There is a new breed of urban farmers emerging in cities and towns all across Ontario.
This new wave of farming is called SPIN or small plot intensive farming where backyards are being turned into mini farms on as little land as 500 square feet up to several lots of about one thousand square feed.
Harris Ivens is involved in SPIN and says everything about this type of farming is standardized with the bed sizes being the same and operators usually able to get two or three crops a season out of the same bed.
He says some people will put together a patchwork of five or ten back yard farms or may acquire an acre of so of urban land that can be cultivated.
Ivens says farming in the city means producers are closer to their markets, so there are savings in transportation and they also are closer to processors as well.
He says however good planning is essential for a successful SSPIN operation.
Ivens says producers should first off determine just what kind of a market is available for their produce before embarking on a large scale back yard farming operation.