The message
from "david lloyd" contains these words:

Hi,

There are three plots of land of 3.2, 3.3 and 3.5 acres that are coming up
for sale near where I live, in Walsall, West Midlands, UK. They don't have
planning permission, seem to be general scrub, and two of them have natural
water supplies. Going by the rule of thumb that if planning permission was
easy to get, if would already be got before sale, I'd consider it to be
growing space, first and foremost.

I might be taking redundancy soon, and would like to take the opertunity to
have a total change of direction. I need know how much such land might be
expected to go for. I hope that nobody goes mad, paying residential prices
for what should be agricultural land.

If it's buildable/developable, of course they will. Find out from
local planning depts. Why do you think it's agricultural? An unattached
agricultural left-over patch of 3 acres would be unusual, especially in
the old industrial heart of England. It's maybe old steel or mine-
workings, or spoil from potteries or heavy industry, heavily
contaminated by a century of waste by-products. Some post-industrial
land is still too toxic for residential building land, let alone for
growing food on.
Supposing the land had actually been used for NON-organic crop
growing, you would still face a wait of several years before the level
of residual pesticides and fertilisers reduced to a level the SA would
accept for Organic status.

Ask about local land and local values, at local land surveyors, or
estate agents, or your local council.

Would ten acres be enough to set up an organic veg box service? I know that
I'll need help with this, as I'm not experienced in organic or bio-dynamic
gardening.

Not wishing to be cruel; but to stand a snowball's chance in hell,
you need to have at least a basic grasp of what Organic food is , and
your comments make clear you dont have a clue. You can only market it as
Organic, if the soil, as well as the growing method, reaches a UK
Organic standard certifiable by the Soil Association.. Ditto, the water
supply. So, you need to enquire into the last 100 years of that land's
history of usage. Start at the local council, library etc; local water
boards. Join the HDRA.

Supposing the land had actually been used for NON-organic crop
growing, you would still face a wait of several years before the level
of residual pesticides and fertilisers reduced to a level the SA would
accept for Organic status.

If you have no experience in organic veg growing, DO NOT try to learn
by doing it on a commercial scale. Rent yourself an allotment; you'll
find that quite challenging enough for starters. Or get some experience
by working for your keep on an Organic farm (called WWOOF..look it up on
the net).

Janet