According to research done by Ecology Action, the minimum
land needed to grow a nearly complete vegan diet for one person is 4000 square feet, under ideal conditions. Under less than ideal conditions of heat, drought, flood, cold, etc, you'll need more. According to Eliot Coleman in "The New Organic Grower" the maximum land one person can manage to grow vegetables intensively is about 2 acres, as a full-time job. So that gives you some minimums and maximums for vegetables anyway. For grazing livestock, you need to know the carrying capacity of the specific parcel of land. This varies enormously. In the Eastern US you can raise one cow on one
acre of pasture. Here in Central Texas it takes at least 20-25 acres per cow. To the west it may take 100 acres per cow. Carrying capacity can be greatly improved with proper management (see the work of
Alan Savory) but the initial carrying capacity of the land, what you have to start with, is important so you don't overstock at first, which can cause more damage.
If you plan to use timber from the land to build with, as well as cooking and heating with
wood, you'll need to have some acres of woodland. There are some threads about how much in the Woodland forum.
From my own personal
experience, I've found 20 acres, with woodland, to be the minimum for privacy. We have 20 acres and can neither see the neighbors nor usually hear them unless they're outside talking loudly or their dogs are barking. On the other hand, 20 acres is far more than I can personally manage properly. A younger or more energetic person, or someone with the resources to hire help, could probably manage that much or more just fine.
I don't know if this helps at all. "How much land" is one of the
perennial Big Questions!
