Making Money on a Small Farm?

DamnearaFarm · #21 03/07/12, 05:21 AM

Combo community garden & CSA. Porta potties with hand sanitizers. Tours for schools/church groups and such.

hiddensprings · #22 03/07/12, 11:02 AM

We offer a wide variety of classes on our farm. People come and learn how to: Raise Chickens, Raise Goats, Soap Making, Growing Herbs, Making Herbal Lip Balm & Salves, Beginning Canning, and more. I do the classes on the weekends starting in early Spring and run until the Fall. We get steady participation and it is a great way to bring folks to the farm and to teach them what we've learned over the years. The classes are 2 to 4 hours in length, depending on the subject. The classes have been a great additional income to the farm.

oregon woodsmok · #23 03/07/12, 01:57 PM

Don't forget that if you have an employee, under the new insurance laws, you are going to have to provide health insurance for him.

Not many people will do farm labor for minimum wage, so it is difficult for me to figure out how to make a small farm pay for a salary, disability and unemployment insurance, the employer's share of the SS, and health benefits.

equinecpa · #24 03/07/12, 07:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by oregon woodsmok

Don't forget that if you have an employee, under the new insurance laws, you are going to have to provide health insurance for him.

Don't know about your state law but that's not a federal law yet nor as written it won't apply if you have just a couple of employees.

honeyrobber · #25 03/07/12, 11:41 PM

Part time employment does not have those rules. Plus what work we have hired out the last few years has been contracted labor. We know about how long it will take to do a job and then pay that amount per row, block, ect... Picking berries is by the gallon. You are no longer the employer as they work for themselves. The farm has an umbrella policy. I would not sell produce without one let alone let someone step on the farm.

wogglebug · #26 03/08/12, 06:09 AM

If you grow just about anything of value there - animal or vegetable - you WILL need security. A lot of it could be HIGH boundary fences, infra-red sensors, and LED cameras; but you will need people on-site.

If there's a residence on the property, you might offer it at reduced rent or even free to a very few selected students with good references and rural background, provided they serve as caretakers/watchmen. They would then also be a ready source of labour during vacations, or even part-time during term.

If you are dealing in agricultural produce, you have to crawl further up the supply chain than just selling bulk raw materials. That could be a fruit-and-vegetable stand, farmer's markets, or a larger-scale retail operation; or it could be packaging stuff and then selling it to retailers (short-circuiting most of the supply chain, like dealers and wholesalers).

Either a small-scale agricultural operation has to involve value-adding, or you need off-farm income. U-pick, tours, picnics, petting zoo, etc. are all value-adding examples. Weekend operations where you rent space to food vendors might supplement that too. Heck, maybe you could run a farmer's market and whatever operation yourself.

Could you viably run a dental surgery in a corner of the property? Put in a medical centre and rent space to doctors, other dentists, optometrists, osteopaths, physiotherapists, pharmacy, other health professionals, even chiropractors? Offer a few apartments and town-houses for those who might want them - being able to live rural, "over the store" in a big city, could be ideal for a lot of people. Live there yourself? If children are involved, living on acreage is far better than in the 'burbs.

Horses and ponies. Boarding and riding stables. That could well be the best solution of all, and the number of people coming onto your property would at least be controlled. They'd make good use of your river flats when they weren't flooded, then retreat to higher ground. You could lease the operation to someone else, so all you had to do was to enjoy it. Might be a big draw for some of the practitioners who'd rent apartments and consulting rooms from you. And you'd get all that lovely manure for free, and be able to use it to fertilise any garden, orchard or crop you wanted.

gracie88 · #27 03/08/12, 11:33 AM

Do you want to be the one to farm it? You could lease it out to someone or partner up with some young farmer wanna-be. It seems like you have a good built in market being "in the middle of the city", but for a farm to make enough to support even one person, it pretty well has to be a full-time job and I suspect you will find better/more motivated help if they have a little more input/ownership than a hired-hand position would provide. You might even consider a permaculture-type food forest, but again, probably going to need a very motivated partner.

J.T.M. · #28 03/08/12, 05:46 PM

Give me just 5 acres in the middle of a city and I'll never have to punch a time clock again.

Big Dave · #29 03/08/12, 08:34 PM

Go to WOOFERS for help. SO many ideas for land like that profit is one. Helping your community is another. Welcome and the best to ya.