<p>Efficacy of food production per square foot/acre differs from soil quality and rate of regeneration. It's also a case of if you can produce year round. Some permaculture specialists, monitored one case in an article of &quot;Green America&quot; A 500 sq foot garden producing 300 lbs of produce per year. Among other's. Soil nutrient recycling is a key aspect of producing food year round, along with temperature (Green houses).</p>
<ul>
<li>Composting</li>
<li>Soil/air temp</li>
<li>Growth rate of produce involved
So the answer is &quot;Yes&quot; if dedication is involved.</li>
</ul>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-12-30T19:38:17.257Z
Thanks! Are you referring to this [entry](https://www.greenamerica.org/green-business/permaculture-gardens) in the "Green America"? More generally 300 lbs on 500 sq foot makes around 26.136 lbs, that's quite a lot (here is a nice [comparison table](https://nevegetable.org/cultural-practices/table-15-approximate-yields) as reference). The article in "Green America" reports much less (< 10.000 lbs / acre), so you are probably referring to a different one?
w382903
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-12-30T07:48:31.497Z
2020-12-30T07:48:31.497Z
LazyReader
<p>Mark Shepard in his book &quot;Restoration Agriculture&quot; proclaims</p>
<blockquote>
<p>[...] small-scale backyard gardening which has shown in study after study to produce more food per acre than broadscale grain farming.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Unfortunately, he doesn't cite any studies or goes into more detail. Is the main point here that grain farming is particularly low on biomass production, or is there a reason why backyard gardening can in generally have higher yields than industrial farming? References would be very welcome!</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-12-28T16:25:25.030Z
Home gardening also requires drastically more labor than commercial agriculture . It trades human labor for increased food production.  No problem for a hobby garden.
blacksmith37
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-12-28T17:05:49.433Z
if you grow grain in your backyard you will probably harvest about the same amount of grain per sqm as the farmer does from his field.
trond hansen
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-12-28T19:35:47.430Z
Quite clearly home gardening requires much more labor and is not practical for large-scale commercial farms. But lets assume that's completely ok - why would we get inceased yields in a home garden?
w382903
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-12-28T21:54:52.867Z
Possibly more corn per sqm. My point being that a home garden may use 100 X more labor per bushel than agribusiness ; there are now 24 row corn planters ( etc.) . ( I needed to update the planter capacity) . A home garden can be more productive  for many reasons such as : immediate detection of insect or disease, - hand weeding, - watering at first sign of need,-  generous of fertilizer use that would be impractical on a 1000 acre field,- and real fields have different fertilizer needs from area to area ., etc.
blacksmith37
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-12-29T17:23:08.930Z
@blacksmith37: The labor really depends on what you're growing.  Many fruit trees, for instance, require nothing beyond a bit of pruning once they're established.
jamesqf
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-12-29T21:45:40.327Z
That is why I clearly said "corn".
blacksmith37
<agriculture>
Can small-scale backyard gardening produce more food per acre than broadscale [grain] farming?
w382903
# Can small-scale backyard gardening produce more food per acre than broadscale [grain] farming?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2020-12-28)

Mark Shepard in his book "Restoration Agriculture" proclaims

> [...] small-scale backyard gardening which has shown in study after study to produce more food per acre than broadscale grain farming.

Unfortunately, he doesn't cite any studies or goes into more detail. Is the main point here that grain farming is particularly low on biomass production, or is there a reason why backyard gardening can in generally have higher yields than industrial farming? References would be very welcome!

**Tags:** agriculture

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Home gardening also requires drastically more labor than commercial agriculture . It trades human labor for increased food production.  No problem for a hobby garden.  
> **username_2**: if you grow grain in your backyard you will probably harvest about the same amount of grain per sqm as the farmer does from his field.  
> **username_0**: Quite clearly home gardening requires much more labor and is not practical for large-scale commercial farms. But lets assume that's completely ok - why would we get inceased yields in a home garden?  
> **username_1**: Possibly more corn per sqm. My point being that a home garden may use 100 X more labor per bushel than agribusiness ; there are now 24 row corn planters ( etc.) . ( I needed to update the planter capacity) . A home garden can be more productive  for many reasons such as : immediate detection of insect or disease, - hand weeding, - watering at first sign of need,-  generous of fertilizer use that would be impractical on a 1000 acre field,- and real fields have different fertilizer needs from area to area ., etc.  
> **username_3**: @username_1: The labor really depends on what you're growing.  Many fruit trees, for instance, require nothing beyond a bit of pruning once they're established.  
> **username_1**: That is why I clearly said "corn".  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_4 on 2020-12-30. Score: 1

Efficacy of food production per square foot/acre differs from soil quality and rate of regeneration. It's also a case of if you can produce year round. Some permaculture specialists, monitored one case in an article of "Green America" A 500 sq foot garden producing 300 lbs of produce per year. Among other's. Soil nutrient recycling is a key aspect of producing food year round, along with temperature (Green houses).

* Composting
* Soil/air temp
* Growth rate of produce involved
  So the answer is "Yes" if dedication is involved.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Thanks! Are you referring to this [entry](https://www.greenamerica.org/green-business/permaculture-gardens) in the "Green America"? More generally 300 lbs on 500 sq foot makes around 26.136 lbs, that's quite a lot (here is a nice [comparison table](https://nevegetable.org/cultural-practices/table-15-approximate-yields) as reference). The article in "Green America" reports much less (< 10.000 lbs / acre), so you are probably referring to a different one?  

---

