Saturday, February 8, 2014

Return of Investment (ROI) of an Endless Food System



ROI of an Endless Food 
System

Food is a commodity, linked directly to the value of the US dollar. Our country produces enough food to nourish every single person who lives here twice over. The most affordable foods are at fast food restaurants and big box grocery chains full of food containing genetically modified organisms and a plethora of chemicals and pesticides

Time is now proving the devastation these tainted foods are causing to our health and has spawned a movement toward local, organic and clean foods. The problem is that often the price of eating organic, clean food is quite expensive, not to mention the fact that the big food corporations are latching onto the “organic” theme and already beginning to pervert it. This has led to a backyard garden “revolution” where many are taking back the power and growing their own food.


"Buy Out" of the Food Market & Eat Healthy!


Efforts to make small-scale farming operations more productive and cost-effective have led to modern aquaponic systems that are capable of sustainably producing enough food to meet the nutritional requirements of a family. For example, our Sanctuary 128 System, with a price tag of $6,495, can feed 3-4 people. These systems do require an upfront investment, but when you consider the initial cost as the price of “buying out” of the global food market, the value quickly becomes apparent.

In all likelihood, you’re spending a lot on groceries. For most people, food costs account for a sizable chunk of their take-home wages. The median household income in the United States for 2011 was around $50,100 and according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the average family of four spends $861-$1,024 on groceries each month. This means that grocery bills consume up to 20-25 percent of total household income for the average family.

These statistics are easily verified and true, but they do not actually tell the whole story. In most families, both spouses work and yet the bills are still barely paid. This should shed light on a greater underlying problem.

Upto 60,000Ibs+ of Produce Per Acre?

So to the “experts” say you need a minimum of 2 acres per family to produce enough food to live off grid is nonsense; just take a look at this. Please read below
Proof at a Glance

Property Size: 66’ x 132’ = 8,712 sq.ft. (1/5 acre)
House Size: 1,500 sq. ft.
Garden Size: ~ 1/10 acre (3,900 sq.ft. / ~ 66′ x 66′)
Garden Diversity: Over 350 different fruits, vegetables, herbs & berries
Productivity: Up to 6,000 lbs harvest annually on 1/10 acre
Scaling this up would in theory, produce 60,000 lbs of food annually on just 1 acre of land.

Studies show that the average American family of 4 consumes about 4 tons (8000 lbs) of food annually.

So with 1 acre of land (208ft X 208ft) farmed like this and scaled up, could (theoretically) support 7.5 families 30 men women and children for a full year!

Imagine being able to feed 30 men women and children with food grown on just 1 acre of farmland!

There are 43,560 square feet per acre of land, you’re capable of producing 60,000lbs of food, that equates to almost 1.4 pounds of of organic food per square foot! Numbers don’t lie. And this is real world application with the proof it works.

Let’s take a look at an example:

Of course if you used 1 of the 2 acres of land to build your house on, technically that would be enough space to build one HUGE 43,560sqft home. That’s big enough to allow 20-30 people to live very comfortably. But that’s not very realistic now is it? So we`ll just use the simple example Home Model used in our post.

With that said;

On that second acre of land, you could technically build eight 2560sqft 5BR 2BA Container Homes, each sitting on 1/8 of an acre 5445sqft (approximately a 73.79ft x 73.79ft square). That’s a nice chunk of land, and lots of square footage in excess of the 1280sqft footprint of each home. Each home has a footprint of 40ft x 32ft.

That leaves about 4165sqft of land around each home, or a strip of land 17ft deep in the front and rear of the building and a 21ft wide strip of land on either side of home. (42ft between homes).


Even with 8 homes on the extra 1 acre of land, that leaves a whopping 33,320sqft of land to grow more food on. This is enough empty land to produce an ADDITIONAL 45,981lbs of organic fruits and veggies.

Including the original 60,000lbs of food produced on the first acre, that’s a grand total of 105,981lbs of organic fruits and veggies produced on 2 acres of land with 8 homes, capable of supporting at least 8 families of 4 people each, comfortably for a FULL YEAR, with food left over to preserve and or sell to generate income for the property. Of course this is taking things to the extreme.

You may not have enough room to walk in the yards, but you can sure feed a whole bunch of people for a year and make some money to boot.