In this video I share my final warning to those of you that are thinking about starting a market farm or a small scale farm #marketfarming #marketgardening #smallscalefarming
WE ARE SHUTTING DOWN OUR MARKET FARM
I’VE SPENT 3 YEARS MARKET FARMING & HERE ARE MY BRUTALLY HONEST THOUGHTS
WHAT IS THE TRUE COST TO START A MARKET GARDEN?
TANNER FARMSTEAD WEBSITE: https://www.tannerfarmstead.com/
EGG MOBILE CHICKEN COOP TRAILER DESIGN PLANS (get them for free in my the homestead hub community) : https://tannerfarmsteadacademy.thinkific.com/
GARDENING/HOMESTEAD SUPPLIES I USE: https://amzn.to/3l2sHzO
HEN GEAR ROLLAWAY NEXT BOX $15 OFF: https://hengear.com/?ref=dirk_tanner
INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/tannerfarmstead/?hl=en
TIKTOK: https://www.tiktok.com/@tannerfarmstead
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/tannerfarmstead
10 Comments
this will be our first year trying to sell our flowers and produce. We are a really small scale market farm which will only truly create income during the spring and summer…..we both work part time and we can’t see that ending any time soon. We are hopeful that the surplus of fresh produce that we don’t use for ourselves will go to families that don’t or can’t grow their own. We know this isn’t going to sustain us financially but hopefully it will bring us some joy interacting with those who choose to visit us here. 🙂
New subscriber here, and sad to see that this wasn't worth the time, money, and effort for you, BUT kudos for making an honest, clear-eyed video about this for others. I'll stay subscribed for the homesteading content. Best of luck in your future endeavors!
In a perfect world I would have a market garden business. I love gardening and helping people, I have the land and all the means to do it but am afraid to take such a big leap.. I live out in the country and there is nothing, only a Dollar General and 2 gas stations in the nearest town and people have to drive a while to get any food.. It's always been on the back of my mind, but for now I suppose it will remain a dream 😵💫
Market farming has been romanticized without any pushback on Youtube for way to long. Great to see this video. I was enchanted by Curtis Stone and Connor Crickmore many years ago and started to market garden without any farming experience.
After harvesting like 50 pounds of lettuce every week by myself for 9 years I can tell you what I have learned. Harvesting/washing/packing lettuce will slowly drive you mad. I do not care how profitable it is, which it is, mind you, it was driving me insane. To exacerbate things, try finding any American willing to help you harvest that is not a loser drug addict. No American wants to do the work required on a market garden. It's impossible to find help that stays. I'm a nice boss too!!!
Helene wiped out a half-acre of fully planted greens two weeks ago. That is the largest hit I've ever taken. I've lost about $8000 dollars because of Helene. With that being said, I too am throwing in the towel and after 15 years I'm done. The plan is to pivot to a farmstead. I'm still going to market farm, but I'm developing a different method than the ones popularized on Youtube.
I can sell floret broccoli at about the same price I sell my lettuce for and it takes about a tenth of the work. We're pivoting to only trying to sell crops that require minimal processing. No more spinach, no more lettuce, no more GREENS period. If we do get back into lettuce production, we're going to buy an NFT system and only sell full heads.
We're also trying to grow hydroponic strawberries on table tops in a system I designed. If that works out well I will be able to sell no-spray strawberries in my area, which would be a big deal. So far so good, and I have 500 more strawberries being sent to me now.
Anyways. If you are thinking about getting into market farming. Don't. Tanner is correct. You would make more money opening a small nursery and selling plants. We plan on expanding that income stream as well. You can make a lot of money selling potted flowers, like Dahlias.
Great video Tanner. It's not all roses and sunshine in market farming.
What you should do is farm as a side hustle (and watch it grow) or just to lower the price of groceries. Life is short; eat up all the energy, have fun.
Sorry to hear that you are leaving. You seem to have the right attitude for it.
Gardening isn't cheap but, growing is FREE.
There is no market gardener making 6 figures, maybe a commercial grower who sells to the big box store.
how much did you spend on the BCS
You gotta grab USDA NRCS money while you can. No reason you can't be pulling in 10k per year through a combo of the CSP and EQIP programs. That kind of money can really help the micro farmers.
I respect your honesty!