Peak Oil Task Force Report - City of Bloomington - State of Indiana

esident. Of this, 1,222 acres were held by Indiana University, 1,376 acres were controlled
by Parks and Recreation, and 3,831 acres were in private hands. In addition, over 3,500
acres of the city are zoned single‐family residential. Even if all this residential land is
developed, then at least 2,500 of the 3,500 residential acres not covered with buildings or
pavement might be made suitable for gardening, adding an additional 1,400 square feet per
city resident. Therefore, approximately 5,300 square feet of open ground are presently
available in Bloomington per city resident.
Example of biointensive gardens.
Source: www.home­farming.com
To place these numbers in perspective, John Jeavons,
author of How to Grow More Vegetables Than You Ever
Thought Possible on Less Land Than You Can
Imagine, 235 has clearly demonstrated that enough food
can be produced to support one adult for one year on
4,000 square feet without compromising nutritional
requirements. Jeavon’s approach is a biointensive one
which focuses on maximum yields from a minimum
area of land while simultaneously improving the soil.
This approach suggests that enough land exists, even
within the corporate boundary of Bloomington, to
provide a basic, albeit primarily vegetarian, diet to all
city residents.
In assessing the present and future capacity of Bloomington to feed itself, many factors
must be taken into account. First of all, under conditions of food price increase and
shortage, people are strongly motivated to consider alternatives to their present modes of
eating and sourcing food. This was the case in Cuba during the Special Period of 1991‐94.
During this period, oil supplies plummeted and mechanized agriculture ground to a halt.
As a result, residents in Havana and other cities planted just about every available square
foot of land and adopted a diet which included approximately 85 percent less meat. The
235 John Jeavons, How to Grow More Vegetables Than You Ever Thought Possible on Less Land Than You Can
Imagine (Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, rvsd. ed., 1991).
Report of the Bloomington Peak Oil Task Force 183