Grassfed Life

Today we'll be going to Louisville, Kentucky to talk to farmer Luke Groce of Groce Family Farm.

Luke and his wife Katherine started their farming career in 2009 as a vegetable farm. An operation that had its successes and it's failures.

As Luke said...

"I've got a few war stories from the deep trap of doing too many things at the beginning of farming a piece of land with no experience, and then not doing any of it well enough. After treading water, and trying to keep up with all of it for six years, I've decided that CSA farming is a team sport. And I can't be good at, and stay on top of, growing 30-40 things by myself (plus keep up with 40+ pigs). It's a kind of humbling thing to say, 'I can't do this well.' "

It was through some of the failures and struggles with the vegetable operation that led Luke down the path of raising pigs. Another path that's full of war stories... having tried a bunch over the years from keeping pigs behind two strands of hot wire to experimenting with a unique bulk pork sales program, two things he will talk about today. Not everything has worked, but some of it has and he's learned along the way continuing to grow his pork operation.

The move to pork was one that might not have happened, but it did, and it was a move that he wouldn't regret, because it was a move would bring his family together living on the farm, and one that would save his farm.

READY TO START YOUR OWN LIVESTOCK FARM?

The Farm Business Essentials Online Course is here, and it's not just a piece of the puzzle. FBE is a complete step by step A to Z system to plan, market, and grow the farm enterprise that's right for you. Built by a farmer for farmers just like you - https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com

Profitable Pastured Poultry Course: https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com/poultry

Lots more free content at Grassfed Life: http://bit.ly/2D5gRJX

Subscribe: https://apple.co/2hayYod

When it comes down to the changes there's three main areas that Darby would have handled differently – getting more startup capital, utilize USDA and NCRS financial services, and enterprise selection.

Even though he started with chickens, in hindsight his farming business, his life, and his marriage might have been better off if he had started with pigs.

If you are thinking about starting up a farm, transitioning over your farm, or making a big shift in your farm business, there's a lot of good advice and tips in this one.

READY TO START YOUR OWN LIVESTOCK FARM?

The Farm Business Essentials Online Course is here, and it's not just a piece of the puzzle. FBE is a complete step by step A to Z system to plan, market, and grow the farm enterprise that's right for you. Built by a farmer for farmers just like you - https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com

Profitable Pastured Poultry Course: https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com/poultry

Lots more free content at Grassfed Life: http://bit.ly/2D5gRJX

Subscribe: https://apple.co/2hayYod

With summer farmers markets starting around the county over the next couple of months it's time to start looking at the markets in your area, if you want to sell at farmers markets.

In last week's episode which was effectively part 1 of this mini-series we took a look at how to select markets and what to do when you are apply markets. It involved casting a wide net and narrowing down your market choices to the ones that seemed like the best fit and the ones that would accept you.

Today in part 2 of the series we'll move a little further ahead in time, to when you actually get accepted into a market, and we will take a look at some of the specifics that come into play with that.

Things like…

How to choose a farms market stall spot?

How to price cuts?

Two of many things that you might not think about when your applying to a market, but something that's critical to think about once you are accepted.

READY TO START YOUR OWN LIVESTOCK FARM?

The Farm Business Essentials Online Course is here, and it's not just a piece of the puzzle. FBE is a complete step by step A to Z system to plan, market, and grow the farm enterprise that's right for you. Built by a farmer for farmers just like you - https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com

Profitable Pastured Poultry Course: https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com/poultry

Lots more free content at Grassfed Life: http://bit.ly/2D5gRJX

Subscribe: https://apple.co/2hayYod

With summer farmers markets starting around the county over the next couple of months it's time to start looking at the markets in your area, if you want to sell at farmers markets.

Today we'll look at two cases - return to the same farmers market and starting at a new market, and how would you approach the two different situations.

In both cases you need to advocate for yourself and talk about what benefit you are bringing to the market. At least when you are returning to a market, you are dealing with some knowns. When you venture out to a new market, it's a different story, you don't know what that market will be like.

Darby will discuss some ways to deal with those unknowns and what factors to consider. He'll also get into...

How do you deal with a farmers market that only allows you to sell X?

What do you do if your market turns out to be terrible?

Both realities in a farmer's world, and neither is an easy situation to deal with.

READY TO START YOUR OWN LIVESTOCK FARM?

The Farm Business Essentials Online Course is here, and it's not just a piece of the puzzle. FBE is a complete step by step A to Z system to plan, market, and grow the farm enterprise that's right for you. Built by a farmer for farmers just like you - https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com

Profitable Pastured Poultry Course: https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com/poultry

Lots more free content at Grassfed Life: http://bit.ly/2D5gRJX

Subscribe: https://apple.co/2hayYod

When you start a farm, what's one of the most important things that you need to do...

Hint… it's not growing the food...

It's selling the food that you do grow.

I hear this time and time again from seasoned farmers, and I most recently heard it from a long time USDA loan agent when she said... "Growing is the easy part. In California we can grow almost any crop, the hard part is selling that crop."

Biology supports that. Plants and animals are genetically pre-programmed to grow and reproduce. As much as we think that we need to be involved, in a large way, we are just ushering along biology.

And for many people it's the growing of food or the raising of livestock that's the fun part. Not the selling or the marketing.

But without the selling and marketing and cash flow coming in, you're not a farmer, you are homesteader or a gardener, there's simply no business.

Given that it's critical to get some cash flow going right away when you start the business..

One way to do that, is to pre-sell some of your product, even before you raise it, through a CSA.

That's what we're talking about today..

Darby's going to be sharing his experiences and insights running a chicken CSA. It's a program that brings in a lot of cash early in the season when a lot of cash is going out of the business to pay expenses. Overall the program has worked well, and his business wouldn't be the same without it...

READY TO START YOUR OWN LIVESTOCK FARM?

The Farm Business Essentials Online Course is here, and it's not just a piece of the puzzle. FBE is a complete step by step A to Z system to plan, market, and grow the farm enterprise that's right for you. Built by a farmer for farmers just like you - https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com

Profitable Pastured Poultry Course: https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com/poultry

Lots more free content at Grassfed Life: http://bit.ly/2D5gRJX

Subscribe: https://apple.co/2hayYod

Starting a Successful Farm on the Road - How Wilson Marsh of Whole Earth Farm built a customer base in a town of just 1700 people.

Today will be the first episode that steps away from Darby's farm, and takes a look at another farmer's story and what they are doing.

We'll be going down to South Texas to talk to Wilson Marsh of Whole Earth Farm.

While Wilson and his wife Kayla now seek to raising livestock humanely and go beyond organic, it wasn't always that way when it came to farming with Wilson. Because he grew up on a conventional farm with a family that farmed thousands of acres with chemicals.

It was a lifestyle that he hated as a kid, and it thought that he would ever come full circle back to farming as adult which he did, but in a very different way than his family did.

Because in the interim he found out about permaculture and regenerative agriculture and it was something that resonated with him. And the more he learned, the more he wanted to do, but initially there was one problem. He didn't have any land.

So he started on his families land developing his own pastured livestock enterprise on the side while working on the family farm during the day. While conventional agriculture wasn't something that he believed in, it was a means to an end, and end that we'll talk about today.

Starting a Successful Farm on the Road - How Wilson Marsh of Whole Earth Farm built a customer base in a town of just 1700 people.

READY TO START YOUR OWN LIVESTOCK FARM?

The Farm Business Essentials Online Course is here, and it's not just a piece of the puzzle. FBE is a complete step by step A to Z system to plan, market, and grow the farm enterprise that's right for you. Built by a farmer for farmers just like you - https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com

Profitable Pastured Poultry Course: https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com/poultry

Lots more free content at Grassfed Life: http://bit.ly/2D5gRJX

Subscribe: https://apple.co/2hayYod

Today we are going to take a look at a common fork in the road - chickens or pigs or both. Chickens and pigs are the two common starter enterprises for people getting into livestock. There's a lot of similarities... they both have a relatively low cost to start up, you don't need a lot of land, the time commitment isn't huge, and they are scalable. And there are a lot of differences - infrastructure, feed, processors, market perception, and price points of the finished products. Both enterprises make a lot of sense for a beginning farmer, or for an existing farmer ad an add on enterprise. But it's the subtle differences and how those differences fit your context, your life, and your land which make all the difference, often times leading to a clear choices. Given these subtle differences, if you are starting out, how do you choose? That's what we will explore today, with Darby going through a consultation with person interested in farming.

READY TO START YOUR OWN LIVESTOCK FARM?

The Farm Business Essentials Online Course is here, and it's not just a piece of the puzzle. FBE is a complete step by step A to Z system to plan, market, and grow the farm enterprise that's right for you. Built by a farmer for farmers just like you - https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com

Profitable Pastured Poultry Course: https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com/poultry

Lots more free content at Grassfed Life: http://bit.ly/2D5gRJX

Subscribe: https://apple.co/2hayYod

Darby and I are going to start the year out by taking on the topic – If You Want to Farm in 2017, Do This… I think today's episode can go behind those of you that want to start farming in 2017, I think these ideas also work for anyone look to change the direction of their farm, improve their farm, or add an enterprise onto their farm. This is the time of year a lot of people use for planning, so we'll give you six different things that you can start doing now to get better prepared for later in the year. If you are thinking about a change in 2017 whether major or minor, start planning out that change now, and stay tuned to find out how.

READY TO START YOUR OWN LIVESTOCK FARM?

The Farm Business Essentials Online Course is here, and it's not just a piece of the puzzle. FBE is a complete step by step A to Z system to plan, market, and grow the farm enterprise that's right for you. Built by a farmer for farmers just like you - https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com

Profitable Pastured Poultry Course: https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com/poultry

Lots more free content at Grassfed Life: http://bit.ly/2D5gRJX

Subscribe: https://apple.co/2hayYod

If you want to do this you aren't getting any younger and you probably already know enough to start now. As listener Zach said... "One big lesson I learned early on. Education is important, but actually doing the work and experimenting with new products, markets, and techniques is what helps you learn and improve over time. You need education to help you generate ideas and learn new concepts, but you need actual real world experience to be successful. There's no way to learn your way to success. You can only work your way to success. " For those of you currently farming, best of luck in 2017 on the continuum of your farming journey. And if you are thinking about farming in 2017, but are on the fence, here are five reasons why you might want to start.

READY TO START YOUR OWN LIVESTOCK FARM?

The Farm Business Essentials Online Course is here, and it's not just a piece of the puzzle. FBE is a complete step by step A to Z system to plan, market, and grow the farm enterprise that's right for you. Built by a farmer for farmers just like you - https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com

Profitable Pastured Poultry Course: https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com/poultry

Lots more free content at Grassfed Life: http://bit.ly/2D5gRJX

Subscribe: https://apple.co/2hayYod

Today Darby and I will take a look back at his season on the farm looking at what went well, what didn't and some lessons learned.

Because despite 10 years of trial and error and farming experience, not everything always goes as planned.

READY TO START YOUR OWN LIVESTOCK FARM?

The Farm Business Essentials Online Course is here, and it's not just a piece of the puzzle. FBE is a complete step by step A to Z system to plan, market, and grow the farm enterprise that's right for you. Built by a farmer for farmers just like you - https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com

Profitable Pastured Poultry Course: https://www.farmbusinessessentials.com/poultry

Lots more free content at Grassfed Life: http://bit.ly/2D5gRJX

Subscribe: https://apple.co/2hayYod