The ‘Plant Daddy of Dallas’ Is Paving the Way for Clean, Profitable Urban Agriculture
On a half acre, Michael Bell can make up to $120,000 a year growing organic produce for 100 families in his southeast Dallas subdivision.
By Autumn Jones
Inside Climate News
Jan 5, 2023
Excerpt:
Dallas Half Acre Farm keeps true to its name: Bell operates on less than half an acre. “I didn’t know that a career was there,” Bell said of growing organic produce in the city.
Bell, 43, teaches elementary school physical education full-time. He discovered the practice of urban organic farming through YouTube. Once he was hooked, Bell did as much research on the topic as he could.
“As soon as I got involved in it, and I started asking people about food and listening to people complain about food, it just clicked,” he said. “I can grow healthy food. Every customer that I get just strengthens my resolve to keep going.”
Beverly Lanier, a resident from Rowlett, Texas, has been buying from Bell for over a decade. She said she can taste a complete difference between produce from Bell and the supermarket.
Lanier recalled a moment she shared with her family while eating Bell’s carrots. “They were delicious,” she said. “The family and I were all like, what is this taste? You can’t find carrots that taste like this!”
“Being in the urban area, we are exposed to chemicals everywhere. Why would we want to ingest any more?”
