Have you ever felt the pressure to expand your farm just because more land was available?

In this episode, Diego and Curtis challenge the "bigger is better" mindset that has shaped agriculture since the 1970s and explore why small-scale, intentional farming is a smarter, more sustainable path. They talk about solid ways to maximize the land you already have through tighter cropping strategies, smarter planning, and creative use of space, all without taking on debt or burning yourself out.

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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.

How long do you give an underperforming crop before you cut it? One season? Two? Most farmers don't have an answer — and that's the problem. A benchmark isn't a goal. It's the floor. Drop below it, gone. Without a benchmark, everything always gets "one more chance."

Watch the video version over on our YT Channel!

Subscribe for more content on sustainable farming, market farming tips, and business insights!

Get market farming tools, seeds, and supplies at Modern Grower.

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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.

If you want to make more money on your farm, you have exactly three options. Not five, not ten. Three: sell to more customers, sell higher-value products to the same customers, or sell more volume. Every strategy, every conference tip, every new idea fits into one of those buckets.

Most farmers pull lever three first — more beds, more crops, more volume. It's the most expensive lever and the most complex. Scaling a low-margin operation just scales the problem.

Watch the video version over on our YT 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.

How many of your crops actually make you money? Most farmers have never sorted the list. When they do, the math is shocking: 8–12 products typically generate 80% of total revenue. Everything below that line is seed cost, bed space, labor, and stress that drags your operation down.

Watch the video version over on our YT 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.

How many of your crops actually make you money? Most farmers have never sorted the list. When they do, the math is shocking: 8–12 products typically generate 80% of total revenue. Everything below that line is seed cost, bed space, labor, and stress that drags your operation down.

Watch the video version over on our YT 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.

In this episode, Curtis Stone and host Diego Footer break down how applying the 80/20 rule to your crop lineup can dramatically boost your farm's profitability and your quality of life...sometimes by doing less work, not more.

Watch the video version over on 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.

What can you do that someone will pay you for? Not what degree you have. Not what you're passionate about. What can you actually do that creates enough value that someone will hand you money for it?

Watch the video version over on our YT 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.

Most farmers lose four to eight weeks of production every year during transition gaps, i.e., clearing, prepping, replanting. At $500/week per greenhouse, that's up to $3,000 lost from the same space. Timing systems are often worth more than infrastructure upgrades. It's about being smart, not buying more.

Watch the video version over on our YT 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.

After interviewing hundreds of farmers over the past decade, the pattern is consistent: the farms that survive aren't the best growers...they're the best record keepers.

Watch the video version over on our YT 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.

You harvest lettuce for an hour. $300 in revenue. Great, right? But you also spent 30 minutes planting, an hour weeding, an hour washing and packing. That's 3.5 hours total — $86 per hour, not $300.

Click here to watch the full episode on 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.