Permaculture Food Production Yields

David Blume at www.permaculture.com reported achieving yields of “8 times what the USDA claims are possible per square foot” in this response to a writer questioning the ability of permaculture to replace industrial ag.

Wondering if you’ve got enough land to feed your family?

On the subsistence agriculture level, we permies regularly have designed productions systems around the world, which feed everyone living in a given house within a 50-foot radius of the house. This rule of thumb holds pretty well because the more folks who live there, the bigger the house, the larger the surface area, so no more than 50 feet is really necessary.