After years of losing agricultural lands to development, small farms are beginning to flourish along the Wasatch Front.

The number of farms along the state's urban corridor has grown by more than 20 percent since 1974, despite a loss of 464,500 agricultural acres in Salt Lake, Davis, Utah and Weber counties, according to a report by the Bureau of Economic and Business Research at the University of Utah.

"With farmlands competing with the population and housing boom during the past decade, the growth in the number of farms is remarkable," said research analyst John Downen, who compiled the report.

Downen credits the surge in urban farming to the popularity of farmers markets and city folks' concerns about buying food that's produced close to home.

For most of the 12 years that Jill and David Bell have been growing organic vegetables in Salt Lake County, their farm income covered only a quarter to half of their overall income. But the couple hopes to live entirely on their farm income "because it's something we love doing," said Jill.

The report notes that 44 Wasatch From farms have 7,787 acres under organic production in 2007 -- the most recent year available -- with more than $586,000 in sales.

The Bells sell their produce to Harmons grocery store and as shares in Community Supported Agriculture, a program in which members pay a fee at the beginning of the growing season to meet a farm's operating expenses for the upcoming season. In return, shareholders receive a portion of the farm's produce throughout the growing season. Last year the Bells had 100 people on a waiting list.

"CSAs are a growing market," said Jill. "And it's something I can do from my home and on my own time."

The Bells raise some of their row crops at their 1-acre home, similar to a growing number of other urban farmers.

In Salt Lake County, 69 percent of urban farmers live on the farms they operate, with 73 percent in Davis, 75 percent in Utah and 80 percent in Weber.

The Bells also lease 35 acres in Draper and 5 acres in Sandy to grow vegetables. The landowners could sell at anytime. But Jill credits the state's green belt zones, which are taxed substantially less for farm property, as reason for the land remaining in cultivation.

Downen said he'd like to think urban farming is a long-term trend. "But once the economy picks up and there's job growth, there'll be even more pressure to convert the remaining farmland to houses."

As more agricultural lands are paved over, Sharon Leopardi has a business model for a farming business in Salt Lake City that requires only small plots. Dubbed SPIN for Small-Plot-Intensive farming, the method promises income from property that's less than an acre.

Homeowners, who provide the water, allow Leopardi to till garden plots in their backyards. Leopardi in turn, buys the seeds, compost and does all the work. Homeowners receive baskets of produce each week during the summer, and Leopardi pockets money from the surplus that she sells at farmers markets.

"It's a way for younger people to get into the farming business," said Leopardi, owner of BUG Farm, for Backyard-Urban-Gardens. "My overhead costs are low and I don't have to lease or buy land."

In Davis County, veteran farmer Bill Rigby has struggled to keep the acreage that's been in his family since 1855. But as Centerville and surrounding areas have grown, Rigby and his brother have lost much of their land to roads, including 25 acres to the Legacy Highway. Rigby farms on 25 acres and sells a variety of vegetables to Winegar's and Dick's markets and at a farmers market in Kaysville.

"We'll be in some deep, deep trouble if we start to depend on foreign countries for our food," said Rigby, 81. "My dad pounded it into our heads that if we kept our land, we'd would always have something to eat, and we'd be able to help feed our neighbors."

dawn@sltrib.com