establish the Right Price
- Marketing the Brand and Products
- Closing the Sale
In Depth Conversations with Successful Metropolitan Farmers
- Gerd Schneider Nursery: Wholesale Ornamentals
- The Plant Carrousel: Retail Ornamentals
- Heyn’s Country Gardens: Direct Fruits and Vegetables
- Pogonip Farms: Direct, Retail & Wholesale Fruits and Vegetables
- The Flower Ladies: Specialty Direct Flowers
Testimonials
Few how-to books could be more appropriate than Michael Olson’s MetroFarm…. With humor and passion, Olson makes the whole imbedded food system doable. A must read! Joel Salatin, Polyface Farm
Olson’s metrofarms enjoy competitive advantages which allow them to produce more crops per unit, of higher quality and at less cost than can large-scale farms. Dr. John Wysong, Agriculture Resource Economics, University of Maryland
MetroFarm is filled with marketing and business management basics that entertain and enlighten. Case studies show how successful metrofarmers possess the vision and persistence to prosper. Bob Hoffstetter, New Farm Magazine
MetroFarm is full of information! The business information alone is more informative and helpful than most books that specialize in business. Get this book! You will not be disappointed. S.M. Smith, Engineer, Shanghai, China
MetroFarm is a one-stop guide to the business of micro-acreage farming. There is so much to this book! Suffice it to say that I’ve found it to be a helpful and well-researched one-stop guide to answering my questions. Todd Schriver, Cheesemaker, Montpelier, IN
Big Book! MetroFarm describes the agronomic, economic, and managerial concepts required to generate substantial profits from agricultural locales near metro areas. Howard W. “Bud” Kerr, Director, Office for Small Scale Agriculture, USDA
MetroFarm addresses just about every issue involved in planning, planting, growing, harvesting, packaging, marketing and transporting a crop. Nancy Barr, Watsonville Pajaronian
There is a tremendous amount of useful information in MetroFarm. Would we buy MetroFarm if we were to farm in or near the city? Yes, we would! Greg and Pat Williams, Hortideas Magazine
What a book! Its obvious MetroFarm was not written by someone sitting in an ivory tower, it comes from the trenches, from the school of hard knocks. A superb job! Paul Otten, Northland Berry News
I rate this book very high. All the information is easy to understand and it reads really fast. You will get your money’s worth out of MetroFarm. Maureen Rodgers, Herbal Connection
MetroFarm tells how to convert an opportunity into a real going concern. Each process is laid out with impressive thoroughness, every chapter organized around the logic of practicality. For every task or problem needing solution, Olson offers a progression of steps arranged in the correct sequence so that the desired goal is achieved. Charles Walters, ACRES USA
Michael Olson mesmerized our group with his details, entertaining stories, and more importantly, his passion for communities. Michael has a great skill of transferring his vast experiences and knowledge to a group that inspires them to take action. He is what every one wants to hear in a speaker – himself! Michael is passionate about our food supply and our economy. Andrew Van Valer, CEO