This topic contains 7 replies, has 5 voices, and was last updated by jardin mizuna 9 years, 7 months ago.
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Hi Andy, nice to hear this. In a few words, you have an economic mountain to climb. Vegatbles are low in value, proportionate to the time needed for growing, packing and selling them. So bedding plants is a good add-on, maybe sweet peas too.. Marketing is not easy at first, until you find customers who like your produce enough to pay a good price, and they need to sense that you are relaible in terms of continuity of supply. You need a reasonably long-term tenancy as the land will benefit from improving with compost.
So good luck, its a great plan, if you can keep another income stream then all the better.
Hi Andy
Great to hear of your enthusiasm and I wish you all the very best in your venture.
Charles is so right, it is a small return for a lot of work. I’ve been a great fan of Charles’s ideas for several years and have attended one of his courses. I started my own commercial operation several years ago and have loved every minute of it …………… but don’t underestimate the hard work and low return! Supplying a Farmers Market or Country Market is a good way to reach new customers. From this I have received requests to supply individuals between markets. My problem has not been the marketing of my produce but supplying enough to meet demand and as Charles says the continuity of supply. Much as I would love to I haven’t given up the day job yet!
I wish you all the very best and look forward to hearing how you get on.
Best wishes
Frances
Good luck Andy, a righteous but financially challenging endeavour!
I have been growing and selling pretty much full time, for the last 3 years based on Charles’s methods, and probably have a mine of information that would probably be very useful to you, but no time (as i’m a grower), time is a precious commodity) to tell the story here
Suffice to say , salad leaves are the only crop that will make you money, and ‘subsidises’ the veg, which are important, positive and beautiful to grow but , i’m afraid to say pretty much unviable from a business point of view.
Salad leaves and the supplying thereof is a complex, complete art and a deep subject!
I would recommend Charles’s market growing course, a no brainer really as he is doing them at the moment.
Also have a look at this article :
I would to like help you, but so limited on time, but here is my email anyway,
hazelrowanwood (at) gmail (dot) com
good luck indeed!
Dan
Thanks for writing Frances, I am pleased you are enjoying the challenges of growing for market. Never a dull moment!
Hi Andy,
You are right, landowners can be very wary of letting strangers on their land.
You will need water, storage area, access at all times and possibly electric if you plan to site a cold room and have some lighting. I would first approach a local stables, as you would have a ready made market there. Remember to sell your project in a way that will benefit the landowner. For example, your future customers might like to go ride a horse. You can offer to take the manure as part of the contract. look to pay around 300 per acre, extra for water ofc.
That being said, the site might look good, but the most important thing about siting a new project has to and allways will be the soil. Choosing a site based around soil structure and type will save you years of messing around.
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