How much Land do we need

[Roby]

HI everyone
I have been working on developing a food forest for our town.
I am seeking common land which has to be approved by 2 types of govenment.

Can someone help me determind how much land I require for a food forest to feed 500 to 1500 people long term in an arid area in Australia. not to mention the wildlife in our area.

we are in Meekatharra which is in the middle of Western Australia

I would appreciate any advise
thanks

[Unmutual]

According to those internet quizzes, I need about 14 acres just for me(I eat way too much meat). I "think", with a well established food forest, you can feed about 10 people per acre(I forget where I read/heard that..maybe from the documentary called "Farm of the Future"). If that's true, you would need 50-150 acres of land, probably more since it won't be well established for a few years(probably 3 minimum if the soil is right, more if you have to do extensive earth works). This is a rough gestimate, since I've never done this before so my experience in such matters is lacking.

[Pakanohida]

HI everyone
I have been working on developing a food forest for our town.
I am seeking common land which has to be approved by 2 types of govenment.

Can someone help me determind how much land I require for a food forest to feed 500 to 1500 people long term in an arid area in Australia. not to mention the wildlife in our area.

we are in Meekatharra which is in the middle of Western Australia

I would appreciate any advise
thanks

You are going to get a plethora of answers. Some people say 1 acre is just fine when set up properly, others say you need 5 or more. It honestly depends on your needs, as opposed to wants.

[gardenlen]

g'day roby,

that's a tall order from where i sit, east coast sub tropics good rain fall, clay loam soil, we have just bought 1.25 acres built cottage on it and would feel fortunate if i could grow enough vege's to eat, let alone food trees, which will be a couple nut trees and citrus apart from some native varieties, at the very best will be self supplemented in some way never likely to reach full sufficiency, too many variables involved. in your case you have to figure what will grow in arid and how you water it, then what will people want to eat (fickle appetites involved), you have a huge spread of likely grazers, so the average is around 1000 people to feed, might be best to start with how many trees per person and the season will need to be spread over the year, citrus alone take around 6 months to fully ripen, pineapples up to 2 years. you could end up with a famine or a glut?

suppose best for now is start the project, that way at least get some valuable information, always lessons to be learnt, then what is best to do leave mistakes in the ground or pull them out?

len

[pebble]

Roby, are you intending that the food forest is the main/sole source of food for that number of people? Why? Wouldn't it be more secure to have diverse sources of food?

[eco4560]

Bill Mollison says that yield is only limited by your imagination. So that makes it difficult to say precisely how much land you need. For most of us we have access to a certain amount of land and try to get the most out of it that we can!

[gardenlen]

roby,

of course you may do better just growing vege's then each person could be allocated a plot, and all share the toil and the spoils. the variables are endless imagination or not.

len

[Pakanohida]

Then there is aquaponics and all that protein, and veg in a small area too...be it an indoor or outdoor system.

[Roby]

Thank you for all the info, I expect with the food forest it can always be extended.
I'll start off with a few acres and see how we go.
I'm sure if the first part of the forest is successful, I shouldn't have future problems asking for more land.

I am collecting a list of people who want to be trained in design etc.

I'll keep you posted. thanks again