Tag Archives: SK

Rhubarb Has Sales Versatility

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Courtesy of Wally S., Wally’s Market Garden, Pleasantdale, SK

Rhubarb can be a valuable crop for single crop production areas of a SPIN farm. My sales of rhubarb have been building for several years, and it is now in demand not only at my farmer’s market but also among chefs and bakers. I sell about 1,000 lbs. to an ice cream maker and also sold quite a bit to a wine maker.

I have plantings in many of my scattered plots. Here is one that will be harvested for my mid-week farmer’s market. I harvested about 25 1.25 lb. bunches from this plot. Work rate is about 1 hour to harvest and prep. Bunches go for $2.50. Crops that can be sold through multiple channels should take precedent in any crop repertoire.

SPIN Photo rhubarb

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To Get the Best Seed Price, Make a Call

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Courtesy of Wally S., Wally’s Market Garden, Pleasantdale, SK

In niche markets, SPIN farmers can adjust their pricing to cover their seed cost, but you should always try to get your seed costs down as low as possible. That means buying in bulk and shopping around.

Take pea greens. I found that 50 lbs. of peas can vary from $80 to $165, not counting delivery cost. A seed company I have built up a close relationship with over the years offers pea seed at around $80 for 50 .lbs, but this bulk quantity price is not listed publicly.  You have to call or email them. Johnny’s price is  double –  $165 for 50 lbs. The point is, if you don’t see what you need listed on a company’s website or catalog, pick up the phone. Personal contact with a seed supplier can save you money and establish a relationship that will keep on giving.

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Volume is an important consideration when ordering seeds, since buying in bulk quantities reduces the cost. Here is a delivery of 50 lbs. of peas.   

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Advice You Won’t Get at Farm Conferences

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Courtesy of Wally S., Wally’s Market Garden, Pleasantdale SK

This time of year I hear from a lot of aspiring farmers. They are filled with passion and enthusiasm and are eager to glomm on to role models. I’m a pretty easy target. I have been at the farmers market in Saskatoon, Sask. Zone 3 Canada for 20 + years, and right now I sell year round, at about 150 market days a year. I see farmers come and go all the time. Typically they last one or two years, then move on to something else. Why? They can’t  seem to figure things out, or make things go their way, because they bought into the hard way.

If you are looking to push yourself to the edge, you can do trampoline bridge jumping or traditional farming. But if you want to start a profitable business growing food, traditional farming is not the way to accomplish it. Instead, keep it simple. In Year 1, you don’t need to buy land or a tractor. Use what land you have or can borrow. Keep your investments minimal. Don’t get sidetracked with grow tunnels or aquaponics. That can happen, after you have mastered basic production, which is growing consistently, in volume, at commercial grade.

Also think revenue. Weeks of revenue, total revenue, bill paying revenue, going to
Mexico on a holiday revenue, and how your farm is going to pay for everything. Get grounded in reality quickly in the game. How about refrigeration for your produce. Have you thought about that? Have you researched your local markets/restaurant scene to see where the opportunities are? How about logistics? How are you going to make everything happen? It’s not rocket science, but it does require thought and planning to make an owner/operated farm work.

What helps is a platform for your thinking. That is what you can use SPIN-Farming for. It makes things easier for you by organizing your thinking and keeping you focused on what matters most to your initial success.

So when newbies come to me and say they want grow and sell produce at a farmers market, I say great, but also ask, How many marketing weeks are you targeting? What will be your average weekly cash flow? And I expect an answer, and a pretty good one. Again, SPIN-Farming can help you with this. This is the way I want to get you to start thinking, very early in your career. Notice I use the term career. That is the way you have to look at it, since you are entering a profession and building a business. You have to take it seriously, but that does not mean you have to die trying.

SF photo fb labor teach us

LEARN THE BUSINESS OF GROWING FOOD FROM THE MOST FORWARD-THINKING MINDS IN FARMING TODAY IN THE SPIN ONLINE SUPPORT GROUP. FREE TRIAL MEMBERSHIP WHEN YOU PURCHASE ANY SPIN GUIDE

Vive La Niche

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Courtesy of Wally S., Wally’s Urban Market Garden, Saskatoon, SK

Aspiring agripreneurs can always count on receiving this advice: never plant anything without first identifying your market. “Grow what you sell, don’t sell what you grow” is pretty much conventional wisdom now, and that’s progress.

But since SPIN farmers are known for taking things to the next level, what does this advice mean to us? Niches. SPIN farmers play on local demographics, and nowadays there are quite a lot of varieties to choose from. Well-heeled émigré communities are becoming the norm in lots of cities. Specialty crops are seen as inclusive, rather than ethnic, and SPIN-scale growers can use their small plots to serve nearby customers with special needs and differentiate themselves at market.

Here’s an anecdote to make the point. A Philly boxer, Bernard Hopkins, is getting ready to meet his next opponent, Sergey Kovalev. The fight will take place in Atlantic City later this fall. The promoters chose AC because of a big Russian demographic on the east coast, to be sure to draw a crowd. So if I were a SPIN farmer on the east coast, I’d be on the lookout for a new demographic in town and start learning some Russian.

The right to food used to be thought of in terms of having sufficient quantities, or proper nutrition. But in a multicultural world, it is also being defined as having diversity of selection. This is right up a SPIN farmer’s alley because identifying and serving niches is what they are all about. They are not only situated close to their customers, but they also have the rapid response capability to capitalize on new markets. Being small and nimble allows you to cater to a broad range of culinary niches. And that’s a big advantage, sort of like punching above your weight.
SF photo horse radish

I had several $10 bags of horseradish in my market cooler yesterday, which I did not set out on my table. Two people who looked eastern European came by and asked,  “Are you Wally?”  I said “Yes”, and they said, “Do you have horseradish?” I told them I had some, $10/bag. They both take a bag. So word is getting out that I have horseradish. Eastern Europeans also crave green garlic.

Use SPIN’s Small Scale Advantage

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Courtesy of Wally S., Wally’s Urban Market Garden, Saskatoon, SK

The emails and mailers are starting to come in outlining all the challenges and rewards of organic/eco/sustainable/regenerative farming, so that means workshop season will soon be upon us. A main theme of SPIN-Farming workshops is to understand and use your small scale advantage to out-compete the larger operators. It’s not hard to do, once you learn the tricks of the trade. Here are a few:

 Use the micro climate advantage on small plots, especially in an urban context. This allows you to get into production much earlier and extend production much later into the season. You can therefore offer crops that are not available from other growers, and charge premium pricing for them.

Make small timely plantings that larger growers can’t bother with. Small means not overwhelming and appropriate for your resources and current situation. Timely means properly sequenced to provide consistent supply, selling into periods of production shortfalls and making quick in-season adjustments.

 Experiment continually with  novel or exotic crops. You don’t have to bet the farm to find your next best seller and differentiate yourself at market.

Be on the lookout for new market niches and cater to them. With the world being increasingly mobile, communities are quickly being reshaped by emigres with distinct culinary tastes, and for many of them money is no object. Serving their unique needs for specialty crops is exactly what it means to be market-driven. Most farmers aren’t fans of deviations from a norm. Their plans are typically set by routines that follow long-term trends. But having the rapid response capability to capitalize on unforeseen opportunities is what SPIN-Farming is all about.

A former musician has this take: “SPIN-Farming teaches you the notes and scales and composition. Then it’s all improv.”Another SPIN farmer likens it to being a ninja. Maybe instead of that farming workshop, your time might be better spent exploring music or the martial arts. However you learn about farming, you can forget elaborate business plans that need executive summaries and table of contents. To grow food and make money nowadays, you need to be nimble and quick, and that means size really does matter.

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Design Your Stand for Optimal Sales

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Courtesy of Keri F., Green Sister Gardens, Moose Jaw SK 

I have my two tables set up in an L shape (I’ve experimented with all kinds of different  configurations and this has the best flow.) So the hottest spot on the table are the two ends of the tables (one of them is a little better than the other).

I will put whatever item I have the most of that week or if I have a new item that I want people to try I will put it in that spot. I also put radishes and other highly colored veggies in the middle of my tables because the colors capture people’s attention and they come in for a closer look usually 🙂

SF photo Keri Fox Green Sisters Garden farm stand design

The Secret Ingredient to Salad Mix Success

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Courtesy of Wally S., Wally’s Urban Market Garden, Saskatoon, SK

It’s high summer for many of us now, but go to your standard grocery or corner store and check out what is on the shelf. Chances are it’s spring mix. And therein lies the secret to creating the best salad mix. The most important ingredient is change. Selling the same product day in and day out, year round, is no way to get people excited to pay top dollar for a premium product.

Change is an economic driver, and it fits very well with a SPIN farmer’s highly dynamic production plan. Components for salad mixes should change frequently, reflecting the seasons, what is ready to be harvested, what seeds are available and reasonably priced. You should continually add unusual greens to your mixes, because they distinguish you at market and can lead to a best seller that you would not  otherwise have discovered. Many customers consider salad mixes to be a staple now, and buy them week after week. So marketing unusual greens as a salad mix breaks down people’s resistance to buying a new type of green that they might not be familiar with.

OK, so now that you have the concept behind creating successful salad mixes, what is the secret recipe? Pretty easy. There are 2 basic ingredients – base crops and novelty crops. Base crops are high yielding, quick to harvest crops like peas, radish and sunflowers. Novelty crops are inexpensive, and may be lower yielding or slower to mature, and are used to add color or texture, like red cabbage or broccoli. Right now I am just using peas and radish. I am also starting to grow yellow peas, which produces a “tendril“ pea. I have also added lentil greens, when I grow them.

Many a SPIN farmer’s career has been built on a signature salad mix. To find out how to get started, check out this case study and then start mixing it up.

SPIN photo Wally and salad mix

Psych Yourself Up for Farmer’s Market Sales

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Courtesy of Wally S., Wally’s Urban Market Garden, Saskatoon, SK

First year SPIN farmers are signing up for their farmers markets, and this is when I get what I call emails of doubt. “How will I stack up? How can I compete? I’m just a small fish in a big pond. Who will buy my produce?” If you, too, are facing your first season jitters, here’s how to psych yourself into a $500 market week – and beyond.

 Use your small growers advantage: Being SPIN-scale allows you to be more adaptable than larger growers. larger growers frequently have one time plantings of crops. They sell them, and they are done. Being small means you will have the time for frequent, even weekly plantings of certain crops, such as salad greens and fresh herbs, when they are in short supply at market, especially mid to late season.

 Scarcity confers higher value: Other vendors may have greater volumes of produce than you, but your lower volume creates exclusivity, which supports premium pricing. Also, look closely at what others are offering. It might be of lower quality. Establish your reputation on smaller volumes of higher quality produce. People will feel great that they scored that last bag of arugula from you.

 Foodie is mainstream: The Food Network has turned food into entertainment, and the most interesting developments in the food world are at everybody’s fingertips on Facebook/Instagram/Twitter. Government policies and health advocates are also turning up the volume on nutrition. So customers are becoming much more adventurous in their tastes, and appreciative of quality. This gives SPIN farmers increased pricing power and  infinite opportunities to differentiate themselves from other growers.

 You’re embedded in your market: Unlike many growers who retreat to the middle of nowhere when the market is done, your always just a stone’s throw from the action. You just have to look and listen to what’s around you. Follow the lunch trucks around to see what they are offering. Read the trendy menus conveniently placed for you outside the door or on the sidewalk. Check out the pop-up restaurant in a warehouse. Ask neighbors, friends and family what they need and want. Then go grow it. Being market responsive gives you a real big advantage.

Think like a retailer: Make your stand and your marketing stand out. Pre-bag produce. Loose produce makes for slow processing time and frustrated customers. Come up with a pricing system that makes it easy for customers to spend their money. Create your own price, using SPIN’s mix and match unit pricing. Unitizing and packaging can take many forms. Come up with your own deals, like combining recipe-ready crops in a single bag or bundle and sell at special price. Change up the presentation of some of your crops from week to week, and tie them in with commonly celebrated holidays or local events.

Finally, don’t look at fellow vendors as competition, but rather as colleagues. It takes more than just a few vendors to create a destination point farmers market. More vendors means more product, and that means customers have a better chance of having a satisfying experience. That will keep them coming back to the market, and to you, you farmer rock star.

SF photo Keri Fox Green Sister GardensKerri Fox  of Green Sister Gardens rockin’ out in Moose Jaw SK. 

What if you don’t have Madonna’s  chutzpah? Here’s some tips for the shy farmer.

 

Take your farm to the next level – the basement

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Courtesy of Wally S., Wally’s Urban Market Garden, Saskatoon, SK
Now that there are some seasoned SPIN farmers out there, I’m seeing lots of plans for taking their operations to the next level. Many involve expanding their land base or investing in season extension. Both are good ideas. But accomplishing them the traditional way – by acquiring more land or investing in complicated structures – makes it harder and more expensive than it needs to be.

A few years ago when I wanted to expand my operation, I headed to the basement. The investment was under $1,000, and included some shelving and lights. Since I am already spending to heat that room, the overhead is just the cost of lights, which is minimal. Bottom line: you don’t need to invest in a new structure, or find space for it.

SPIN photo grow table shoots

Right now in one of my basement grow rooms I have 50 trays of  pea and micro greens, with turn around of less than two weeks. I will also be growing live garlic in containers, starting this week, in another grow room. Bedding plants are scheduled for next month. Other possibilities for indoor grow room production are fresh herbs, something I will try soon.

My basement grow room now adds $10,000+ to my bottom line, and supports a year round operation in zone 3 Canada. Being an urban farmer, I also appreciate its discretion. In my neighborhood, a 50 foot high tunnel in the backyard would not go unnoticed. Using underutilized residential spaces I already have is an easier option.

This type of indoor setup allows you to grow consistent volumes of crops year round, regardless of whether you are having a hot summer, or a cold, hard winter. Being able to provide steady supply locks in restaurant customers. Year round restaurant orders of indoor crops of say, $200 per week, means an extra $10,000 per year, with minimal time and labor. That can pay a lot of bills, making your farmers market and CSA sales even more profitable.

So those wanting to take their SPIN farm to the next level should think about heading to the basement or den or any other underutilized space in their home, and keep their commute time to 0.

Find out how to set up a lucrative micro greens business in your basement in Dig Deeper Guide # 5.

A Multi-locational Farm is a Realistic Ideal

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Courtesy of Wally S., Wally’s Urban Market Garden, Saskatoon, SK

Whenever I see farming conference programs at this time of year I feel like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day. The hot topics are always the same. Land access. Farm succession. Risk management. I just don’t relate because years ago I left these issues behind me. I became an urban farmer long before it was trendy. I have been supporting myself growing on multiple scattered plots for 13 years. The number of plots that comprise my farm have ranged from 25 to 11, with a land base that never totals more than 2/3 of an acre, or around 30,000 square feet. Plots have come and gone, depending on various circumstances.

Urbanized areas offer all sorts of farming possibilities, much more than is even now realized. In most cities, residential backyard plots are abundant, just waiting to be used for your farm. The multi-locational farm is a SPIN-Farming concept that has not yet been widely implemented, but it’s ripe for the picking. It is, simply, a farm that is located on many garden plots. These plots can be located throughout a single neighborhood, or in multiple neighborhoods, or they can even be a mix of urban and peri-urban plots. It allows aspiring and practicing farmers to continue to live in the city, using their homes as their farm base, and add new plots as their business becomes more successful. These new plots can be rented, or often used for free.

“What?”, you say. “A land base comprised of many scattered plots, some a 20 minute drive from my home, will be difficult to assemble and a nightmare to operate.” Not really. Not only can such a farm be easily created and efficiently managed, it has big advantages. It offers the growing potential of the traditional rural farm coupled with the city-based benefits of micro climate and proximity to markets. Peri-urban sites produce the larger volume, lower maintenance crops that are always in demand at market, while the urban sites provide early and late production of the high-value relay crops. Together they afford diversification and protection against catastrophic crop losses or extreme weather events. If one or more plots get flooded out, your other plots can keep you producing and selling.

Here is my “home base” plot in the city behind my house.

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Here is one of my peri-urban plots about a 25 minute drive from my house.

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Family farmsteads passed down from generation to generation. A lone tractor silhouetted against the horizon. Rolling hills of corn and grain. These idyllic images of farming are rooted deep in our consciousness. But in the first urbanized century, food production is beginning to occur wherever it makes the most sense. And for SPIN farmers what makes sense is in the middle of urban jungles and on the suburban fringe. They are turning to their gardens and neighborhood lots, not with the romantic notion of “returning to the land”, but to make a buck growing food. The point is that SPIN farmers make cropland wherever they happen to be and leave the traditional farm challenges far behind.

Find out how a multi-locational urban/peri-urban farm is equipped and operated in Dig Deeper Guide # 2.