10 Ways To Max Out Profitability On 1 Acre (Or Less)

Growing on small acreage is absolutely a viable way to make a living on a farm, not to mention it can be much more profitable than growing on a large scale.

The problem is many small-scale growers grow FAR too many varieties of flowers on small acreage, along with juggling a large number of sales outlets. This leads to overwhelm, exhaustion, and eventually - burnout (ask me how I know…). It also takes away from your bottom line and doesn’t allow you to max out profitability on the small acreage you have.

Although it IS important to be diversified when growing on an acre or less, it’s also equally important to have clarity and focus on the things that matter and move the needle. In eliminating everything that wasn’t absolutely necessary, I finally found a sense of clarity, purpose, success and profitability on my 1-acre farm. By following the keys listed below, it made profiting from small acreage so much easier.

Here are 10 keys to success when it comes to making as much money as possible on 1 acre (or less):

 1. Start small and grow incrementally. I know, I know… you want to start out growing tons of flowers, and grow just about every flower out there! Trust me on this one: don’t. Starting small allows you to accrue a set of skills FIRST, and then you can implement those skills into scaling and growing bigger a little bit at a time. Starting too large may lead you to overwhelm and disappointment. It’s better to delay gratification and grow slowly and strongly. Focus on a few key crops and outlets, get great at them, and then increase from there.

2. Keep overhead as low as possible. Don’t make huge investments into equipment, infrastructure, or systems that you aren’t 100% sure if they’ll fit perfectly into your farm within the next 3, 5, or 10 years. I know it’s tempting to take out a big loan to build a studio, buy a tractor, or hire a web developer - but you don’t need any of it (at least not at first). Stick to budgeting your expenses for just the basics in order to squeeze out as much profit as possible.

3. Understand your market. Do market research to figure out what you think will work in your area. Don’t jump into an already saturated market, do what everyone else is doing, and expect to thrive immediately. For example, if there are 10 flower farmers within a 5 mile radius that all sell flower CSA’s, consider if the demand is already met or if the market is saturated. Is there something else you can sell to stand out instead? There will always be some trial and error involved, but doing research is key to getting a small farm profitable quickly.

4. Focus on high value. This is A BIG ONE, and probably the most important point here. Focus on selling through high-value markets and growing high-value crops. It’s important as a small farm to understand you are selling a hand-crafted type product, which demands high prices (obviously your skills/product must meet the price point). Sell retail as much as possible to avoid the low margins wholesale offers. Grow crops that bring in a high profit margin, and ditch the rest.

5. Track and measure. Know your numbers - what gets measured gets managed! Do you know how much revenue and profit each flower type is bringing you? Do you know how productive your flowers yields are? If not, how do you even know if you’re making money or not? Track and measure yields, revenue, expenses and profits so you can make solid, data-driven and informed decisions to drive your business to success. We go over exactly how to easily track these metrics in our workshops and courses. Grab free record keeping templates HERE.

6. Focus on tasks that pay. Don’t waste time doing things that don’t directly contribute to your bottom line. There are always a million things to do on a farm, and never enough time. Prioritize tasks such as selling and marketing since they directly contribute to putting money in the bank. Tasks such as weeding DON’T directly contribute to money in your pocket. Minimize tasks such as hand-weeding as much as possible by using efficient growing methods to increase your profits tenfold.

7. Use LEAN practices to increase efficiency. By increasing efficiency, you are cutting costs and therefore directly increasing your profit margins. For example, instead of hand-weeding, utilize more efficient methods such as stale-seed bedding and wire-weeding to move faster and cut down on costs (time spent pulling weeds). There is an entire book written on this, which I HIGHLY recommend: “The Lean Farm” by Ben Hartman.

8. Leverage technology to your advantage. Everyone’s got a smart phone in their pocket most of the day - USE IT! On our farm we utilize many apps and other technology right on our phones to increase efficiency, increase sales, and make marketing easy. Use your phone to take marketing pictures as you harvest, make harvest yield notes, record pest/disease management while in the field, schedule tasks and to-do lists, and utilize financial apps to keep track of your sales, revenue, and expenses. Keep things as easy and simple as possible.

9. Opt for optionality. Invest in tools, products, and systems that can stack multiple uses. For example, investing in a tractor implement that ONLY cultivates one type of spacing can be a major investment tie-up. Alternatively, a cheap wire-weeder plus one person can do the job of cultivating MANY plant spaces, both inside hoop houses and outside. This gives you a lot more options with lower overhead. Another example is utilizing technology that you can use for multiple tasks. We use the “asana” app on our farm to make to-do lists, schedule tasks, make harvest lists, record harvest yields, and communicate. This is better than using a separate app for all those different tasks.

10.  Find a mentor and learn from them. Being resourceful and learning from others that are where you want to be is the best way to fast-track your success. There is enough trial-and-error learning on your farm and within your business to keep you busy and tripping over yourself for a lifetime. Invest in learning from others so you can avoid as many mistakes as possible, which will get you to a profitable farm and a better quality of life much faster than trying to figure it all out on your own.

It’s expensive to constantly learn by trial-and-error, compared to investing in yourself once and then implementing what you learn. I host on-farm and virtual workshops about farming business in order to provide this opportunity to as many aspiring farmers as possible.

Will you invest in yourself by signing up for a workshop in order to learn how to further max out profitability on your small farm? If so, head over to our workshops page HERE to learn more or sign up.