35% Profit Margin and Still Can't Pay the Bills (The Profit Trap)

After 10 years of analyzing crop economics, one crop keeps scoring a perfect five out of five on every profitability metric I track. It's not lettuce. It's not microgreens. It's carrots. Watch the video on our YouTube Channel!  Interested in watching the series? Hop on over to our YouTube Channel!   Subscribe for more content on sustainable farming, market farming tips, and business insights!   Get market farming tools, seeds, and supplies at Modern Grower. Follow Modern Grower:  Instagram  Instagram Listen to other podcasts on the Modern Grower Podcast Network:  Carrot Cashflow  Farm Small Farm Smart  Farm Small Farm Smart Daily  The Growing Microgreens Podcast  The Urban Farmer Podcast  The Rookie Farmer Podcast  In Search of Soil Podcast Check out Diego's books:  Sell Everything You Grow on Amazon   Ready Farmer One on Amazon **** Modern Grower and Diego Footer participate in the Amazon Services LLC. Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

Neil Robinson spent 20 years designing dishwashers and ovens for factory assembly lines. Then he quit and started a market garden. When I asked what transferred, he didn't say growing skills. He said: the way factories think about movement, waste, and process. Click here to learn more about Neil and Garden to Market. Watch the episode here! Interested in watching the series? Hop on over to our YouTube Channel!   Subscribe for more content on sustainable farming, market farming tips, and business insights!   Get market farming tools, seeds, and supplies at Modern Grower. Follow Modern Grower:  Instagram  Instagram Listen to other podcasts on the Modern Grower Podcast Network:  Carrot Cashflow  Farm Small Farm Smart  Farm Small Farm Smart Daily  The Growing Microgreens Podcast  The Urban Farmer Podcast  The Rookie Farmer Podcast  In Search of Soil Podcast Check out Diego's books:  Sell Everything You Grow on Amazon   Ready Farmer One on Amazon **** Modern Grower and Diego Footer participate in the Amazon Services LLC. Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

35% profit margin. Your accountant says bravo. Your spouse says we're not losing money. But 35% of not enough is not enough. This is the profit margin trap — and it catches more farm businesses than bad weather ever will.  Click here to learn more about Neil and Garden to Market. Watch the episode here! Interested in watching the series? Hop on over to our YouTube Channel!   Subscribe for more content on sustainable farming, market farming tips, and business insights!   Get market farming tools, seeds, and supplies at Modern Grower. Follow Modern Grower:  Instagram  Instagram Listen to other podcasts on the Modern Grower Podcast Network:  Carrot Cashflow  Farm Small Farm Smart  Farm Small Farm Smart Daily  The Growing Microgreens Podcast  The Urban Farmer Podcast  The Rookie Farmer Podcast  In Search of Soil Podcast Check out Diego's books:  Sell Everything You Grow on Amazon   Ready Farmer One on Amazon **** Modern Grower and Diego Footer participate in the Amazon Services LLC. Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

$400 a day. That's where Neil Robinson started his first year at a farmer's market in New Zealand. The vendor two stalls down selling nearly identical product had a line out the front. Neil was standing there, wondering what was wrong with his carrots.  Nothing was wrong with his carrots. The other vendor's carrots were familiar. Click here to learn more about Neil and Garden to Market. Watch the episode here! Interested in watching the series? Hop on over to our YouTube Channel!   Subscribe for more content on sustainable farming, market farming tips, and business insights!   Get market farming tools, seeds, and supplies at Modern Grower. Follow Modern Grower:  Instagram  Instagram Listen to other podcasts on the Modern Grower Podcast Network:  Carrot Cashflow  Farm Small Farm Smart  Farm Small Farm Smart Daily  The Growing Microgreens Podcast  The Urban Farmer Podcast  The Rookie Farmer Podcast  In Search of Soil Podcast Check out Diego's books:  Sell Everything You Grow on Amazon   Ready Farmer One on Amazon **** Modern Grower and Diego Footer participate in the Amazon Services LLC. Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

He spent 30+ years in product design and manufacturing. Then at 55, Neil Robinson left his desk job in New Zealand and started a market garden from scratch. This interview covers the unfiltered first-year reality: 15 weeks of showing up to a farmer's market before sales felt consistent. $400 was a good day in those early weeks — now a good week is over $800, pushing past $1,000 with the right product mix. Profit margin around 35% (with his own labor coming out of that 35%, not counted as a cost). Click here to learn more about Neil and Garden to Market. Watch the episode here! Interested in watching the series? Hop on over to our YouTube Channel!   Subscribe for more content on sustainable farming, market farming tips, and business insights!   Get market farming tools, seeds, and supplies at Modern Grower. Follow Modern Grower:  Instagram  Instagram Listen to other podcasts on the Modern Grower Podcast Network:  Carrot Cashflow  Farm Small Farm Smart  Farm Small Farm Smart Daily  The Growing Microgreens Podcast  The Urban Farmer Podcast  The Rookie Farmer Podcast  In Search of Soil Podcast Check out Diego's books:  Sell Everything You Grow on Amazon   Ready Farmer One on Amazon **** Modern Grower and Diego Footer participate in the Amazon Services LLC. Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

Salanova is the most common lettuce crop in market gardening. But how many growers actually know their profit margin on it? Most are guessing. This episode breaks down the real economics using production data from Ray Tyler's book The Farmer's Guide to Growing Organic Lettuce — numbers from a working farm in Tennessee, not theory. The scenario: 100-foot bed, 30 inches wide, landscape fabric, 4×6 inch spacing, labor at $25/hr. Watch the video on our YouTube Channel!  Interested in watching the series? Hop on over to our YouTube Channel!   Subscribe for more content on sustainable farming, market farming tips, and business insights!   Get market farming tools, seeds, and supplies at Modern Grower. Follow Modern Grower:  Instagram  Instagram Listen to other podcasts on the Modern Grower Podcast Network:  Carrot Cashflow  Farm Small Farm Smart  Farm Small Farm Smart Daily  The Growing Microgreens Podcast  The Urban Farmer Podcast  The Rookie Farmer Podcast  In Search of Soil Podcast Check out Diego's books:  Sell Everything You Grow on Amazon   Ready Farmer One on Amazon **** Modern Grower and Diego Footer participate in the Amazon Services LLC. Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.    

A parking lot, a tent, a pack of scissors. That's the entire retail infrastructure for a farm that grossed $158,500 last year.  Watch the video on our YouTube Channel!  Click here to check out Megan's book, Pick Your Own Farming by Megan Neubauer (Acres USA).   Online course + monthly live calls: purelandorganic.com    Click here to learn more about Pure Land Organic Farm.   Check out their TikTok, too! Interested in watching the series? Hop on over to our YouTube Channel!   Subscribe for more content on sustainable farming, market farming tips, and business insights!   Get market farming tools, seeds, and supplies at Modern Grower. Follow Modern Grower:  Instagram  Instagram Listen to other podcasts on the Modern Grower Podcast Network:  Carrot Cashflow  Farm Small Farm Smart  Farm Small Farm Smart Daily  The Growing Microgreens Podcast  The Urban Farmer Podcast  The Rookie Farmer Podcast  In Search of Soil Podcast Check out Diego's books:  Sell Everything You Grow on Amazon   Ready Farmer One on Amazon **** Modern Grower and Diego Footer participate in the Amazon Services LLC. Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.  

Twenty-two people spending $45 each. That's $1,000 a week. That's a neighborhood. Megan Neubauer built a $158,000/year pick-your-own operation at Pure Land Organic in Texas — with no walk-in cooler, no wash station, no farmer's market booth, and no harvest labor. The customers do the picking.  Click here to watch the video version of this episode. Click here to check out Megan's book, Pick Your Own Farming by Megan Neubauer (Acres USA).   Online course + monthly live calls: purelandorganic.com    Click here to learn more about Pure Land Organic Farm.   Check out their TikTok, too! Interested in watching the series? Hop on over to our YouTube Channel!   Subscribe for more content on sustainable farming, market farming tips, and business insights!   Get market farming tools, seeds, and supplies at Modern Grower. Follow Modern Grower:  Instagram  Instagram Listen to other podcasts on the Modern Grower Podcast Network:  Carrot Cashflow  Farm Small Farm Smart  Farm Small Farm Smart Daily  The Growing Microgreens Podcast  The Urban Farmer Podcast  The Rookie Farmer Podcast  In Search of Soil Podcast Check out Diego's books:  Sell Everything You Grow on Amazon   Ready Farmer One on Amazon **** Modern Grower and Diego Footer participate in the Amazon Services LLC. Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

Megan Neubauer runs Pure Land Farm in McKinney, Texas with her dad. They switched from a year-round market garden (peak revenue: under $50K) to a 100% pick-your-own model — and haven't looked back. This is my third interview with Megan...and the numbers have climbed every time. Click here to check out Megan's book, Pick Your Own Farming by Megan Neubauer (Acres USA). Online course + monthly live calls: purelandorganic.com  Click here to learn more about Pure Land Organic Farm. Check out their TikTok, too! Interested in watching the series? Hop on over to our YouTube Channel!   Subscribe for more content on sustainable farming, market farming tips, and business insights!   Get market farming tools, seeds, and supplies at Modern Grower. Follow Modern Grower:  Instagram  Instagram Listen to other podcasts on the Modern Grower Podcast Network:  Carrot Cashflow  Farm Small Farm Smart  Farm Small Farm Smart Daily  The Growing Microgreens Podcast  The Urban Farmer Podcast  The Rookie Farmer Podcast  In Search of Soil Podcast Check out Diego's books:  Sell Everything You Grow on Amazon   Ready Farmer One on Amazon **** Modern Grower and Diego Footer participate in the Amazon Services LLC. Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.  

Join Derek as he shares his inspiring journey from cannabis caretaker to DJ to regenerative farmer at Rosemary's Oasis. He shares how he and his wife balance multiple income streams as they lay down the foundations of a sustainable farm focused on microgreens, herbalism, and permaculture principles...all while building a family.