Owen Alcott

I started working in the irrigation industry for my father at the age of 16. Since then I’ve worked in a variety of trades, from sign making to tree work and all sorts of trades in between. I have an aptitude for understanding how things work that has served me well, and a deep commitment to honesty and integrity in all my dealings. Unfortunately after over 20 years of work, I can’t seem to find an employer with ethical practices that I find acceptable. I never wanted to start my own business, but if no one else is willing to put their best foot forward and install systems that don’t leak it seems like I have no choice. I plan to run my business with a focus on growth, not profit, and to incentivize my employees to maintain the same level of excellence I bring to every job I’ve ever done.

I’m not in this for money. Below you will find an explanation of my true mission statement, a description of my primary objective in starting this business. I am a deeply religious man; I don’t follow the orthodoxy of any establishment but instead only my heart and devotion to this island Earth to which we owe our existence.

My mission

is to secure our food supply

Let me explain what I mean…

Our food distribution network is controlled by 5 major corporations.

You probably see their trucks all the time…

  • Sysco

  • US Foods

  • Gordon Food Service

  • McLane

  • PFG (Performance Food Group)

For so few companies to be able to decide what foods go where and how much it costs is a very precarious position for us to be in. Trucking food all around the country, while it may seem necessary, is extremely wasteful and expensive. Economies of scale are good for reducing costs within a fixed system, but we can’t ignore the importance of localized food production which empowers communities to control their own diet and pricing.

Wasteful practices

This is a very complex problem.

Food is wasted in many ways, but not all food waste is equal.

Much of the food wasted by farms, for example, gets re-composted back into the soil. Often restaurants will recover their food waste by providing it as pig feed. Food waste is not inherently bad, producing more food than we can consume keeps prices down and ensures we never have to go hungry, but unnecessary waste drives prices back up.

There are many practices engaged in by both producers and distributors that are wasteful for the express purpose of being wasteful. If a potato farmer sells their potatoes fresh, they can last for months after you purchase them. A common practice is to leave them in warehouses for several months in ideal conditions so by the time they get to store shelves, where they are kept at room temperature in the sunlight, they are ready to sprout or rot. How often have you bought a bag of potatoes, only to have some or all of them sprout within a week? This costs us money.

Potatoes in a warehouse aging for no reason

While it may look pretty, leaving produce on shelves in open air and sunlight like this causes a massive amount of waste

Take back control of our food supply

My plan is simple in concept, but onerous in execution.

Permaculture is the development of agricultural ecosystems intended to be sustainable and self-sufficient. Many cultures through the years have created their own permaculture systems, from the floating gardens of Tenochtitlan to the bounty that birthed the Indus Valley civilization. Superior growing methods produce food in much greater density and quality, reducing the need for massive plots and excessive use of the pesticides and herbicides that are ravaging our ecosystems and bodies.


There are a number of ways it can be done. Currently there are volunteer groups that install permaculture gardens for only the cost of the materials, but this is not sustainable and requires you to do all the work of maintaining it. What I plan to do is maintain the gardens ourselves through an employee-owned cooperative, then increase the value of the produce created by preparing it and selling wholesome, locally grown meals delivered by the same logistical infrastructure that maintains the gardens. As we will already be in your neighborhoods on a weekly basis to maintain your gardens and landscapes the efficiency savings could even make us competitive with even the cheapest restaurants, and a good deal healthier besides!

Peace of mind money can’t buy

We live in chaotic times, there’s a lot going on and nobody can be certain of the future. No matter what happens, we know we’re secure in our homes, but our homes don’t come with the one thing we can’t live without: Food.

My goal with this is to ensure no matter what happens to our economy, nobody will ever have to go hungry. I know what food insecurity and malnourishment is like, it’s not something anyone should ever have to experience. By establishing a new paradigm of food security, we’ll all be able to breathe a little easier knowing that no matter what Congress or the President does, the trauma of hunger will never be able to visit us.

Better food husbandry

We have all the land we need

Buying land is expensive, traditional farming practices deplete the soil and force us to rely on petroleum derived fertilizers and industrial pesticides that are wreaking havoc on our ecosystems. By planting smaller gardens in local neighborhoods, we can reduce both the environmental impact of food production as well as lower the risk of disease wiping out entire crops.

There is a better way

Traditional farming practices created the dust bowl, and our reliance on industrialization to solve all our problems has created the wasteful and precarious system on which we now rely. Modern permaculture techniques have been proven to increase crop yields substantially and eliminate input costs like soil tilling, while providing a more desirable and delicious product. The gardens can be designed in such a way that buffer plants help draw nutrients and water from deep within the soil while creating an environment more resistant to pests and disease than traditional farming techniques could ever achieve.

How you can contribute

I am obsessed with efficiency. If these gardens require the time and energy of their patrons that will take time and energy away from the productivity you already bring to society. What I plan to offer is a lease agreement; You would pay only for the materials necessary to install the garden, we supply the labor that will maintain and protect your garden. After the term of the lease, you can choose if you’d like to take over the garden yourself (it is your property) or continue having us maintain and harvest the garden in exchange for either a monetary consideration or a share of the yields that would reduce your grocery costs significantly.

Fresh food brings communities together

By providing options for different arrangements of fruits, vegetables, and other produce you can coordinate with your neighbors to have a fully localized and varied food ecosystem. We can bring the life back into our communities by creating a habitat that both fosters the health of the people who live there and provides work that offers the fulfillment and satisfaction of exercise whose fruits you can hold in your hand.

Isn’t this expensive?

Nothing is free, in order to make this sustainable I have to establish financial instruments that not only minimize the costs to you but incentivize workers to maximize the value of our contribution. This is why I need to build out other businesses first, relying on my industry knowledge and dedication to create a business that can absorb the initial cost of rolling this out.

Growing sustainably

From installation, to maintenance, to harvest the costs involved will increase rapidly. By starting small and only taking the next step when I’m sure we have the investment and equipment necessary to succeed, we will take a series of small steps towards securing this future not just for ourselves, but for our communities and the children who will one day inherit everything we’ve built. Let’s build something that can grow not by command but by the dedicated labor and shared vision of those who work to make this dream a reality.