Knowing that some parts of our community would only be satisfied with a quantitative assessment of our community garden, we addressed this question through the value of our food pantry donations (which is 20% of our garden) and were able to get a 100% return on investment within one calendar year. We have since met that goal (or beat it) with smaller gardens we have started specifically for food pantry donations. I'd strongly recommend new community gardeners designate a part of their garden for donations, for many reason but also for this reason.
--Pattie <http://www.foodshedplanet.com> www.foodshedplanet.com Local action.Global traction. From: community_garden-boun...@list.communitygarden.org [mailto:community_garden-boun...@list.communitygarden.org] On Behalf Of Richard Menn Sent: Wednesday, August 31, 2011 9:13 PM To: Daniel Bowman Simon Cc: Community Gardens USA Subject: Re: [Community_garden] inquiry: return on investment from gardens. Hi, Daniel-- Many of us have found that the only honest answer to such input/output questions is, "It depends . . . . " To show you what I mean, let's start with possible ways to calculate "input": Is all of the infrastructure for the community garden already in place--and if so, do you plan to amortize its original cost over a certain number of years? Do you need to account for maintenance, or periodic repairs and replacements? Do you want to assign a dollar value to the labor of your volunteers and/or individual plot holders? How many months does your particular garden's "growing season" span--and what crops can be grown there, at what spacing, and in what sort of succession? Do the gardeners tend their own plots, or work collectively? What can be sown directly, by seed or sets? Are transplants started under lights by the gardeners themselves, or purchased from a grower, or received as donations? What ancillary expenses (e.g., for water, insurance, etc.) should be included in the total cost? "The list," as they say, "goes on and on." Calculating inputs may be the easy part, though. For my money (grin), how to measure the total value of a garden's "output" is the real conundrum: after all, community gardens are, by definition, social institutions designed to yield benefits far beyond what can be valued in dollars alone. I wonder: are you perhaps seeking a formula to help you deal with someone who is persuaded that the value of a community garden is defined by the market value of its produce (and that, to be viable, its measurable outputs must exceed measurable inputs)? The more we know about what lies behind your question, the better the answers that you'll receive from our gurus. My personal advice? Avoid getting tangled up in justifications based solely on inputs and outputs in the first place. Best wishes, --Dick 484-883-7309 Daniel Bowman Simon wrote: >has anyone run the numbers on the economic return on investment from >community gardens? > >i know that farming concrete has measured crop output, but they have not yet >measured input (seeds, plants, etc.) > >thanks, >daniel >-------------- next part -------------- >An HTML attachment was scrubbed... >URL: <http://list.communitygarden.org/pipermail/community_garden_list.communityga rden.org/attachments/20110831/c0e3eda9/attachment.html> >_______________________________________________ >The American Community Gardening Association listserve is only one of ACGA's services to community gardeners. To learn more about the ACGA and to find out how to join, please go to http://www.communitygarden.org > >To post an e-mail to the list: community_garden@list.communitygarden.org > >To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your subscription: http://list.communitygarden.org/mailman/listinfo/community_garden_list.commu nitygarden.org > > > _______________________________________________ The American Community Gardening Association listserve is only one of ACGA's services to community gardeners. To learn more about the ACGA and to find out how to join, please go to http://www.communitygarden.org To post an e-mail to the list: community_garden@list.communitygarden.org To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your subscription: http://list.communitygarden.org/mailman/listinfo/community_garden_list.commu nitygarden.org _____ avast! Antivirus <http://www.avast.com> : Inbound message clean. Virus Database (VPS): 8/31/2011 Tested on: 9/1/2011 4:24:24 AM avast! - copyright (c) 1988-2011 AVAST Software. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://list.communitygarden.org/pipermail/community_garden_list.communitygarden.org/attachments/20110901/29415550/attachment.html> _______________________________________________ The American Community Gardening Association listserve is only one of ACGA's services to community gardeners. To learn more about the ACGA and to find out how to join, please go to http://www.communitygarden.org To post an e-mail to the list: community_garden@list.communitygarden.org To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your subscription: http://list.communitygarden.org/mailman/listinfo/community_garden_list.communitygarden.org
