Hello everyone,
I'm on a mission to find examples of "thriving farms." Will you help me find them? Perhaps YOU are one of these farms?
Here's what I consider to be a thriving farm:
- Pays its farmers a living wage (earning enough to live with some comfort and security and put away some money for savings/retirement)
- Affords the farmer enough time and mental/emotional bandwidth to tend to other aspects of life (finding a life partner, spending time with friends/family, keeping up with domestic responsibilities, traveling, etc.)
- Practices ecologically-conscientious management practices
- Facilitates a healthy work culture that promotes creativity, agency, and care
Do you know of any farms that fit this definition? If we can find these farms, perhaps we can learn from them and discover what they are doing differently.
My farm's background:
- I've been market gardening on San Juan Island since 2017
- Our farm has grown rapidly in response to the overwhelming demand for fresh produce -- we are now up to 1 acre of intensive production
- There seems to be no shortage of enthusiasm and demand
- We would continue to expand, but we are struggling to find and retain employees due to the housing crisis and high cost of living
- We offer customized online orders for pickup at our farm (up to twice per week) where we also have a farm stand
- We have received a ton of moral and financial support from our community
- We have developed a reputation for reliability and a high standard of quality
- We sell everything we grow and our prices are in the mid-high range
I've joined Cultivating Success to finally develop a business plan because, in spite of all of our advantages and successes, we have never once made a profit. After nearly a decade, I'm starting to feel the burnout. I really want to keep going, but I'm worried that the idea of "making a living by growing produce" is a quixotic dream -- at least, without major subsidization (private or government, monetary or non-monetary).
When I see farms that appear to be "thriving," I usually learn that the farmer...
- had started farming after retiring from a lucrative career (and doesn't need the farm to make a profit).
- subsidizes their farm with off-farm income (with another job or a spouse's income).
- subsidizes their food production by using their farm as a wedding/event venue.
- is actually just barely scraping by.
I would love it if Tilth Alliance could compile and publish something like this for farms in Washington State: The Market Gardener 2024 Financial Profile of Small Scale Farms.pdf
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Zachary Chan
New Hannah Farm
newhannahfarm@gmail.com
Call/text: (360) 298-1746
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