Tag Archives: diversifcation

Jumpstart an Herb Business on 1,200 Sq. Ft.

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

A SPIN member just joined the online support group looking to fast track some fresh herb sales. He wrote:

“Hello All. I plan to combine the sale of herbs only at two or three of my local farmers markets along with Pre-Packaged Nuts/ Seeds and Spices. My hope is to promote the sales of the nut and seed business with the fresh herb offerings. I have had success growing basil, chives, oregano, thyme, rosemary, sage and lavender on a small scale over the past three seasons and am ready to commit approximately x 1200 sq ft of garden space to this effort. Any feedback on what to focus on in order to maximize my effort would be greatly appreciated. I am a one man show, growing in Northeast PA. Zone 6a. Thanks in advance.”

Herbs are a great addition to diversify or compliment a product line,especially for solo operators because they are easy to plant, harvest and prep. Cilantro, dill,and parsley are good bets. You can get 2 -3 cuts of cilantro before it goes to seed. So you will need several staggered plantings to take you through the season. You can get even more cuts from baby/green dill, but again, you need staggered plantings. Parsley is all season, so there is no need for staggered plantings.

SF photo blog herb dill cilantro

Plant cilantro and dill with tight spacings using an Earthway seeder in 4 – 5 row standard beds, using the chard plate. Use transplants for parsley.

You should target units of production on the 100 to 200 bunches in total of the three herbs on a weekly basis. If you have a 20 marketing week period, you’ll produce 2,000 to 4,000 bunches. At $2.00 per bunch, you can target revenue of $4K to $8K.

Herbs are very high value, are always in demand at market and their fragrance adds a sensual dimension to your stand. So if you have some unused space next to the barbie, or can rig up some containers on a patio, you can make profitable use of it by growing the useful plants.

SF photo blog herb parsely in tubs cropped

FIND OUT OTHER WAYS TO JUMPSTART A BUSINESS GROWING FOOD IN THE SPIN ONLINE SUPPORT GROUP. FREE TRIAL MEMBERSHIP WHEN YOU PURCHASE ANY SPIN GUIDE.

 

Location, Location, Location

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

Farmers are defined by their location. Crops, growing practices, markets, pricing, all are place-based. Whatever success I have had, though, has come from not allowing myself to be limited by the usual constraints. Take my land base, for instance.

I first started on 20 acres in the country. When I could not make the business work, I downsized to less than an acre using multiple urban backyards, including my own.

DDG3 photo 13

My urban backyard plots have numbered up to 25 and collectively have never totaled more than 2/3 of an acre. Over the years the yards I have farmed have come and gone. I gave up some when they were sold because I did not want to have to deal with new owners. Others proved to be too small. Not having to make a long-term commitment to any of them gave me time to figure out what was optimal.

That’s what led me to take on a few peri-urban sites about 25 miles from my urban backyard.

DDG4 photo 7

I’ve also picked up some properties in a small rural town a few years back because the price was right.

DDG3 photo 6

So right now my farm looks like this:

Urban: (my backyard plot and home base; includes a small plastic unheated greenhouse and indoor grow room)                                                                                                     1,000 sq. ft.  

Peri-urban site: (2 plots owned by others)                                                                     20,000 sq. ft.

Rural: (plot owned by me)                                                                                             15,000 sq. ft.

Growing at these broad range of locations simultaneously gives me a full site line of the trade-offs of each. In general, I see now I paid too much money in rent over the years. If I were ever to ramp up my urban production again, I would find owners who recognized the value of what amounts to my providing property maintenance who would not charge me rent. The plot would have to be sizable and in close proximity to my home base to make it worth my while now.

If you want to lump me into the hot new trend of urban farming, you won’t be wrong. Or if you think I belong to the agriburbia or back to land movements, that’s true enough too. I don’t like to be typecast, so I just call myself a SPIN farmer and leave it at that.

Storage Crops – Boring But Big Moneymakers

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

One of the mistakes I now see among SPIN farmers is they quit too soon. Once you get beyond the traditional end of season mentality you can add hundreds or thousands of dollars more, to your income, without much sweat. How?

You’re probably thinking micros. Sure, they are a lucrative crop, and versatile. They can be grown indoors or outdoors. I actually find outdoor micros are more profitable once you consider the hassle factor of trayed indoor production. Pea shoots make the most money for me, and that’s all I grow now indoors.

My go-to moneymaker is storage crops. They’re not new or trendy, but they have a big impact on my bottom line. Here’s what they have going for them:

  • they are easy to grow; most aren’t bother by pests, and they don’t require much watering
  • they don’t require the TLC that micros do; storage practices are fairly easy to master
  • they are perfect for larger plots further from your home base, since they need space to sprawl, and don’t need much tending
  • they give you product to sell long after many other growers have hung it up for the season
  • they help you lock in customer relationships you made early in the season, and can forge new ones
  • no season extension gear required

Storage Crops Income Target:                                                                                         Carrots: 50 bags @ $3, or 2 for $5                                                                            Potatoes: 50 bags @ $3, or 2 for $5                                                                             Garlic: 50 bags @ $3, or 2 for $5                                                                                    Onion: 50 bags @ $3, or 2 for $5                                                                                      TOTAL INCOME: $500 – $600/week

If you want a stretch goal you can target $1,000 a week by adding crops like beets and tomatoes. Restaurants, indoor farmer’s markets, institutions or a winter CSA are all good sales channels, especially the later the season gets, because there is less competition. You can consider it like an end of the year bonus you are giving yourself. How you use it is up to you. Splurge on an island vacation or maybe that new tiller you’ve had your eye on for a few years.

SPIN photo storage crops in cooler

 

Here we’re looking at $xx worth of storage crops that…

SPIN photo storage crops marketing  …fly off the shelves at the end of the season because  fair weather farmers have packed it in.

Potatoes Are Perfect Peri-Urban Crop

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

I just put in a couple of segments of potatoes this week. Norland and Yukon Gold. I’ll probably plant 10 segments total, or about 10,000 square feet. That should give me  over 600 lbs. of potatoes. My potato cropping strategy is based on extended production throughout the season, so I can sell new potatoes early in the season right through to  storage potatoes in the winter.

SF photo potato planting 2

Peri-urban sites allow you to expand your production to crops you would not otherwise grow in your urban-based plots, like potatoes. These peri-urban plantings of potatoes are easy to maintain, with once a week visits for a couple of hours.

SF photo potato planting

Using peri-urban sites for low maintenance crops such as potatoes allows you to boost you revenue and diversify your crop repertoire, with little effort or investment. Greens are getting al lot of hype right now, but man does not live by micros alone.

You can learn more about Wally’s cropping strategies for not only potatoes, but also 39 more classic SPIN crops in SPIN’s Crop Profiles guide. 

So much about SPIN-Farming is counterintuitive, and the multi-locational urban/peri-urban farming model is a prime example. What at first seems obvious is that a land base comprised of many scattered plots, some a 20 minute drive from your home base, would be difficult to assemble and a nightmare to operate. But not only can such a farm be easily created and efficiently managed, it has big advantages. Find out why in SPIN’s 
The Multi-Locational Urban/Peri-urban Farm guide. 

SPIN and Livestock: Finding the Best Fit

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Courtesy of Roxanne C., Philadelphia PA

Established livestock farmers looking to diversify into crop production find their way to SPIN-Farming for the same reasons new vegetable farmers do – SPIN-type operations are quick to set up and produce income. But before established SPIN farmers diversify into livestock, they should apply the same ROI analysis. When they do, they’ll see livestock farming is a much different animal.

SPIN’s relay cropping system has relatively few inputs — capital, labor or land — which makes a quick return possible. No such quick returns exist in most livestock operations with the exception of small meat animals that can be produced in a short time, like broilers and rabbits. But more infrastructure is required for rabbits, or more land for poultry. And these businesses are much more regulated.

What about selling eggs from your backyard chickens? Here’s how SPIN farmer Andrew Bennett lays out those economics: “Let’s say it takes 5 months to raise a chick just to the point that it’s laying small eggs. I spend about $2.50 per dozen eggs just in organic feed costs. A typical hen costs $5 as a chick, $10-$15 in feed to raise to 5 months old, and about $5-$20 in labor. Once I start selling eggs, I need a margin of $1 per dozen to pay back the initial cost of the bird, so you are looking at 20-40 dozen eggs for the bird to finally pay itself off. For most birds, that’s half to a whole lifetime’s worth of eggs, so eggs aren’t profitable unless you can do about 400 hens or more.” You’ll need a pretty big backyard to accommodate them all. That will force your operation further from core markets inside cities and towns. The further you are from population centers, the less sales channels you have, and the more limited your business model options become.

Farming, perhaps more than other businesses, constantly tempts you with ways to spread yourself too thin. Some say that even though livestock might not make sense as a solo enterprise, it compliments other parts of a farming operation. Everything has its price, and it’s up to you to  decide if it’s worth it. SF photo chickens

These chickens belong to SPIN farmer Erik Halvorson who began in 2013, leasing 5 acres from his parents. He started with livestock, offering pork, turkey and eggs. In 2015, Erik  is diversifying to include crops from a ¾ acre plot. He has access to 5 markets within a 30 minute drive. You can read more about Halvorson Farms here.

 

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