WHERE: Online
WHEN: March 15, 2018, 1:30pm ET
REGISTER: Save your seat here.
LEARN FROM THE BEST MINDS IN BACKYARD FARMING TODAY. LIKE LISA PATTON, IN THE SPIN ONLINE SUPPORT GROUP. FREE TRIAL MEMBERSHIP WHEN YOU PURCHASE ANY SPIN GUIDE
Tag Archives: micro farming
SPIN Farming Member Meetup with Chris Kimber, 3 Crows Farm
WHERE: Online
WHEN:Jan. 18, 1:30pm ET
REGISTER: Save your seat here.
LEARN FROM THE BEST MINDS IN FARMING TODAY. LIKE CHRIS KIMBER, IN THE SPIN ONLINE SUPPORT GROUP. FREE TRIAL MEMBERSHIP WHEN YOU PURCHASE ANY SPIN GUIDE
2018 Trends and Who’s Setting Them
Here’s SPIN-Farming’s Alphabet List of 2018 Trends to look forward to, culled from all the presentations at this year’s Member Meetups. Thanks to all of the forward thinking SPIN farmers listed below who presented their business plans, how they implemented them and the revenue they targeted and achieved.
SPIN’s online Member Meetups are THE place to get in on the latest entrepreneurial farming trends as they are happening and learn from the real-world experience of those who are using SPIN-Farming to create and develop successful businesses. If starting a farm business, or learning the business of growing food, is on your New Year’s to-do list, you’re welcome to join in. (see below).
SPIN’s Alphabet of 2018 Trends
Agritourism – yes even sub-acre farms can get in on this
Brand building – important now that there’s more competition
Collaborative CSA – low-risk way to scale
DIY supply chains – ditto above
Exclusivity – new way to work a niche
Food Safety – take a course; it’s the mark of professionalism
Grocery stores – they’re courting small producers now
Herbaceous cocktails – bars are now customers
Inventory tracking – use kanban
Just in time delivery – online ordering makes it easy
Kickstarter- works for expansion plans
Livestock – collaborate on this
Mix and match pricing – customers always buy more this way
Nursery business – yes, a few backyards can support one
Organic certification – in some markets it’s an advantage
Pet food – collaborate with veterianarian
Quackleberry eggs – duck eggs sell
Relative crop values – track it to increase your profitability
Specialization – easier to stand out with what you’re good at
Targeted revenue – always the starting point
Utility sink – a farmer’s spa!
Videomercials – consumers remember then
Wholesaling – ask for terms that work for you or walk away
X-pansion – if demand is there, grow beyond your backyard
Yardsharing – see above
Zippy packaging – good-bye dull earth tones
SPIN Farming’s 2017 Star Performers
Beth Hagenbuch, Penrose Market Garden, Detroit MI Rob Miller, Trefoil Gardens, Woodstock GA Mike Meier, Ground Floor Farm, Stuart FL Ray Derksen, Market Garden 434, Sylvania SK Lourdes Casañares, Masagana Flower Farm, Manitoba, Mark Voss, Voss Organics, Madison WI Max Valyear, Green Wheel Farms, Belleville ON Tara Callaghan, Little Victory Farm, Hunter River, PEI Cale Sprister, Sandy’s Way Microfarm, Sedalia CO Rod Olson, Leafy & Lyre, Calgary AB
WANT TO LEARN HOW TO GROW WITH THESE PRO’S?
There are two options You can purchase membership here, to participate in our online support group and get access to all past and future Member Meetups as well as monthly instant learning sessions conducted by SPIN-Farming’s creator, Wally Satzewich.
If you are committed to starting a business, purchase our guides here which also comes with a free trial membership.Be on trend and in the money in 2018!
Long Haul Farmers
Courtesy of Roxanne C., Philadelphia PA
Reporters who really dig into the local food movement ask, “Will this time be different?” We don’t know the answer. But those who do the research find that the long term track record of volunteer-based gardening efforts is not good, and the amount community gardens contribute to the food supply has never amounted to even a rounding error. Gardening advocates try to strengthen their case with the statistic that during World War II US Victory Gardens produced 40% of the country’s food needs. But the fact that these gardens went fallow after the war ended can hardly be claimed as proof of concept.
In the end success is defined by staying power, not growing power. It is easy to inspire people to grow food, and it is easy to help people grow food. What’s hard is to keep them doing it, in significant volume, over the long haul. Unless there is a way to keep lots of people committed and productive, this good food revolution will go the way of Victory Gardens – a temporary fix to get through challenging times that disappears as soon as economic and social conditions improve.
Observers of professional farming admit to the same challenge. Kelvin Leibold, farm and ag business management specialist at Iowa State University, is quoted in a recent article entitled “Challenges Facing Beginning Farmers” on Agriculture.com: “All of my life, people have been saying we’d run out of farmers. The big issue today isn’t getting more people started. It’s keeping those who started in the last 10 years profitable enough to stay in ag.” Mr. Leibold was talking about large scale farmers, but it’s a challenge we all share.
That leads to a point about SPIN-Farming that continues to be missed. SPIN not only makes it easy for new farmers to get started by removing the 2 big barriers to entry – land and capital – it also increases the chances of long term success. How many new farmers are defeating themselves by following the old model and being forced to give up, when they might otherwise have succeeded if they weren’t initially overburdened
financially by debt and operationally by large acreage and overhead?
As we have said before, what makes this time different is the financial incentive. So while we are focused on shortening the distance from farm to plate, let’s be sure we also help new gardeners and farmers go the distance. One way is to teach them how to make growing food pay.
This time could be different if the enthusiasm and interest in local foods leads to the establishment of businesses…
that have staying power. Peer-to-peer online networks,which provide ongoing support and continual professional development can help. SPIN-Farming is unbound by ideology or the status quo, and is market-driven.
GAP Is Not Just for the Big Boys
Courtesy of Wally S., Wally’s Urban Market Garden, Saskatoon, SK
Food safety regulations in the US have divided Big Ag and Small Ag into opposing camps, but there is one thing we can all be united on – Good Agricultural Practices (GAP). “Grow Responsibly” should be everyone’s mantra, regardless of size or country.
I attended a GAP workshop in 2011, and it was a real eye opener. I have been looking at and thinking about my business differently ever since. It was clear back then that implementation of GAP standards was being driven by industry groups and chain supermarkets to ensure, through a certification process, the safety of their far-flung supply chain. But what was enlightening to me when I started to wade through the manual was how it clarified the risks in food safety that I intuitively knew, but did not think all that much about.
Sure, the whole point of rebuilding local food systems is to keep the length of the supply chain short, thereby making it easier to monitor and control. “Direct marketing” is exactly that, moving food from farmer’s plot to market to plate. But every farmer faces risks when it comes to food safety, and it’s a worthy exercise for SPIN-scale farmers to identify them and devise strategies to deal with them.
Reviewing the GAP material and evaluating what is most relevant and do-able for your operation will take time. Looking ahead, it will be a good winter project. Or, if you are selling at a farmers market, you might recommend to your manager that they bring in a GAP workshop presenter at the end of this season when business quiets down to help you get started.
A good warm up for GAP is a free online tool developed by Family Farmed which walks you through how to develop a food safety plan for your farm. It was developed in 2013 when the fight over food safety in the US was raging, and it is obviously designed for the big boys. But we can all benefit from reviewing harvesting and post-harvesting protocols, especially newbie growers. Much of the information is common sense, which nowadays may not be so common.
However is easiest for you to get up to speed on GAP, I’d highly recommend that you get familiar with the standards and begin to implement as much as you can next year so that you can display a GAP manual at your market stand or on your online storefront. You do not have to claim to be GAP certified; just use it to show you are aware of, and practice, the highest levels of food safety.
The fight over reasonable food safety regulation drags on, but it does not have to drag down your business in the process. The safest attitude to have is “If you can’t beat ’em join ’em.” Farms of all sizes benefit from abiding by GAP standards, and attending a GAP workshop is a worthwhile investment for any farmer who is serious about their business.
Here are 5 good resources to help you think through your food safety practices:
USDA checklist: http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/getfile?dDocName=STELPRDC5091326
Canada GAP manuals: http://www.canadagap.ca/tools/audit-checklist/
CODEX List of standards: http://www.codexalimentarius.org/standards/list-of-standards/
On-Farm Food Safety Project (OFFS): an online program that identifies and helps you assess various aspects of food safety: http://onfarmfoodsafety.org/
Farm Food Safety Decision Tree Project: an online program that helps you identify and evaluate food safety risks from Cornell University: http://www.gaps.cornell.edu/tree.html
These organizations provide standards and administer programs to gain certification that the food you are growing and selling is safe. Certification is voluntary.
In Canada GAP standards were originally devised by the Canadian Horticultural Society in 2000. They are currently administered by a non-profit corporation called CanAgPlus. http://www.canadagap.ca
In the US GAP standards are administered by the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service.http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/GAPGHPAuditVerificationProgram
Internationally GAP standards are administered by CODEX Alimentarius Commission, established in 1963 by the World Health Organization and the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO). http://www.codexalimentarius.org/