Interactive lesson

Field plan, step by step

Interactive lesson: from the number of people and animals to kilograms of grain and potatoes, area, labour, where the field goes, four rotation plots and seed for the first year.

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The whole lesson as text

1. The household first, then the field

A field plan starts by counting the people who eat.

Count who eats — Turn the family into adult equivalents: adults and children from 15 count 1.0, children 7–14 count 0.7, children up to 6 count 0.4. Two adults and children of 10 and 4 make 3.1.
Bread — An adult eats roughly 100 kg of bread grain a year, about 80 kg of flour. That is about 1.5–2 kg of bread a week.
Maize and beans — For polenta, cornbread and porridge, about 25 kg of maize per person. Of beans and other pulses, about 6 kg of dry seed.
Potatoes and measuring — About 80 kg of potatoes per person, of which 50–60 kg is winter store. If you don't know your own consumption, measure for a month how much flour, bread and potatoes come into the house and multiply by 12.

Why: Smallholders of the old school didn't ask how much land you had, but how many mouths and how much stock. On a small area grain and potatoes pay very well, but only if you know how much you need.

From 100 kg of wheat you get roughly 90–95 kg of wholemeal or 70–75 kg of white flour. For white flour, allow 20–25 % more grain.
The figures are rough and depend on your household's habits: a family that bakes its own bread and eats maize meal uses more grain.

2. Animals eat more than the house

Before you sow, decide how much grain goes to the animals.

Hens — A laying hen eats roughly 34 kg of grain a year. Ten hens need 340 kg, almost as much as bread for the family.
Pig and goat — A fattening pig grown to about 120 kg needs about 250 kg of grain, plus protein. A dairy goat needs 80–110 kg, with hay.
Bread comes first — Sow bread wheat on the best field, clean and dry. Barley, oats, rye or maize for the livestock can go on the poorer field.
Reserve — Split the animal grain between maize and small grains according to what you have. Add 10–15 % as a reserve and for storage losses.

Why: Bread for a family of four fits on 1,000 m² (about a quarter of an acre), but hens, pigs and goats easily need two or three times as much. This is where most plans fall apart.

The figures for animals are rough and only serve the field plan. Exact rations, protein and minerals are in the modules on feeding animals.
Hens and pigs do well on grain that is half maize, half small grains (barley, oats, rye, wheat).