I would like to know as much as possible about growing the strawberries. I got a little over an acre to work with. Tell me what you would have me do to be successful in growing the strawberries?
@@RocketPipeTV Good choices! Asparagus beds need little management, strawberries will have babies to sell or do a Guerrilla-gardening thing (turn them loose! 🤣🥰), Garlic, don't know much about its ability to look after itself but, very medicanal....🥰
@@galeparker1067 I've herd that strawberries are natural companions to asparagus too, so maybe you could grow them together and save space? Not sure how well that would work commercially
Well this is really assuring, started growing garlic myself as a hobby income with only 40 plants to start and this year I planted roughly 14,000. I was diagnosed with Meniere's disease 3.5 years ago now and have switched mindset to make farming my full income, between garlic and chickens as my main production I should make around $30k in sales this year and hopefully in 2 years be able to pay myself enough to make a living again. Currently we are living off solely my wife's income so expanding is very slow and difficult, as well as pretty much every dollar the business makes goes right back into the business.
If you can propogate successfully plant orchards... It raises the value of your farm (should something ever occur) it has very little input costs aswell. Bananas are fast growers and yield really fast (very easy crop) as are coconut trees planted in a diamond formation. If you in a colder climate nut trees are an awesome pension plan... You can always plant row crops in between your orchards ( which is what I do) and have mushrooms as intacrops which is a fantastic way of reducing fertilizer and weeding, it incorporates worms homogeneously and if you rotate crops you'll have virtually a very lucrative business. I've started incorporating flowers (marygolds,agapanthas ect) and am looking at bee hives in the near future to complete the ecosystem. This may sound market gardenish but I use a small cab tractor to plant and seed and it's really very little input labour wise as you end up mostly packaging and harvesting which is what one intends to do! If you do plant orchards in this manner, stay away from all dwarf varieties and wait the extra few years as diseases will cripple your mixed crops and regardless what you told a natural non dwarf tree is far healthier with far more yields over a longer life cycle. I propagated all my trees and after 2 years they don't even need water! I pray you recover and God bless
Awesome. I attended a chi kung healing course and someone there had Meniere's disease , after the second day they had no more vertigo and by the end they said it was gone.
Garlic is by far my favorite crop to grow for this exact reason! It's also a very easy sell to people since they know exactly what to do with it. Highly recommend.
@@HouseOfJabez I realize this is super late so I apologize but I generally just sell to individuals I know! I know a lot of people who will gladly buy 10+ bulbs per season from me every year. One friend of mine comes from a German family and she bought 40 bulbs last year and came back a few months later for another 10. Restaurants can be really great if you have a significant volume, but otherwise the most money will really be from value-added products (think garlic sauces, garlic powders, fermented honey garlic, meat rubs etc) they require more work but it extends the shelf life and is easier for people to know what to do with them right away so you can get a higher profit margin.
While i definitely agrre with strawberries, I would argue that fast growing greens are the best profit. Baby salad greens, baby lettuce, arugula, spinach, etc. You're looking at 21-30 days to harvest. I get about 1lb per foot on a 48" wide bed. You can also harvest maybe every 7-10 days. $12-16/lb sale price. So on a 4' wide by 100' long bed, you're producing 100lbs per week or $1,200-$1,600 per week in gross profit. That translates to over $100,000 per acre for a crop that takes 3-4 weeks from seed to harvest. Of course, it's more specialized work, you need to be cultivating by hand, know how to harvest, wash, pack, and the most important part and most difficult part...sell it. Green onions (scallions) are another high profit crop.
its funny because another farming channel in australia went over lettuce as a cash crop. they had such a shortage of lettuce that hamburger fast food places switched to cabbage, and lettuce heads were selling for 12 dollars each. the shortage was due to flooding. but its an interesting point. lettuce CAN be quite profitable and its good to keep it in mind.
Have you considered worm farming? They are selling for $55lb! I raise millions of worms to sell/fertilize my garden, and to show others how to care for them :) no acreage needed!
Since you mentioned these products...a farmer would be better served by not growing leafy greens , annual herbs, and strawberries in the outdoors in soil but rather grown indoors aeroponically. No pests, no bolting & consistent year round continuous harvests.
Salad greens are fast and require little capital investment, but more difficult to grow and market than strawberries or garlic. I don't know about asparagus.
From my experience, if late summer and early autum is fairly free, i would suggest autum raspberries. They start to give berries in mid/late or late summer and finish at first frost nights. Labor intensive to collect them all, but close to zero work to maintain them
So many variables... Great video, this will surely stir up lots comments and some hidden knowledge.. I'm a farmer on the east coast of Australia, my choice for top three (certified organic) crops: 1. Turmeric 2. Garlic 3. Lemon myrtle
I hate to say it, but any farming is more work than most people will want to do now days. Just a random thought though, if space is an issue, can use tower-like raised beds to stuff in more strawberry plants per foot and make it easier to tend to them compared to getting on the ground.
@@MCRnursery That's a given. Westerners are severely de-conditioned, and generally unfit for physical labor. I manage a 400 square meter vegetable garden on my own, and grow 75% from seed. This garden is in the retirement village I live in. I conceived, arranged approval, started, and maintain the garden on my own. I sell produce on Saturday mornings to residents. No one else wants to help me, not even to water twice a week. I do it because it relaxes me and I sleep better. But if I had helpers we could increase production by expanding the garden. I started the garden as a way to get more people eating healthier and active. I've failed at the second goal. This has changed my view on humans. I used to think I should try and help everyone equally. I now think I should only help those who are willing to help themselves.......just like God!!!
@@helicart Well, you have to keep in mind the kind of society people grow up in now. Even at the basic level of schooling, they aren't trained in dealing with the sometimes difficult work that comes with life. There is little to no physical training anymore (concerning hard work). Parents aren't allowed to put their kids to work in the vegetable garden anymore, many parents wouldn't have one anyway as they say they have no time or energy. Busy busy busy doing this and doing that to have a life full of stuff and fluff and always hoping that one new thing or that one new event will make them happy. Happiness is what you make it, and sometimes it's a lot of work, but usually satisfying work. I think more people would love to garden and have a vegetable patch if only they knew how to simplify their lives and learn to be happy regardless of what they have or have not. I grew up with gardens and vegetable patches. My grandparents always had a vegetable patch. The year he stopped is the year I knew he wasn't far from leaving us himself. I grew up in the society of consumerism but I did manage to hold onto some of my roots. I wish they were stronger, but better than what I see with many people.
@@MCRnursery Much truth in what you say. Nevertheless, one should not blindly and apathetically take their values from 'society', especially when social constructs are being replaced by all sorts of subversive and destructive intents. This is why America values individual freedoms, so that we may all seek values that lead to greater happiness. It is poor parenting to allow children to be patsys of popular culture.
In Estonia with Scotland type weather Raspberry because easy to multiply for free Strawberry can work too but only if you cover to catch early season high prices Garlic work well too just need lot of straw Asparagus if bio is overpriced and under produced. Need sandy soil dont care for salt If patient go for tree crops: Walnuts Chestnut Seaberry Plum Apple Pear You can do pasture chicken or duck or geese while the orchards grows in agro forestry style
@@Slymarbo-b5f I made much less than minimum wage at that time and think that if you will but unless you have done both, which I have, you can't understand the reality of the situation.
@@Slymarbo-b5fI have the easiest office job ever get a pension, full health care make 3 x the states min wage with 3 weeks vacation , 4 weeks sick and 13 holidays paid off . Government 10x better
I think in GA, I would grow pecans, with annual crops like garlic or shallots to provide a return while waiting for the trees. Once the trees are mature, forage and cattle can be raised when the nuts aren't falling. Pecans can be machine harvested. Much lower labor cost than vegetables and strawberries.
I was a market farmer and I’d replace the asparagus for salad greens. Also, if you have a finite amount of land, garlic may not work out so well as it needs a five year rotation cycle. Unless you have more annual crops you’ll run into problems pretty quickly. Also gotta say, I did very well with beets.
I was thinking colored chard will practically do all year round even in early winter in my country but it’s not that populair I guess despite the fact it looks great when displayed
@@hoidoei941 yeah, it’s gimmicky and while it looks good on the table, not the best veggie. I grow only a dark green, white stemmed variety with heavily crumpled leaves. It’s meaty, tender, tasty and vigorous.
@@gabrielness4306 garlic and other alliums suffer from fungal diseases, white rot and basal rot are notorious. Good to have a 3-4 year rotation and 5 years is best. That means if you want to grow an acre of garlic, you need to have at least three acres of land so you can stagger your rotation. Rotation is where you only plant a crop in one spot every few years, it’s helps the soil recover nutrient needs specific to each crop and prevent the buildup of disease and pests.
I worked on a veggie farm for years. Garlic is easy as to grow. It’s very hardy and not that susceptible to insects or disease. It can be a bit of a pain to weed over winter and spring but it’s worth it. If you can’t afford the garlic harvesting and processing machines, you can actually run a blade underneath raised beds to make them easier to pull. Pairing these with a consistent cash crop like brassicas (also easy as to grow, some problems with insects though) if you have the water keeps the cash flowing. My experience of field grown tomatoes is they are worth alot but are both difficult and extremely time consuming. They’re also an expensive crop to get in the ground. Tl;dr grow garlic. If you get your hands on some cool varieties can bring in the dollars. P.s. a nice chipping tater is a good crop as well.
I really appreciate the breakdown. It's not for sustainability or prepping, but for integrating with the local food system. While I won't be doing this on a commercial scale, it's a good heads up for wannabe gardeners.
Hi, I'm starting my 2nd year on my 2 acre market garden and still really have no idea what I'm doing. I appreciate your video to help narrow down what to grow as I have been trying to grow everything... and it's been mind boggling as it's just me.. :/ Thanks again!!
I’m in my sixth year market gardening in Oklahoma. In my area salad greens, okra and tomatoes amount to 90 percent of my sales. Anything else is table filler.
Me and my wife were just trying to figure out the crops that will make us an income when we leave for our homestead next year .This is definitely a blessing and great information thank you.
No it's not a blessing at all. He's a moron and is setting you up for failure. Asparagus takes years to produce, unless you pay a ton of money for established plants. Strawberries have tons of issues without chemicals and fertilizer inputs. Garlic has to be overwintered to produce good bulbs so you're dependent on the right season. Grow salad greens, carrots, zucchini/squash and any other easy fast producing vegetable that's commonly eaten.
Strawberries... Literally the first crop that you REALLY need to find out if you can grow them in your region with success. The CSA local to me stopped growing them because the effort to profit ratio was impossibly negative.
I recommend a cash crop for each month. Early season could be field greens aka baby lettuce. These 3 crops in this vid are excellent suggestions. If you have a shady damp corner on your land, set up a mushroom operation.
haha I experimented with edible mushrooms on a garage that was empty for a few months before being rented out, it grew nicely, but I wouldn't know how it qualified in terms of taste since it was grown out of used coffee grounds mixed with cardboard... do you have experience with mushrooms? is their nutritional value still good even if they feed off stuff like that? I hear coffee make them taste bitter
I definitely agree with the video although it depends on your area. Here in Canada I grow raspberries not strawberries as they are cheap from California. In fact kale is huge here.
The other thing not mentioned is rotation. Strawberries will last 2-3 years, then you follow with 2 crops of garlic. After the garlic you can put in a winter crop of kale, cauli, broccoli or cabbage any kind of into-winter or over winter crop. The next year you can do roots (not advised to do roots after garlic). Then follow with another into winter/overwinter crop and you can plant strawberries again without much of the root fungus that affects strawberries
As a clueless white collar what I wonder the most is ...how do you sell? Do you pull up your truck loaded with strawberries in front of local Kroger and ask for the manager? Or you show up at local farmers market and try to sell there?
Your own vegetable stand. Or farmers market. Around my area if you want to sell at Kroger iga anything really, you have to get an appointment with the city council and discuss your process and what they want from you. A hassle trust me. Just set up your own vegetable stand in a busy location and sell it on your own
The video features a conversation with the head farmer at the Eden Valley Institute of Wellness who provides insights on the top three crops that could bring in profits for a family farming on two acres of land. The three crops are strawberries, garlic, and asparagus. Strawberries are easy to grow and sell well, while garlic and asparagus require less maintenance and offer longer harvesting periods. Tomatoes are not recommended for beginners due to the complexity of growing them in a greenhouse. The video provides valuable insights for families looking to start their own farm and make a living off it.
So recommendations are: Strawberry which need a lot more work than a lot of other crops, asparagus which I need to wait 3 years or garlic which grows over the winter months. I go for the latter...It all depends where you live. We do potatoes which cost us maybe 10-20% what we get per kg, Other high margin crops, a bit tricky to grow are bell peppers, chili and tomatoes. Chose indeterminate varieties like Jalapenos for a chili (they grow like hell) or the Verona Tomato for continuous harvest during the season and not to have all of them ready at once (determinate varieties). Easier to sell. *tips hat*
This is a fantastic video. Your choice of people to interview was the best. He really knows his business. Knowing the possible return on investment was very helpful. Thank you for sharing.
For semi arid warm climates, my go to will be cantalupe. You can tie and hang them in a ventilated dry shack and they last up for the whole winter. For rotation, my choice is double cropping heirloom wheat/sesame seeds for the second year. Third year if the soil needs some rest, I go vetch/opium poppy, then start the cycle again.
@@peachykeen7634 ruclips.net/video/n_t7Cy1tMFs/видео.html Not every kind of cantaloupe lasts that long thought. Its called “Kırkağaç” a turkish variety, its very popular in western Turkey and lasts until end of winter if treated this way.
Yeah, they're freaking huge. Not only that. They produce for a pretty long time, are easy to grow and manage. And are also fairly easy to integrate into a poly crop.
I agree with strawberries, but it's a work on your hands and knees or in the asian squat. But the math doesn’t add up in this context: 150 pints a week, at an inflated $7/pint and even giving a generous season of 8 weeks does not add up to $40k, its under 10, and most likely 6, take away infrastructure, and it’s a hobby, not an income.
In England a lot of Pick Your Own farms are now producing strawberries on raised tables. Yes its more expensive than just in the ground but customers are more likely to want to pick in this way so increasing the likliehood of sales 😊
@@y0nd3r Oh ok, I know they have a good agriculture program! Hopefully you can find another place, if I find some other place I’ll post it here for you.
Being in northern New Mexico, these crops are really doable for us. We already have wild asparagus growing along the ditch. We just want enough to eat and can plus share. Thanks for something so practical!
The challenge is finding customers and the market. Sure, some local supermarkets have the autonomy to purchase local, but usually at a deeply discounted - below market price. Farmers markets are good, but these are most successful in population centers. With most small farms in rural areas, forming a coop to centralize shipping and marketing to farmers markets in those population centers would be advantageous.
I guessed you were going to say garlic. I heard black berries and raspberries produce more for the same areas as strawberries. Strawberries though can be grown hydroponically which allows vertical farming which produces dramatically more with way less water and no soil, and can even be done indoors year round.
I dunno about blackberries but raspberries are a real chore to deal with. They take a couple years to bear fruit so you have to buy older plants, they're thorny, need to be staked up to keep the vines from ground spreading and rerooting, and need to be harvested by hand or the whole plant gets destroyed and 2-3 years of plant growth goes down the drain. I've personally only grown them in my yard once, because they came with the house and i did my best to fertilize and make them productive but in the end, the berries weren't sweet at all. 2 years of trying before i gave up on them. Blueberries and strawberries have done great though, with minimal work.
@@pvp6077 My raspberries fruit first year but the second year is when they are big and start putting out good yields and saplings. I have never staked a raspberry been growing them for 4 years many different varieties. Gold varieties seem to grow the easiest.
Good examples of small homestead crops, but remember to keep an open mind for possibilities - you are better off finding a niche market that no one else is filling then trying to beat the competition with the same product. Garlic really IS a great homestead starter, as it is infinitely scalable, and can be started for a very low investment. White softneck varieties sell at market for as much as $3/bulb, though the grower won't get that much - this kind of garlic is sold for $1-1.50/bulb all year long as seed garlic, and you can bet $1.25/bulb will move sometime between harvest and planting time. That is about $4/square foot of garden space, and a market that is hard to saturate. Get some rare heirloom varieties, and you can command much higher prices for your garlic - or any other plant you can think of. I am fortunate to live in a place where no one else is growing corn for miles .. an otherwise sheltered valley, where I can grow a rare heirloom variety of corn. Sold as fresh corn, it wouldn't amount to much. As a decoration or novelty, the ears can sell quite well, and as seed, they are quite valuable. Finding things with cultural value helps in establishing a place in a profitable niche. If it is unique and has a compelling story, you can sell it.
I woulda thought strawberries are difficult; botrytis and brown rot a definite issue I thought. At least for me where I am tomatoes straight in the ground seem to work great. Start them from seed or whatever early season and put them out as soon as possible. Do some shoot selection. Make sure they have enough calcium, potassium and phosphorus with sufficient nitrogen early season. Water them right. 10-15 lbs per plant. That can translate to to 50 tons per acre or more. Can make into sauce or paste. I really don't understand how tomatoes cost what they do because for me they are the easiest thing to grow. Just 15 plants in a row can translate into 500-600$ in a mere 30 sq ft.
Root vegetables (Sweet Potato and Cassava) have worked very well for us. Purple Beans, green Beans and Cream Peas have also been winners, plus they are nitrogen fixing plants.
@@bimbonment We have the soil tested each year and last year our bean crop did very well with approx 50 lbs of notrogen procuded per 1/2 acre. Peanuts yield more nitrogen fpr some reason.
Planting thimble berries, pot, asparagus, and fruit trees. Plus have honey bees and bumble bees. We have wild strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, loganberries, cherries, service berries, maples for syrup, currants, and gooseberries. We have wild leeks aka ramps also. Asparagus grows great with strawberries. We harvest chaga mushrooms too. All but the asparagus and pot was on property to begin with.
Pumpkins are one of the fastest growing and easiest plants I have ever grown. Cinderella and buttercup are the best. Work great in raised beds. Strawberries are easy as well.
I'm very surprised you didn't say sweet potatoes. They are one of the easiest things to grow and repropagate. I think I will start strawberries now so I can have something going by spring.
its true, altho strawberry crops dont produce much, they are easy to grow and the fetch a high price. But thats because you cant harvest strawberries with machines without damaging the strawberries. Tho i would rathey recommend cucombers because they are easier to harvest, they produce more and fetch a high price. And you can pickle them the make them last forever and increase their value. Strawberries on the otherhand spoil fairly fast and if you cant find a buyer quickly you'll lose a lot. My second crop i recommend is potatoes, they are by far the easiest to grow and by far the most productive. Does require some hard work digging to havest them tho. But they stay good for very long times so long as they are kept away from light. They dont sell very high.but the sheer volume more then makes up for it and if you are struggling, potatpoes with a bit of meat will keep you alive because potatoes are rich in calories and carbs. And my 3rd crop recomendation is Radish, because it only takes 2 weeks to grow. If you find a good buyer like a grocery store or something that will buy lots they great for that.
This is very good, but there are other environments and local climates where strawberries, garlic or asparagus may not grow best. I'd like to see farmers from New England talk about this same subject. Thank you.
Yes, up here they do best with salad greens and specialty peppers or tomatoes. The strawberries are more u-pick farms and asparagus the agricultural department say takes up lots of space but that space could make lots more money with rotated crops. In fact crop rotation is ultimately what they recommend to get the most out of a space, over all dollar per square foot is with more crops grown in that space who ripen and get harvested to allow a second crop to come in. This was out of Cornell in NY.
Garlic grows In Canada and Mexico...and everywhere in between you have to pick the right varieties( there are a lot of growers in NY that you should be able to buy seed from.)
Thank you. I was just about to tear out most of my strawberries because they went from 8 plants last year to over 100 this season, and the runners are driving me crazy. Maybe I'll just move some of them.
You can also advertise them, sell or give them away. It can be a great way for others to get started with them, with healthy, fresh transplants, not that you have to give away much of your own, possibly precious top soil with it, but a little helps vrs. bare-root drying out, and they could being their own pots etc. to get them safely home in. OR you could pot these up and sell them as value-added, super-easy to transplant starts.
Alpine strawberries multiply by seed rather than runners, but marketing them would be extremely difficult (@ least in the USA; they may be better known in Europe and perhaps worthwhile if you can find expensive hotels and restaurants to buy them as gourmet specialties). The fruit is intensely flavorful, but doesn't keep, and is very tiny. Americans don't buy tiny.
@@Erewhon2024 Alpine strawberries grow wild here in the Pacific Northwest. They're pretty well known, and well established in a lot of the parks, and all around the lakes where I live. I have several plants in my garden. It isn't their size that presents as an issue, but rather that they ripen a few here, a few there, so it takes quite a while to get a good amount unless you have a LOT of plants. Or keep them in the freezer until you've gathered enough. Most people here just refer to them as wild strawberries. They take a lot of nutrients, far more than more commercially familiar varieties.
I found from selling at the farmers markets. All vegetables sell slow. Anything sweet sells. We live in a world of sugar. I personally eat very little sugar. Melons, peaches, apples, berries always sell out at my price. Eggs, cabbage, lettuce, tomatoes and other vegetables I sell some but take it home.
I think you have to replace strawberry plants every 3 years and you need to rotate them and I read you shouldn't plant them in the same spot for 6 or 7 years so how would you do that on a large scale?
We have a small family farmstead and we specialize in asian vegetables. No sense in us trying to compete with the local commercial farmers that do EVERYTHING and will steamroll you in the market. We grow the stuff you can't find in conventional grocery stores. We are on track to hit our targets and are building a larger customer base by the day.
Very smart! So many people try to compete with big farmers and grocery stores. Your plan is the way to be successful! Build your client base and grow veggies that people want that are hard to find.
I just grow whatever takes off. I planted like 12 plants and stayed with what took off. Some years things will grow good and other years they don’t grow good.
I really wish you guys would have went into the numbers more. Was that the net profit or gross from the strawberries? What about the profit from garlic and asparagus? How many labor hours are involved in the crops annually? How much are the farmers themselves making, not just the farm as an entity? How much does it cost to get started with garlic and asparagus? Etc Also...those strawberry plants looked incredibly healthy!
This will always depend on climate and markets. Strawberries are winter annuals (expensive: grown from transplants not seeds) in Florida, because the nematodes will wipe them out in the warm season. It is profitable to sell during winter (the rest of the country can't do it without a greenhouse), so many people do grow them (Tampa area I think), but it absolutely isn't cheap or easy due to the pest pressure.
I wouldn't recommend any new farmer try perennial crops out the gate, they are heavy fertility needles, and require mature infrastructure and well cultivated land to establish. If you buy in fertility, the cost is going to take longer to pay off. Salad, fast root crops, and small greenhouse production for a jump start against established farms is the best way to break into a market with product ahead of competition, and short rotations allow for more frequent cultivation of soil to keep mixing in lesser amounts of nutrients which cuts down on the overall initial cost and workload. I always run radish and mustard in new soil, but then again I move my farm every 3-4 years, so I'm teaching myself hydroponics so I can move my farm faster, haha
Great topic. Strawberry is tough here, birds gobble them down like crazy. I plant them because I like Birds. Tomato is easy here. I like Greens almost as much as Rabbits. Herbs do good here. I'm working to get Alpine Strawberry going using some Bird Nets. We shall see.
The dratted squirrels eat my strawberries and tomatoes. The little boogers come right up on my deck to get them. And the dog just greets them like buddies. Lol
![Seungmin "그렇게, 천천히, 우리(As we are)" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/kAzmhLHePqU/mqdefault.jpg)
To see Adner's channel here is a link youtube.com/@agriculturemadesimple6202. If you have any questions about this video or more for him.
I would like to know as much as possible about growing the strawberries. I got a little over an acre to work with. Tell me what you would have me do to be successful in growing the strawberries?
I live in GA. I have 1/4 acre that I could use to grow garlic. Do you sell to stores or general public and also how much to get started?
Strawberries, Asparagus and Garlic
Thank you!! You saved 9 minutes of my life! Very grateful!! 🥰✌️🇨🇦
@@galeparker1067 but without watching you don't know the why..
Funny, that’s exactly what I planted on my 4K m2.
@@RocketPipeTV Good choices! Asparagus beds need little management, strawberries will have babies to sell or do a Guerrilla-gardening thing (turn them loose! 🤣🥰), Garlic, don't know much about its ability to look after itself but, very medicanal....🥰
@@galeparker1067 I've herd that strawberries are natural companions to asparagus too, so maybe you could grow them together and save space? Not sure how well that would work commercially
My top 3: Sativa, Indica & Hemp.
Cartel?
They sell well here.
😂
Do them all together 😅😂
Coca is in my top 4😂😂😂😂
Well this is really assuring, started growing garlic myself as a hobby income with only 40 plants to start and this year I planted roughly 14,000. I was diagnosed with Meniere's disease 3.5 years ago now and have switched mindset to make farming my full income, between garlic and chickens as my main production I should make around $30k in sales this year and hopefully in 2 years be able to pay myself enough to make a living again. Currently we are living off solely my wife's income so expanding is very slow and difficult, as well as pretty much every dollar the business makes goes right back into the business.
god bless you meniere's disease is no joke
If you can propogate successfully plant orchards... It raises the value of your farm (should something ever occur) it has very little input costs aswell. Bananas are fast growers and yield really fast (very easy crop) as are coconut trees planted in a diamond formation. If you in a colder climate nut trees are an awesome pension plan...
You can always plant row crops in between your orchards ( which is what I do) and have mushrooms as intacrops which is a fantastic way of reducing fertilizer and weeding, it incorporates worms homogeneously and if you rotate crops you'll have virtually a very lucrative business.
I've started incorporating flowers (marygolds,agapanthas ect) and am looking at bee hives in the near future to complete the ecosystem. This may sound market gardenish but I use a small cab tractor to plant and seed and it's really very little input labour wise as you end up mostly packaging and harvesting which is what one intends to do!
If you do plant orchards in this manner, stay away from all dwarf varieties and wait the extra few years as diseases will cripple your mixed crops and regardless what you told a natural non dwarf tree is far healthier with far more yields over a longer life cycle.
I propagated all my trees and after 2 years they don't even need water! I pray you recover and God bless
Yes garlic is easy to grow and not too much looking after planting ....
Who do you sell to? Local grocers? Farmers markets? I’d like to grow but don’t know what types of outfits to contact and sell to. Thanks in advance.
Awesome. I attended a chi kung healing course and someone there had Meniere's disease , after the second day they had no more vertigo and by the end they said it was gone.
Garlic is by far my favorite crop to grow for this exact reason! It's also a very easy sell to people since they know exactly what to do with it. Highly recommend.
If I were to start planting garlic, where would I find buyers? Thanks in advance!
yup!
@@HouseOfJabezfarmers markets, however don't shy away from contacting local restaurants and asking if they're wanting to source local.
@@HouseOfJabez I realize this is super late so I apologize but I generally just sell to individuals I know!
I know a lot of people who will gladly buy 10+ bulbs per season from me every year. One friend of mine comes from a German family and she bought 40 bulbs last year and came back a few months later for another 10. Restaurants can be really great if you have a significant volume, but otherwise the most money will really be from value-added products (think garlic sauces, garlic powders, fermented honey garlic, meat rubs etc) they require more work but it extends the shelf life and is easier for people to know what to do with them right away so you can get a higher profit margin.
Floridian here... We grow weeds, mosquitoes, and alligators...
Which is the BIGGEST?
No my family is from Florida I'm from Alabama it's oranges and peaches...
Alligator. The other other other white meat.
Don't forget meth heads 😂
🤣🤣🤣
While i definitely agrre with strawberries, I would argue that fast growing greens are the best profit. Baby salad greens, baby lettuce, arugula, spinach, etc. You're looking at 21-30 days to harvest. I get about 1lb per foot on a 48" wide bed. You can also harvest maybe every 7-10 days. $12-16/lb sale price. So on a 4' wide by 100' long bed, you're producing 100lbs per week or $1,200-$1,600 per week in gross profit. That translates to over $100,000 per acre for a crop that takes 3-4 weeks from seed to harvest. Of course, it's more specialized work, you need to be cultivating by hand, know how to harvest, wash, pack, and the most important part and most difficult part...sell it. Green onions (scallions) are another high profit crop.
its funny because another farming channel in australia went over lettuce as a cash crop. they had such a shortage of lettuce that hamburger fast food places switched to cabbage, and lettuce heads were selling for 12 dollars each. the shortage was due to flooding. but its an interesting point. lettuce CAN be quite profitable and its good to keep it in mind.
We have a farm that specializes in micro greens. Have no idea what they are, but they always seem to sell out whenever they have a crop in
Have you considered worm farming? They are selling for $55lb! I raise millions of worms to sell/fertilize my garden, and to show others how to care for them :) no acreage needed!
Since you mentioned these products...a farmer would be better served by not growing leafy greens , annual herbs, and strawberries in the outdoors in soil but rather grown indoors aeroponically.
No pests, no bolting & consistent year round continuous harvests.
Salad greens are fast and require little capital investment, but more difficult to grow and market than strawberries or garlic. I don't know about asparagus.
Lettuce is a steady income producer and sells well.
From my experience, if late summer and early autum is fairly free, i would suggest autum raspberries. They start to give berries in mid/late or late summer and finish at first frost nights. Labor intensive to collect them all, but close to zero work to maintain them
So many variables... Great video, this will surely stir up lots comments and some hidden knowledge..
I'm a farmer on the east coast of Australia, my choice for top three (certified organic) crops:
1. Turmeric
2. Garlic
3. Lemon myrtle
Been growing strawberries for 40 years their more work than most people will want to do.
I think leafy greens are the easiest crops for the time poor and beginners.
Most people don't have the spine to pick strawberries.
I hate to say it, but any farming is more work than most people will want to do now days. Just a random thought though, if space is an issue, can use tower-like raised beds to stuff in more strawberry plants per foot and make it easier to tend to them compared to getting on the ground.
@@MCRnursery
That's a given. Westerners are severely de-conditioned, and generally unfit for physical labor.
I manage a 400 square meter vegetable garden on my own, and grow 75% from seed.
This garden is in the retirement village I live in. I conceived, arranged approval, started, and maintain the garden on my own.
I sell produce on Saturday mornings to residents.
No one else wants to help me, not even to water twice a week.
I do it because it relaxes me and I sleep better. But if I had helpers we could increase production by expanding the garden.
I started the garden as a way to get more people eating healthier and active.
I've failed at the second goal.
This has changed my view on humans.
I used to think I should try and help everyone equally.
I now think I should only help those who are willing to help themselves.......just like God!!!
@@helicart Well, you have to keep in mind the kind of society people grow up in now. Even at the basic level of schooling, they aren't trained in dealing with the sometimes difficult work that comes with life. There is little to no physical training anymore (concerning hard work). Parents aren't allowed to put their kids to work in the vegetable garden anymore, many parents wouldn't have one anyway as they say they have no time or energy. Busy busy busy doing this and doing that to have a life full of stuff and fluff and always hoping that one new thing or that one new event will make them happy. Happiness is what you make it, and sometimes it's a lot of work, but usually satisfying work. I think more people would love to garden and have a vegetable patch if only they knew how to simplify their lives and learn to be happy regardless of what they have or have not. I grew up with gardens and vegetable patches. My grandparents always had a vegetable patch. The year he stopped is the year I knew he wasn't far from leaving us himself. I grew up in the society of consumerism but I did manage to hold onto some of my roots. I wish they were stronger, but better than what I see with many people.
@@MCRnursery
Much truth in what you say.
Nevertheless, one should not blindly and apathetically take their values from 'society', especially when social constructs are being replaced by all sorts of subversive and destructive intents.
This is why America values individual freedoms, so that we may all seek values that lead to greater happiness.
It is poor parenting to allow children to be patsys of popular culture.
In my country,for this spring it would be green onions,cilantro and amaranth for quick money; then potatoes,onions,garlic,ginger and okra.
your country suriname ?
Wow.
This was so amazing.
I don’t even know how I came across this video but I am grateful that I did.
This really just got me thinking…..
Thank you.
In Estonia with Scotland type weather
Raspberry because easy to multiply for free
Strawberry can work too but only if you cover to catch early season high prices
Garlic work well too just need lot of straw
Asparagus if bio is overpriced and under produced. Need sandy soil dont care for salt
If patient go for tree crops:
Walnuts
Chestnut
Seaberry
Plum
Apple
Pear
You can do pasture chicken or duck or geese while the orchards grows in agro forestry style
I picked strawberries at a local orchard when I was a teenager and it is back breaking work.
Much better than sitting in office for a minimum wage
@@Slymarbo-b5f I made much less than minimum wage at that time and think that if you will but unless you have done both, which I have, you can't understand the reality of the situation.
Me too. Hardest work I ever did
@@Slymarbo-b5fI have the easiest office job ever get a pension, full health care make 3 x the states min wage with 3 weeks vacation , 4 weeks sick and 13 holidays paid off . Government 10x better
Rabbits love strawberries. Asparagus does well in central GA. Garlic grows well here.
I think in GA, I would grow pecans, with annual crops like garlic or shallots to provide a return while waiting for the trees. Once the trees are mature, forage and cattle can be raised when the nuts aren't falling. Pecans can be machine harvested. Much lower labor cost than vegetables and strawberries.
I was a market farmer and I’d replace the asparagus for salad greens. Also, if you have a finite amount of land, garlic may not work out so well as it needs a five year rotation cycle. Unless you have more annual crops you’ll run into problems pretty quickly. Also gotta say, I did very well with beets.
I was thinking colored chard will practically do all year round even in early winter in my country but it’s not that populair I guess despite the fact it looks great when displayed
what do you mean a 5 year rotation cycle?
thanks!
@@hoidoei941 yeah, it’s gimmicky and while it looks good on the table, not the best veggie. I grow only a dark green, white stemmed variety with heavily crumpled leaves. It’s meaty, tender, tasty and vigorous.
@@gabrielness4306 garlic and other alliums suffer from fungal diseases, white rot and basal rot are notorious. Good to have a 3-4 year rotation and 5 years is best. That means if you want to grow an acre of garlic, you need to have at least three acres of land so you can stagger your rotation. Rotation is where you only plant a crop in one spot every few years, it’s helps the soil recover nutrient needs specific to each crop and prevent the buildup of disease and pests.
@@anthonymatthews3698 thanks a bunch. very informative
I worked on a veggie farm for years. Garlic is easy as to grow. It’s very hardy and not that susceptible to insects or disease. It can be a bit of a pain to weed over winter and spring but it’s worth it. If you can’t afford the garlic harvesting and processing machines, you can actually run a blade underneath raised beds to make them easier to pull. Pairing these with a consistent cash crop like brassicas (also easy as to grow, some problems with insects though) if you have the water keeps the cash flowing.
My experience of field grown tomatoes is they are worth alot but are both difficult and extremely time consuming. They’re also an expensive crop to get in the ground.
Tl;dr grow garlic. If you get your hands on some cool varieties can bring in the dollars.
P.s. a nice chipping tater is a good crop as well.
I would do winter squash, garlic/onion, cabbage/sauerkraut, peppers.
I really appreciate the breakdown. It's not for sustainability or prepping, but for integrating with the local food system. While I won't be doing this on a commercial scale, it's a good heads up for wannabe gardeners.
Hi, I'm starting my 2nd year on my 2 acre market garden and still really have no idea what I'm doing. I appreciate your video to help narrow down what to grow as I have been trying to grow everything... and it's been mind boggling as it's just me.. :/ Thanks again!!
What state are you growing in?
@@reah5785 I'm in the foothills of Northern, CA.. Shasta County
I’m in my sixth year market gardening in Oklahoma. In my area salad greens, okra and tomatoes amount to 90 percent of my sales. Anything else is table filler.
@@WiLNorCaL Waving Hi from Eastern Shasta County
I grow passionfruit in New Zealand and you can also grow foliage or flowers for florists as a 2nd crop.
Me and my wife were just trying to figure out the crops that will make us an income when we leave for our homestead next year .This is definitely a blessing and great information thank you.
You are welcome. I appreciate my friend Adner’s input on these crops.
Think about a pond to grow protein, fish, cardas. Save water when tanks are not available
just mix up your crops, best life insurance there is. Check out syntropic agriculture.
No it's not a blessing at all. He's a moron and is setting you up for failure. Asparagus takes years to produce, unless you pay a ton of money for established plants. Strawberries have tons of issues without chemicals and fertilizer inputs. Garlic has to be overwintered to produce good bulbs so you're dependent on the right season. Grow salad greens, carrots, zucchini/squash and any other easy fast producing vegetable that's commonly eaten.
Remember to add minerals to your soil. You only gotta do that shit about every ten years and makes the food you consume more nutrient dense.
Strawberries... Literally the first crop that you REALLY need to find out if you can grow them in your region with success. The CSA local to me stopped growing them because the effort to profit ratio was impossibly negative.
I recommend a cash crop for each month. Early season could be field greens aka baby lettuce. These 3 crops in this vid are excellent suggestions. If you have a shady damp corner on your land, set up a mushroom operation.
My brother-in-law was just telling me about doing this exact thing.
haha I experimented with edible mushrooms on a garage that was empty for a few months before being rented out, it grew nicely, but I wouldn't know how it qualified in terms of taste since it was grown out of used coffee grounds mixed with cardboard... do you have experience with mushrooms? is their nutritional value still good even if they feed off stuff like that? I hear coffee make them taste bitter
but in terms of growing in itself, yeah it grew without issues or little care 🤣
Some interesting insights. I wouldn’t have guessed those 3 crops, but it makes a lot of sense.
I definitely agree with the video although it depends on your area. Here in Canada I grow raspberries not strawberries as they are cheap from California. In fact kale is huge here.
You are absolutely right. You have to do things regionally. Make sure what you are going to do works well in your area and has a market. Blessings.
I looked into this over sixty years ago and passionfruit came out on top. Strawberries are good bird food
Nice easy explanation and style of presentation. Thank you sir.
Strawberries, Garlic, Asparagus. You're welcome
The other thing not mentioned is rotation. Strawberries will last 2-3 years, then you follow with 2 crops of garlic. After the garlic you can put in a winter crop of kale, cauli, broccoli or cabbage any kind of into-winter or over winter crop. The next year you can do roots (not advised to do roots after garlic). Then follow with another into winter/overwinter crop and you can plant strawberries again without much of the root fungus that affects strawberries
As a clueless white collar what I wonder the most is ...how do you sell? Do you pull up your truck loaded with strawberries in front of local Kroger and ask for the manager? Or you show up at local farmers market and try to sell there?
Your own vegetable stand. Or farmers market. Around my area if you want to sell at Kroger iga anything really, you have to get an appointment with the city council and discuss your process and what they want from you. A hassle trust me. Just set up your own vegetable stand in a busy location and sell it on your own
can you sell directly to restaurants?
The video features a conversation with the head farmer at the Eden Valley Institute of Wellness who provides insights on the top three crops that could bring in profits for a family farming on two acres of land. The three crops are strawberries, garlic, and asparagus. Strawberries are easy to grow and sell well, while garlic and asparagus require less maintenance and offer longer harvesting periods. Tomatoes are not recommended for beginners due to the complexity of growing them in a greenhouse. The video provides valuable insights for families looking to start their own farm and make a living off it.
Very impressive young man! incredible accomplishments in agriculture
So recommendations are: Strawberry which need a lot more work than a lot of other crops, asparagus which I need to wait 3 years or garlic which grows over the winter months. I go for the latter...It all depends where you live. We do potatoes which cost us maybe 10-20% what we get per kg, Other high margin crops, a bit tricky to grow are bell peppers, chili and tomatoes. Chose indeterminate varieties like Jalapenos for a chili (they grow like hell) or the Verona Tomato for continuous harvest during the season and not to have all of them ready at once (determinate varieties). Easier to sell. *tips hat*
This is a fantastic video. Your choice of people to interview was the best. He really knows his business. Knowing the possible return on investment was very helpful.
Thank you for sharing.
I am always looking at what works for others.
This was a good one.
I love your channel. Godly man talking about homesteading and living self sufficiently. Awesome content. Any plans in getting a freeze dryer?
I have considered it and would love it. I am a big fan of freeze drying. I believe it is the best method of preserving food.
So practical with the financials too!
Excellent
Love to hear advice from people who actually do it.
For semi arid warm climates, my go to will be cantalupe. You can tie and hang them in a ventilated dry shack and they last up for the whole winter. For rotation, my choice is double cropping heirloom wheat/sesame seeds for the second year. Third year if the soil needs some rest, I go vetch/opium poppy, then start the cycle again.
Huh? They last all winter??? Do you have a link..? I need to learn how to preserve them
@@peachykeen7634 ruclips.net/video/n_t7Cy1tMFs/видео.html
Not every kind of cantaloupe lasts that long thought. Its called “Kırkağaç” a turkish variety, its very popular in western Turkey and lasts until end of winter if treated this way.
Strawberries are a lot bigger now than when I was a kid. I feel confident that makes harvesting a lot easier.
Yeah, they're freaking huge. Not only that. They produce for a pretty long time, are easy to grow and manage. And are also fairly easy to integrate into a poly crop.
@@Neoprenesiren Thanks.
12-21-24. It is 46*F in Plant City, Florida this morning. Its in Hillsborough, fl.
As far as the eye can see!!
I agree with strawberries, but it's a work on your hands and knees or in the asian squat. But the math doesn’t add up in this context: 150 pints a week, at an inflated $7/pint and even giving a generous season of 8 weeks does not add up to $40k, its under 10, and most likely 6, take away infrastructure, and it’s a hobby, not an income.
In England a lot of Pick Your Own farms are now producing strawberries on raised tables. Yes its more expensive than just in the ground but customers are more likely to want to pick in this way so increasing the likliehood of sales 😊
Great video! Could you do one on marketing these crops? Growing is one thing, selling is another…
Thanks again!
Check Eden Valley institute, they about to start an agriculture program soon that’s one of the class they will be teaching, is marketing !
@@3xplore777 just checked it out.
They are a religious outfit.
Absolute deal breaker.
@@y0nd3r Oh ok, I know they have a good agriculture program! Hopefully you can find another place, if I find some other place I’ll post it here for you.
@@y0nd3r LMFAO!
@@y0nd3r Eden in the name might have tipped you off 😉
Thank you so much for this interview. 👍
I really enjoyed this video more of these type of videos would be awesome
Hopefully many more will be coming on subjects like this. Blessings.
Being in northern New Mexico, these crops are really doable for us. We already have wild asparagus growing along the ditch. We just want enough to eat and can plus share. Thanks for something so practical!
The great thing is these can grown in some more difficult climates.
Thank you! May you have a Blessed New Year!
The challenge is finding customers and the market. Sure, some local supermarkets have the autonomy to purchase local, but usually at a deeply discounted - below market price. Farmers markets are good, but these are most successful in population centers. With most small farms in rural areas, forming a coop to centralize shipping and marketing to farmers markets in those population centers would be advantageous.
Thanks Chad!!! Another great video. God bless you!
Some great tips. You do almost nothing with asparagus, except harvest and put them to sleep in fall, chop down, and they are hardy…
Thank you for this info! Love ideas for making money on a homestead. Need to give my husband some vision for moving to the country! 😀
Lol,were there is a will there is a way.thid video may be your answer.stsrt packing. Lol
Don't overlook Stevia. It's also relatively easy to grow and provide good return.
I think the average person doesnt really know what to do with it
Thanks, Chad! I appreciate all the info you share in your videos. Hope you're having a wonderful summer!
Adner? Abner? I couldn't catch your name but I'd like to thank you. That was clear , logical, and very helpful.
in my area, cabbage, lettuce, green onion, and cilantro are very popular. you can't get enough of them in stock.
I guessed you were going to say garlic.
I heard black berries and raspberries produce more for the same areas as strawberries.
Strawberries though can be grown hydroponically which allows vertical farming which produces dramatically more with way less water and no soil, and can even be done indoors year round.
I dunno about blackberries but raspberries are a real chore to deal with. They take a couple years to bear fruit so you have to buy older plants, they're thorny, need to be staked up to keep the vines from ground spreading and rerooting, and need to be harvested by hand or the whole plant gets destroyed and 2-3 years of plant growth goes down the drain.
I've personally only grown them in my yard once, because they came with the house and i did my best to fertilize and make them productive but in the end, the berries weren't sweet at all. 2 years of trying before i gave up on them. Blueberries and strawberries have done great though, with minimal work.
@@pvp6077 they have varieties that fruit every year for both blackberries and raspberries
Most blackberry plants grow sideways unlike raspberries that grow tall and spread with saplings that you can transplant.
@@pvp6077 My raspberries fruit first year but the second year is when they are big and start putting out good yields and saplings. I have never staked a raspberry been growing them for 4 years many different varieties. Gold varieties seem to grow the easiest.
How do you find out who to sell to? Farmers markets or do you approach grocery stores? Do you approach individual food companies?
Get some experience working for some other farms. Don't get these questions answered on RUclips
@@dak7302 thank you- best advice
Good examples of small homestead crops, but remember to keep an open mind for possibilities - you are better off finding a niche market that no one else is filling then trying to beat the competition with the same product. Garlic really IS a great homestead starter, as it is infinitely scalable, and can be started for a very low investment. White softneck varieties sell at market for as much as $3/bulb, though the grower won't get that much - this kind of garlic is sold for $1-1.50/bulb all year long as seed garlic, and you can bet $1.25/bulb will move sometime between harvest and planting time. That is about $4/square foot of garden space, and a market that is hard to saturate. Get some rare heirloom varieties, and you can command much higher prices for your garlic - or any other plant you can think of. I am fortunate to live in a place where no one else is growing corn for miles .. an otherwise sheltered valley, where I can grow a rare heirloom variety of corn. Sold as fresh corn, it wouldn't amount to much. As a decoration or novelty, the ears can sell quite well, and as seed, they are quite valuable. Finding things with cultural value helps in establishing a place in a profitable niche. If it is unique and has a compelling story, you can sell it.
I woulda thought strawberries are difficult; botrytis and brown rot a definite issue I thought. At least for me where I am tomatoes straight in the ground seem to work great. Start them from seed or whatever early season and put them out as soon as possible. Do some shoot selection. Make sure they have enough calcium, potassium and phosphorus with sufficient nitrogen early season. Water them right. 10-15 lbs per plant. That can translate to to 50 tons per acre or more. Can make into sauce or paste. I really don't understand how tomatoes cost what they do because for me they are the easiest thing to grow. Just 15 plants in a row can translate into 500-600$ in a mere 30 sq ft.
Hey Chad great to see you . All of us in Northern Maine miss you . Say hi to Fadia.
South Texas here. We grow cactus, Mesquite trees and gophers
Root vegetables (Sweet Potato and Cassava) have worked very well for us. Purple Beans, green Beans and Cream Peas have also been winners, plus they are nitrogen fixing plants.
I love cassava. Too cold to grow where I live though. But it is a great food.
if you harvest the beans do you still benefit from the nitrogen fixation or maybe you lose a percentage?, leaving the roots i imagine? thanks!
@@bimbonment We have the soil tested each year and last year our bean crop did very well with approx 50 lbs of notrogen procuded per 1/2 acre. Peanuts yield more nitrogen fpr some reason.
Planting garlic this fall, can’t wait till spring to add more strawberries and asparagus
Plant City, Florida - just east of Tampa is the Winter Strawberry Capitol of America! The stawberry festival is coming real soon. Today it 12-21-24
Planting thimble berries, pot, asparagus, and fruit trees. Plus have honey bees and bumble bees. We have wild strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, loganberries, cherries, service berries, maples for syrup, currants, and gooseberries. We have wild leeks aka ramps also. Asparagus grows great with strawberries. We harvest chaga mushrooms too. All but the asparagus and pot was on property to begin with.
It's the Charlie Brown in me, but I want a Pumpkin Farm, NM or CO area. Strawberries, Pumpkins & Asparagus would be the dream.
Pumpkins are one of the fastest growing and easiest plants I have ever grown. Cinderella and buttercup are the best. Work great in raised beds. Strawberries are easy as well.
I can't thank you enough for this - God bless
I will always cheer for you in Korea I'm looking forward to a great video. Have a nice day.
Nice farm videos Keep up the good Workin educational videos.
I'm very surprised you didn't say sweet potatoes. They are one of the easiest things to grow and repropagate. I think I will start strawberries now so I can have something going by spring.
As far as I know sweet potatoes don't do that well in moderate to cold climates. That doesn't keep me from trying, though 😋
@@ingevankeirsbilck9601 Fair enough, I live in Zone 10, I can grow them all year round. I forget this fact sometimes.
@@thelastdragon3242where in zone 10 if i may ask? Thanks
@@Mark300win Jensen Beach
its true, altho strawberry crops dont produce much, they are easy to grow and the fetch a high price. But thats because you cant harvest strawberries with machines without damaging the strawberries. Tho i would rathey recommend cucombers because they are easier to harvest, they produce more and fetch a high price. And you can pickle them the make them last forever and increase their value. Strawberries on the otherhand spoil fairly fast and if you cant find a buyer quickly you'll lose a lot.
My second crop i recommend is potatoes, they are by far the easiest to grow and by far the most productive. Does require some hard work digging to havest them tho. But they stay good for very long times so long as they are kept away from light. They dont sell very high.but the sheer volume more then makes up for it and if you are struggling, potatpoes with a bit of meat will keep you alive because potatoes are rich in calories and carbs.
And my 3rd crop recomendation is Radish, because it only takes 2 weeks to grow. If you find a good buyer like a grocery store or something that will buy lots they great for that.
Thanks for doing this interview! I live in Colorado and want to start a small farm soon in a few years.
This is very good, but there are other environments and local climates where strawberries, garlic or asparagus may not grow best. I'd like to see farmers from New England talk about this same subject. Thank you.
Yes, up here they do best with salad greens and specialty peppers or tomatoes. The strawberries are more u-pick farms and asparagus the agricultural department say takes up lots of space but that space could make lots more money with rotated crops. In fact crop rotation is ultimately what they recommend to get the most out of a space, over all dollar per square foot is with more crops grown in that space who ripen and get harvested to allow a second crop to come in. This was out of Cornell in NY.
@@Skitdora2010 awesome information, thank you!
Garlic grows In Canada and Mexico...and everywhere in between you have to pick the right varieties( there are a lot of growers in NY that you should be able to buy seed from.)
Hadn’t thought about asparagus thanks for that tip
This is my new favorite channel
Thanks! plenty garlic, now focusing on the strawberry, and asparagus.🌻🥰🌻🙏
Pennsylvania. Strawberries: Red Stelae and deer. Garlic: Allium leaf miner. Asparagus: Heavy clay soil.
Thank you. I was just about to tear out most of my strawberries because they went from 8 plants last year to over 100 this season, and the runners are driving me crazy. Maybe I'll just move some of them.
Right! Move them, sell them, gift them, "guerilla-garden" with them, etc......🥰🇨🇦
You can also advertise them, sell or give them away. It can be a great way for others to get started with them, with healthy, fresh transplants, not that you have to give away much of your own, possibly precious top soil with it, but a little helps vrs. bare-root drying out, and they could being their own pots etc. to get them safely home in. OR you could pot these up and sell them as value-added, super-easy to transplant starts.
Alpine strawberries multiply by seed rather than runners, but marketing them would be extremely difficult (@ least in the USA; they may be better known in Europe and perhaps worthwhile if you can find expensive hotels and restaurants to buy them as gourmet specialties). The fruit is intensely flavorful, but doesn't keep, and is very tiny. Americans don't buy tiny.
@@Erewhon2024 Alpine strawberries grow wild here in the Pacific Northwest. They're pretty well known, and well established in a lot of the parks, and all around the lakes where I live. I have several plants in my garden. It isn't their size that presents as an issue, but rather that they ripen a few here, a few there, so it takes quite a while to get a good amount unless you have a LOT of plants. Or keep them in the freezer until you've gathered enough. Most people here just refer to them as wild strawberries. They take a lot of nutrients, far more than more commercially familiar varieties.
150-200 pints per week would only make you $200-$300 per week. How does that equate to $30-$40k.
Who can you sell all those strawberries to? Growing is the easy part, transport and sales seems tougher.
I found from selling at the farmers markets. All vegetables sell slow. Anything sweet sells. We live in a world of sugar. I personally eat very little sugar. Melons, peaches, apples, berries always sell out at my price. Eggs, cabbage, lettuce, tomatoes and other vegetables I sell some but take it home.
I think you have to replace strawberry plants every 3 years and you need to rotate them and I read you shouldn't plant them in the same spot for 6 or 7 years so how would you do that on a large scale?
Where do you sell the crop?
This is great information. Lots of good specific details.
We have a small family farmstead and we specialize in asian vegetables. No sense in us trying to compete with the local commercial farmers that do EVERYTHING and will steamroll you in the market. We grow the stuff you can't find in conventional grocery stores. We are on track to hit our targets and are building a larger customer base by the day.
Very smart! So many people try to compete with big farmers and grocery stores. Your plan is the way to be successful! Build your client base and grow veggies that people want that are hard to find.
@redsunsmr284 That's awesome. What varieties of asian vegetables do you grow?
It takes A LOT of water to grow strawberries. You will be draining the water table as you grow. It happened in Henniker NH.
the guy in the video is the reason the Colorado river is drying up
I just grow whatever takes off. I planted like 12 plants and stayed with what took off. Some years things will grow good and other years they don’t grow good.
Means
@@tejigill8062 come again
@@VoodooViking difficult to learn English
Income from your plants not good ?
@@tejigill8062 understood and not a problem on language and meaning. I just grow a few for consumption. Very Small garden.
I really wish you guys would have went into the numbers more. Was that the net profit or gross from the strawberries? What about the profit from garlic and asparagus? How many labor hours are involved in the crops annually? How much are the farmers themselves making, not just the farm as an entity? How much does it cost to get started with garlic and asparagus? Etc
Also...those strawberry plants looked incredibly healthy!
Would have GONE into the numbers*
The farmer might not be comfortable disclosing such information, I mean would you be for your business? He might not want more competition
if he is paying tribute i would guess his profits would shrink from 30k to about 12k after all costs.
Here strawberries, garlic harvest are around the same time. We chose garlic.
This will always depend on climate and markets. Strawberries are winter annuals (expensive: grown from transplants not seeds) in Florida, because the nematodes will wipe them out in the warm season. It is profitable to sell during winter (the rest of the country can't do it without a greenhouse), so many people do grow them (Tampa area I think), but it absolutely isn't cheap or easy due to the pest pressure.
Whoa that’s wild! Amazing how that climate shift changes everything. They grow pretty easily here in VA
Yikes. I'm in Alabama so you just helped me lots!
Central Coast of California we had lots of strawberry fields everywhere. Lots of great soil and rarely freezes...
I would fit in some herbs in there also. I did oregano, rosemary, basil
I have 2 acres high and rocky. I have raised beds and a small orchard. I don't market grow, but I grow a big variety for the table.
Means
Very interesting. Also explains why there are so many small strawberry farms near me
my grandmother grew strawberries and had honey bees that she sold honey at a road side stand.
1/4 acre strawberries is about 50 x 200. Almost hard to believe the income stated.
yes - I found that VERY DIFFICULT to believe... 30-40K on a quarter acre???
Perfect ad placement 😂. Love the video
Rutabaga, turnip and artichoke. Great at bean suppers - masks the smell.
I wouldn't recommend any new farmer try perennial crops out the gate, they are heavy fertility needles, and require mature infrastructure and well cultivated land to establish. If you buy in fertility, the cost is going to take longer to pay off.
Salad, fast root crops, and small greenhouse production for a jump start against established farms is the best way to break into a market with product ahead of competition, and short rotations allow for more frequent cultivation of soil to keep mixing in lesser amounts of nutrients which cuts down on the overall initial cost and workload. I always run radish and mustard in new soil, but then again I move my farm every 3-4 years, so I'm teaching myself hydroponics so I can move my farm faster, haha
Great topic. Strawberry is tough here, birds gobble them down like crazy. I plant them because I like Birds. Tomato is easy here. I like Greens almost as much as Rabbits. Herbs do good here.
I'm working to get Alpine Strawberry going using some Bird Nets. We shall see.
The dratted squirrels eat my strawberries and tomatoes. The little boogers come right up on my deck to get them. And the dog just greets them like buddies. Lol