Updated on March 26, 2025 by Ruth
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If you’re a small farmer, you know that making a profit can be a challenge. With rising costs and increasing competition, it’s essential to find ways to boost your profits and stay ahead of the game. Fortunately, there are proven strategies that can help you maximize your earnings and grow your business. From diversifying your crops to implementing efficient marketing tactics, there are many ways to increase your revenue and achieve financial success.
My family has spent almost 200 years selling fruits, vegetables, herbs, flowers, and meat products directly to customers at farmers markets, at our farm, and through a Community Supported Agriculture program. I’ve added some tips for each section that are specifically from my perspective.
In this article, we’ll explore 10 proven strategies for boosting your small farm profits. Whether you’re just starting out or looking to take your business to the next level, these tips will help you optimize your operations and achieve your financial goals. So, let’s dive in and discover how you can turn your small farm into a profitable enterprise.
Table of Contents
Know your market
One of the most important strategies for boosting your small farm profits is to know your market. Before you start planting crops or raising animals, you need to understand the needs and preferences of your target customers. In order to make a profit, you have to be able to sell what you are growing. This will help you tailor your products and marketing efforts to meet your customers’ demands and increase your sales.
To get a better understanding of your market, you can conduct surveys, attend local farmers’ markets, and talk to other farmers in your area. I’ll confess that I have never done an official survey. However, I talk to our customers all the time. I learn what they are looking for and when and at what price. This will give you valuable insights into what types of products are in high demand, what prices customers are willing to pay, and what marketing channels are most effective.
Once you have a clear understanding of your market, you can start planning your production and marketing strategies accordingly. This will help you focus on the most profitable crops and products, and ensure that you’re targeting the right customers with your marketing efforts. Keep in mind that the classic crops can also be profitable. Lettuce is in demand all year. You need to determine if your customers want leaf lettuce, Romaine, iceberg lettuce, or baby salad greens.
My tips from our experiences: Don’t spend money on professional surveys; do your own by talking with customers. Be prepared to take your products to the right customers; find the right customers for your products. Every market has its own customer mix.
Diversify your products
Another key strategy for boosting your small farm profits is to diversify your products. Instead of relying on a single crop or product, consider growing a variety of fruits, vegetables, and livestock. This will help you spread your risk and ensure that you always have something to sell, even if one crop or product doesn’t perform as well as expected.
It is interesting that most small farms grow a greater diversity of crops than the largest farm with the one or two annual crops. We already know that crop diversity is better for soil and ecosystem health. The question here is which combination of crops is the best fit for you?
Diversifying your products can also help you tap into new markets and customer segments. For example, if you’re currently selling only vegetables, you can expand your offerings to include fruits or herbs or flowers, or a combination thereof. This will help you attract customers who are looking for a wider variety of products, and it can increase your overall sales and profits.
However, it’s important to keep in mind that diversification requires careful planning and management. You need to ensure that you have the necessary infrastructure, equipment, and resources to produce and sell a variety of products. You also need to be aware of the seasonal fluctuations in demand for different products, and then plan your production and marketing strategies accordingly.
My tips from our experiences: I’ll use mushrooms as an example. They are often touted as something a small farm can grow; however, mushrooms have specific infrastructure needs and growing requirements that are completely different from anything else that we grow. To achieve profitability would require a greater investment of both materials and time to create the scale needed to make this profitable. Thus, we choose not to grow mushrooms and instead source from a local grower.
Implement sustainable practices
Sustainability is becoming increasingly important in the agriculture industry, and implementing sustainable practices can help you reduce your costs and increase your profits. By adopting practices such as crop rotation, cover cropping, and integrated pest management or organic growing practices, you can improve the health of your soil, reduce your use of pesticides and fertilizers, and increase your yields.
Sustainable practices can also help you tap into new markets and customer segments. Many consumers are looking for products that are produced in an environmentally friendly and socially responsible manner. By promoting your sustainable practices, you can attract these customers and differentiate your products from those of your competitors.
However, implementing sustainable practices requires long-term commitment and investment. You need to be willing to invest in the necessary equipment, training, and resources to implement these practices effectively. For instance, we compost leftover vegetables. We have to have a dedicated space for compost, a way to turn the pile, which can be 6’x12’x30’ at times, a way to add brown material to the green material. You get the idea; it’s more complicated than just dumping stuff in a pile. You also need to be willing to educate your customers about the benefits of sustainable agriculture and promote your products accordingly. In general, the people coming to a farm to buy their produce are already convinced of the importance of sustainable growing practices. It’s more a case of letting them know that this is how you grow your crops so they can feel aligned with what you are doing.
My tips from our experiences: Sustainability is key to growing healthy plants and great tasting food. Our best growing decision ever was to create our own compost. It improves the soil health, is excellent fertilizer, and makes planting and maintenance easier. Our compost pile contains dried leaves collected in the fall and leftover vegetable scraps. You can also add aged manure to your compost, be sure to follow the guidelines for using manure properly.
Direct marketing to consumers
Direct marketing to consumers is another effective strategy for boosting your small farm profits. Instead of relying on intermediaries such as wholesalers and retailers, you can sell your products directly to consumers through channels such as farmers’ markets, community-supported agriculture (CSA) programs, and online marketplaces. Your most effective marketing is when you can talk directly to the customer. Eventually, you need to be able to supplement that with newsletters or social media postings, but chatting with people is highly effective. You want the customers to feel connected to you and for them to go out and spread the word for you.
Direct marketing can help you increase your profits by eliminating intermediaries and capturing more of the value chain. It can also help you build direct relationships with your customers, which can lead to repeat business and word-of-mouth referrals.
However, direct marketing requires careful planning and execution. You need to ensure that you have the necessary infrastructure and resources to sell your products directly to consumers, such as transportation, storage, and packaging. You also need to be aware of the regulatory requirements and food safety standards for direct-to-consumer sales, and ensure that you’re in compliance with them. Storing the produce at the correct temperatures is key to providing a quality product for the consumer. Refrigeration is essential for fruit and vegetable sales.
My tips from our experiences: Dealing with customers takes time, either yours or an employee. If you are selling to a customer, then you are not actively farming. You want to make your customer interactions as time efficient as possible. This is one reason a CSA helps the farmer by reducing the work needed even with repeated CSA pick ups.
Join a farmers’ market
Joining a farmers’ market is a great way to increase your visibility and sales, and for you to connect with other farmers in your area. Farmers’ markets provide a platform for small farmers to sell their products directly to consumers, and offer a wide variety of products and services. Here is your opportunity to talk directly with the customers!
To join a farmers’ market, you need to ensure that you have the necessary licenses, permits, and insurance. Each state has different requirements. Your state Department of Agriculture should be able to help you navigate what is needed. You also need to be able to produce and sell a variety of products that meet the market’s standards and requirements. You have to have enough product to make it worth the time spent packing up for the market, selling, and going home. It may take up an entire day to staff and sell at a 5-hour market, in addition to the time spent harvesting and packing.
Joining a farmers’ market can help you build direct relationships with your customers, and learn from other farmers in your area. It can also help you increase your sales and profits, and gain valuable exposure for your brand.
My tips from our experiences: Not all farmers markets are created equal. Find the market that works for your products and your schedule. Weekend markets are usually the busiest, and markets in a larger city will command higher prices and usually have more foot traffic. Be sure to collect email addresses so that you can communicate with your customers outside of market times. A good market manager is doing a lot of the work for you by getting customers to the market; your job is then to entice them to your particular booth. Remember that eye appeal is crucial, so make your table displays attractive and have a smile and a greeting for each potential customer.
Collaborate with other small farms
Collaborating with other small farms can help you achieve economies of scale and reduce your costs. By pooling your resources and sharing equipment, labor, and infrastructure, you can increase your efficiency and productivity, and achieve better results.
One example is to allow a beekeeper to put hives on your property. Let the beekeeper tend the hives, and then you purchase the honey at a wholesale price. You can then offer honey for sale to your customers. It is local honey, it is honey produced on your farm, and you did not have to do the work.
Collaboration can also help you tap into new markets and customer segments. By working together with other farmers, you can offer a wider variety of products and services, and you attract customers who are looking for a one-stop shop for their agricultural needs.
Another possibility is to work with someone who does canning and preserves. Be sure they have a facility that follows all of the legal requirements for your area. You provide them with fruits or vegetables, they do the canning, and then you have shelf-stable products which you can sell at any time of the year.
Collaboration requires careful planning and management. You need to ensure that you have a clear understanding of each other’s goals and expectations, and you should establish clear communication and decision-making processes. You also need to be aware of the regulatory requirements and legal implications of collaboration, and ensure that you’re in compliance with them.
My tips from our experiences: Collaboration with other farmers is key to growing your business. Your customers are all busy and they don’t have time to visit 3 different farms on a weekly basis. If they can come to your farm or your market stand and get everything, they will be happy to do so. I told the farmers market manager that I would like to bring mushrooms from a nearby farmer, no mushroom farmer was coming, so they were happy to have local mushrooms offered at the market. At the market on our farm, we have a variety of products from local artisans, including chocolate, locally roasted coffee, and locally made nut butters. Be upfront with people about what you grow and what you do not grow if you have these kinds of collaborations.
Utilize technology and social media
Technology and social media can be powerful tools for boosting your small farm profits. By using tools such as farm management software, precision agriculture, and online marketplaces, you can increase your efficiency and productivity, and reduce your costs.
Social media can also help you build your brand and connect with your customers. By creating a strong online presence through platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, you can promote your products, share your story, and engage with your audience.
However, technology and social media require a certain level of expertise and investment. You need to be willing to learn how to use these tools effectively, and to invest in the necessary equipment and resources to implement them. You also need to be aware of the risks and challenges associated with technology and social media, such as cybersecurity and privacy concerns. Social media can use up vast amounts of time and then you have no control over who actually sees the posts. Learning how to use social media effectively is important.
Creating an email list and using it regularly is highly efficient, as the emailed newsletter goes to everyone on the list. However, as with everything else, there are tricks to getting people to open the newsletter and read it. Make it informative and interesting, tell a story, so that people can look forward to learning more about the farm.
Be sure that your farm is listed online wherever there is an opportunity. You can post for free on www.LocalHarvest.org as a way for people to find a farm near them. You should update your listing at least once each year.
My tips from our experiences: Social media seems to change every week! Each platform has its own audience, but I have found customers on all of them. I currently post on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Threads, SubStack, BlueSky, and Xiaoshungshu (Little Red Book). I use a phone for a camera, I have a tripod, and I do a brief caption. I use it as a way to create awareness of the farm and to remind people that we are still here. You can use the same content on more than one platform. My best advice is don’t take it too seriously. AI is definitely changing the way people use internet search engines, whether Google, Firefox, or DuckDuckGo. You have to keep up with whatever technology people are using to find a farm in the neighborhood. We have the most consistent success with the farm’s weekly email; people enjoy the news, can find out what is in the CSA, and sign up for special offers.
Create value-added products
Creating value-added products is another effective strategy for boosting your small farm profits. Value-added products are products that have been processed or transformed in some way to add value and increase their appeal to customers. Examples of value-added products include jams, jellies, pickles, cheese, and wine.
Value-added products can help you increase your profits by capturing more of the value chain and differentiating your products from those of your competitors. They can also help you tap into new markets and customer segments, such as gourmet food stores and specialty retailers.
Creating value-added products requires a certain level of expertise and investment. You need to be able to process and transform your products effectively and safely, and ensure that you’re in compliance with the regulatory requirements and food safety standards for value-added products.
My tips from our experiences: You can spend a lot of time creating value added products, so this is a place where collaboration can be very helpful. We send fruit to someone who makes preserves for us in an FDA certified kitchen, and then we can label and sell it. We have products to sell, but we did not have to do all of the work. Be sure to have a nice label, which fortunately now are easy to create on your laptop. We have found that we like the growing process more than the making it into something else part, so collaborating with a producer is a better fit for us.
Expand your offerings beyond the growing season
Expanding your offerings beyond the growing season is another effective strategy for boosting your small farm profits. By growing crops that can be stored or preserved, or by diversifying into livestock or other products that can be produced year-round, you can increase your sales and profits even during the off-season.
Expanding your offerings beyond the growing season can also help you tap into new markets and customer segments. Many consumers are looking for products that are locally produced and available year-round, and by offering these products, you can differentiate yourself from your competitors and increase your sales and profits.
However, expanding your offerings beyond the growing season requires careful planning and management. You need to ensure that you have the necessary infrastructure, equipment, and resources to produce and sell products year-round.
Heated or unheated tunnels can make a difference, but they also require an upfront investment. The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service offers grant assistance for small farms. Go to https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs-initiatives/eqip-high-tunnel-initiative to see if you qualify or if the grants are available at this time.
You also need to be aware of the seasonal fluctuations in demand and adjust your marketing and production strategies accordingly.
My tips from our experiences: This has been the single biggest factor in growing our farming business, to be able to offer fresh vegetables year-round to our existing customers. Our “off-season” vegetables are crops that do well in cool weather in our heated tunnels, plus we are able to start seeds to be ready to transplant outside as soon as the weather cooperates. We started with row covers and unheated tunnels and then started adding heated tunnels in 2018. We stick with lettuce, kale, arugula, chard, spinach, radishes, kohlrabi, and other crops that can handle tbe lower light levels of winter and the cooler temperatures, as we don’t want to spend a lot on heating. Our customers love to continue to eat fresh all year.
Conclusion
When you are looking at different resources for assistance, keep in mind who is providing the information. A county extension agent can give you excellent advice concerning how to grow something, but that method may not be the most efficient way to grow the product. To achieve profitability, you need to find the most effective and efficient ways to produce crops and then you need to be able to sell your produce at a profitable price. Listen to the people who know how to do both parts of that equation.
Boosting your small farm profits requires a combination of strategic planning, innovation, and hard work. By implementing the 10 strategies outlined in this article, you can optimize your operations, increase your sales and profits, and achieve financial success. However, it’s important to keep in mind that these strategies require careful planning and management, and that success may take time and effort. With dedication and perseverance, however, you can turn your small farm into a profitable enterprise and achieve your financial goals.
Many small farms are first generation farmers and are working to master the farming skills and the business skills that are needed to make the farm profitable. Look for seminars, workshops, and courses that can help you achieve profitability sooner than you would on your own.
Happy growing!
~ Ruth
Additional resources:
https://modern.farmer.com/2023/10/small-farming-shouldn’t-just-be-a-hobby
