Is small farming profitable?

[Hotzcatz]

Thanks, Buzz, for that 12 Trees Project link, that was extremely informative and I'll be chewing on that one for awhile. It had lots of trees I hadn't even thought of. Many of the fruits seemed to require refrigeration soon after picking, though, guess we will have to work out some sort of post harvest procedures, perhaps a refrigerated container which still has the refrigeration unit working. Have to see how hard that would be to run off the grid.

I don't know if we will be doing much of the "value added" since that requires a commercial kitchen as well as additional labor to process. We have two semi-retired not overly strong workers and two intermittent not overly strong workers so we are trying to keep the labor very minimal. Lifting a twenty pound box is good, lifting a fifty pound box is not on our "to do" list if we can help it.

As far as I know there is only one place to sell the cacao to and I'm not sure what their wholesale rates are. I think we probably wouldn't produce enough to make it worth driving the produce over to their processing facility. We will probably end up with a few experimental trees to see how they do, but I'd like a main crop which is profitable.

There was a lot of kava production several years ago, maybe more like a decade ago and then there was the big flap about toxic kava (folks were eating the wrong parts) and the market went bust.

I'm thinking trees eventually perhaps and some vegetable crops initially to pay the bills while we are waiting for the trees to mature. I'm expecting the vegetables to be more labor intensive and we can switch over to tree crops (hopefully less labor intensive) as the trees mature and shade out the vegetables?

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"I like yard sales," he said. "All true survivalists like yard sales."
Kurt Wilson

[StillHope]

Honey?
Dairy farm? (I hate goat stuff!!)

[allngood]

Your elevation and rainfall is very good. You have a lot of options. Check local farmers market for prices and supply to help with decision making.
In general tree crops are more seasonal than vegetables. To spread cash flow over the year consider some sort of mix of tree crop with vegetables or flowers. Depending on one crop is risky. A greenhouse will give you even more options.
Sweet corn and sweet onions ( Maui variety ) do well here. Popcorn has possibilities with value added. "Volcano Popcorn".
Noni and guava grow well and are easy, return not so good.
Assume your return to be somewhere in the area of minimum wage, unless you are fortunate to find a niche market. In 40 years, I never farmed for money, it was the pleasure of the work and the lifestyle.
I am happy to pass on my experiences. Email me at allngood@gmail.com

[Hotzcatz]

I'm hoping to keep a few beehives to increase fruit production as well as for honey, but animals aren't part of the lease agreement so no goats. I can probably keep a few chickens around since nobody really cares about them and I could perhaps have fish if I wanted to be a fish farmer. I think they'd notice cows and goats.

Cash flow over the year doesn't matter, just at the end of the year it would be nice if the farm produced more than it consumed. Actually, seasonal crops are good since our labor is so limited. We can harvest a crop, sell it and then take a break before the next harvest. We will be sharing equipment and labor with the neighboring farmlet.

I'm thinking at least a few trees (Plant It Hawaii's spring sale is tomorrow) to start. If the land is flat enough that it can be tilled, then perhaps a big corn/squash patch with rows of experimental crops. I've got the hoops for a small green house but no cloth for it so I'll set it up to grow beans on while I'm waiting for the lilikoi to cover it. Hmm, maybe grapes instead? That would give me a shady area for starting plants or a cooler weather crop.

I think we will try to get a table at the local farmer's market and see what we can grow that can be sold there. At the beginning, it will be fight off the guinea grass, then see what we have. Run a tiller around and see what should be planted, I guess.

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"I like yard sales," he said. "All true survivalists like yard sales."
Kurt Wilson

[Chuysmom]

These are all such great ideas. I was reading about a farm on Lanai that is growing arugula and selling to local resorts and higher-end restaurants. It's yummy and loves to grow. We've started eating it here almost daily.[^]

Carrie Rojo

http://www.carrierojo.etsy.com


"Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek." Barack Obama

[Radiopeg]

quote:

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Originally posted by Buzz

Twelve Fruits With Potential Value-Added and Culinary Uses

Ken Love, Richard Bowen, and Kent Fleming
University of Hawai‘i at Ma¯noa • College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources

http://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/oc/freepubs/...fruits.pdf

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Thanks for the resource!

[Chuysmom]

Hey Buzz! There's a picture of our Brazilian Tomato Tree on that book! It's just fruiting...not ripe yet.

Carrie Rojo

http://www.carrierojo.etsy.com


"Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek." Barack Obama

[Hotzcatz]

Well, with the advice from the book (nice cover pics!) and you folks here, we are now a citrus and fig farm. At least for starting it will probably mutate into some sort of another farm by the time it is all done. At the Plant It Hawaii sale, we got two brown turkey fig trees, two meyers lemon trees, two Washington navel orange trees and a Tahitian lime. We have them sitting in the shade waiting for the farmlet to be prepared for them. Next week we will hopefully get the paperwork started, the exact location pinned down and perhaps get the fellow in to mow. Then we can plant the trees while we look into fencing out the pigs. In the fall, we will get about that many trees again and after the fencing, there will be more things to plant, but I dunno what yet. It is only one acre, so it shouldn't be that much work, we hope.

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"I like yard sales," he said. "All true survivalists like yard sales."
Kurt Wilson

[Chuysmom]

That's wonderful Hotzcatz! All the luck to you and your little farm...hope you sell lotsa yummy stuff in the future.

Carrie Rojo

http://www.carrierojo.etsy.com


"Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek." Barack Obama

[Hotzcatz]

With an orchard, it will be several years in the future before we have much yummy stuff to sell. I've found out critters are allowed, so I may graze some wean off lambs in the orchard to keep the grass mowed. First off we will have to fence and plant the trees and put up some sort of trunk protection for them to keep sheep teeth off. I think our farm will produce more lamb than limes to begin with.

There will probably be a large garden area, although I don't know if we will be able to sell any root crop garden produce because of insurance regulations. Tree crops are in a different category, apparently. But we can eat the garden stuff ourselves so then we will have the money we would have spent on grocery store food to spend on improving the farmlet instead.

We may have a "pet" tractor, too! An old Ford 9N in need of repair, but by the time the tractor is fixed we may have areas to till. This is farming with no money, not commercial farming, for sure!

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"I like yard sales," he said. "All true survivalists like yard sales."
Kurt Wilson