MIcro-Farming for Profit in the Great White NorthWelcome! This brand-new section of my site is going to explore micro-farming for profit from a practical, sustainable viewpoint. If you want to follow along,just add your email to the form above. I'll send you my free Organic Market Gardening Start-up Guide, and each week you will also get an e-mail explaining what we are doing to make this plan come true.
You may be wondering, 'who is this guy, and why does he think he can pull this off'? The answers are mostly documented elsewhere on this site - e.g. check out the New Terra Farm Page but bear with me for a couple para's while I provide some background. My name is Scott Kelland, I'm the the owner, Head Gardener, Director of Marketing, COO and CIO for award-winning New Terra Farm near Merrickville, Ontario. New Terra Farm has been around for 10 years; in that time my wife Suzie and I have explored ways to make money on a small farm, without employing harmful or unsustainable farming practices. Overall, we have been pretty successful; we have a CSA market garden providing food to 75 families (2009 season) and we raise pigs and meat chickens on pasture for those same families. And, not to brag, but in 2007 we won the Premier's Award for Agri-Food Innovation Excellence for our small farm marketing and management model. So, why am I writing this stuff about micro-farming for profit? The answer is pretty simple: Suzie and I strongly believe that North America desperately needs more small, sustainable, family-friendly farms. We believe that, sooner or later, whether through environmental catastrophe, rising oil prices, or financial disaster, the current unsustainable agri-food industry will collapse. And communities once again will depend on local growers for their sustenance. Unfortunately, due in part to government policy and the actions of the 'agri-business' industry, many small farms have disappeared. And the skills to operate such a farm have, in many cases, been lost. So, when we wrapped up the 2009 growing season and started planning 2010, we decided we would make it an explicit mission of New Terra Farm to grow farmers as well as food. We want to show that micro farming for profit is possible on just about any plot of land, by anyone with the 'drive' to do it. I had that idea in mind when I wrote my books about small farming (see links at the bottom of the page.) The books got good reviews, and I know they have helped to launch more than one small farm business. How do I expect to convey my experience and provide the information, training, and explanations necessary to allow someone to create a profitable micro-farm on just one acre? Well, as you can see from the preceding, all the pieces of the one-acre micro-farm already exist here at New Terra Farm, although they are not consolidated and integrated the way they need to be to fit in one acre. And remember, while we are micro-farming for profit, we also want to maintain and in fact improve our little plot of land. So, here's the plan: beginning about February 1 2010, we will begin documenting step by step all the actions we take to plan and manage and operate our one-acre micro-farm. Everything from what seeds we order, to laying out and planting the garden, to marketing the farm products, to hiring farm help, to growing, harvesting and delivering our garden goodies. We will show you the cash-flow we receive and expenses we incur, the purchases we make, and the equipment we use. We will show you how we operate our plant starting room and greenhouse. You will learn all about season extension, managing bugs, weeds and other pests in an organic market garden, irrigation, crop rotation, cover cropping, using pollinators like honeybees, and about 1.1 million other things that are necessary for a successful, sustainable organic market garden. You will also learn how we have been successfully i.e. profitably - raising pigs and meat birds organically, on pasture, and how to integrate livestock animals with your garden production to create an efficient farm eco-system. In short, we will try to show you everything you need to know to start micro-farming for profit on your own. Here's those books I mentioned: They were all written by me, no theory, just the practical knowledge about making a profit on a small farm. Start-up, Market, and Manage your own Organic Market Garden Raise Meat Chickens Handbook Raise Pigs on Pasture The "Farm in a Box" start farming combo pack Return to Home Page from Micro-Farming for Profit |
