Stories from the pioneers of human-scale

HUMAN-SCALE
REGENERATIVE FARMING
S T O R I E S F RRI COH AMR D PTE RHK IEN S P I O N E E R S
RICHARD PERKINS
Photo: Ridgedale Farm, Richard Perkins
Copyright © 2021 by Richard Perkins
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unless copyrighted, where notice is given.
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 CONTENTS
2. MARKO ANYFANDAKIS. TERRA,Luxembourg

8. CATHAL MOONEY. Heather Hill Farm, Ireland

14. GERT BLANCHAERT. Molenkouter, Belgium

20. JEAN-MARC PARRIES. Krautgaart, Luxembourg

28. SANDER LEROY. de Groenteboerin/Hoeve Biesland, The Netherlands

34. Michel Kegels. Groenhartig, The Netherlands

40. SANDRO WENS. De Paardebloemhoeve, Belgium

48. BRAM BOMBEEK. Wildebeek, Belgium

56. MAGNUS ERIKSSON. Strömnäsgården, Sweden

62. VIVIAN GLOVER. Gemüsegarten Hoxhohl, Germany

68. MORENO DE MEIJERE. Aromath Farm, France

74. SARA KNAPP AND ORFEAS FISCHER. Weierhöfer Gartengemüse, Germany

80. ADAM SAYNER. GroCycle Mushroom Farm, England

86. GAELLE BONNIEUX AND CLAIRE WILLS DIQUET. GonneGirls, France

92. ANDREW WOOF. Weston Farm, England

98. MATTHEW LIVINGSTON. Enso Farm, England

104. JOEL RODKER. Norwich Farm Share, England

110. RICHARD PARK. Low Sizergh Farm, England

116. MATT SWARBRICK. Henbant Permaculture, Wales

124. MICHAEL WALSH. Broadfield Farm, Ireland

130. JENNY AND ANDY MACDONALD. Woodside Arran, Scotland

136. SANDRA BAER AND LYNN CASSELLS. Lynbreck Croft, Scotland

142. SOFIA MARIA BANG ELM. Avdem Gardsgrønt, Norway

148. JORGEN ANDERSSON. Fjällbete, Sweden

154. JESPER SANDSTROM, Kyrkbygård, Sweden

162. MOLLY RYGG. Lya Gård 101, Sweden

168. CARINA VAN STEENBERGEN. Ca-Le Jonstorp Escargots, Sweden

174. DANIEL HAGERBY. Alvas Naturbete, Sweden

180. Tycho Holcomb. Myrrhis Agroforestry Project, Denmark

186. KATRINE BACH HANSEN. Øhave, Denmark

192. CLAUS ILSØE. Ilsøegaard, Denmark

198. Astrid Nielsen, Hannes Höhne and Alba Cardenas. Gut Haidehof, Germany

204. HENDRIK HENK AND JUDITH OELTZE. Gärtnerhof Wanderup, Germany

210. JASPER DE WIT. Helle Bauer, Germany

216. SEBASTIAN GIRMANN. Biotop Oberland, Germany

222. ANNA AND PAVEL MESKA. Kveteto, Czech Republic

228. TOMASZ JAKIEL. Lubuskie Angusowo, Poland

232. DAVID PEJIC. Zrno Organic Farm, Croatia

238. TILEN PRAPROTNIK. Kmetija Vegerila, Slovenia

246. DANIELE BUCCI. Podere Cimbalona, Italy

252. Jakob Haller and Lisa Kager. Hof des Wandels, Italy
Photo: Ridgedale Farm, Richard Perkins © Richard Perkins | richardperkins.co
It is with great joy that I pen these words from my new I have been so inspired by and honoured to talk to so
farm Klätta, on the West Coast of Sweden. Right now it many incredible people in this field throughout my ca-
is unusually mild weather as we enter what is perhaps reer, and this experience has been especially meaning-
the mildest winter in recent history. 2020 has been an ful to me. It is amazing to be in a position to influence
unusual year for all of us I would guess, and yet de- and watch so many people carefully craft holistic busi-
spite not being able to travel around Europe this year nesses on the triple bottom line of restoring ecosystems
as planned due to the Covid pandemic, something that and soil, providing local consumers with better food
I have often reflected on this year is how remarkable it than they can find in any store, and earning a good sal-
is how unchanged our daily life has been at Ridgedale. ary for their hard work and commitment. I have always
It speaks to the resilience of this lifestyle and livelihood, believed that true food security comes from consumers
which I’m sure many of you farmers have experienced having direct communication and relationships with
in the same way. We have made good choices for how their producers, and in the future I want my children to
to live, how we raise our families, and feed our com- grow up and see thousands more small farms operating
munities. It also strikes me that the world is constantly locally around thriving communities. The incredible
waking up to that fact. people featured in this book are just a few out of thou-
Whilst I was a little sad not to be able to travel across sands of people doing incredible work around Europe
Europe to film at the farms of all the amazing people and the rest of the world. Whilst many here have visited
that I have had the pleasure to speak to this year, a lot our farm and participated in our education programs,
of great benefit has come out of the interviews which I some are just people I admire and who I follow on social
hope will come across in this book. It has been a hum- media.
bling and insightful experience for me, one which I In the more recent years it has been incredibly hum-
cherish deeply and think about often. Over the last bling to see just how many farms we have helped in-
couple of years, I have decided to use my platform and fluence in a positive way through our education and
the audience that I have built up, to shine a light on and outreach work. Whilst putting together this book I feel
elevate other farmers for the benefit of the whole. One such great gratitude to be able to have walked the path
reason the Farm Like a Hero tour came about was my that I have chosen. I see that everywhere in nature all
realisation that we have all the solutions we need right creatures of patterned, by default, to be of benefit to the
here in Europe. Our diverse climates, ecosystems, cul- whole; yet not without looking after their own needs
tures, and economies have led to all manner of creative first. This natural pattern of ecology has become so evi-
responses regarding making small farms work. Whilst, dent to me in my daily life and in my business and is the
of course, we can draw inspiration and knowledge from motivation for the tireless efforts I have focused on in
elsewhere on the planet, some of the very best examples the field of regenerative agriculture.
of regenerative agriculture that I have come across have I hope this book serves to inspire thought, reflection
been from some of the unsung heroes in Europe, as it and deep conversations, such as it has for me. I’m so
were, right here at home. People who perhaps do not proud of all the incredible people featured here, who
have such ‘loud voices’, or large social media followings have clarified their context and committed themselves
to share their work with, or perhaps just have less inter- to be of benefit to their families and communities. I
est in being publicly vocal as they quietly go about their hope this book serves to help even more passionate and
daily work. As I have always said, there’s never been a inspired farmers start out on the pathway of regenera-
better time to get into this type of farming. The demand tion, and I hope I will have the pleasure to meet you
for integrity local food is growing exponentially, and we also.
need an influx of young, entrepreneurial farmers to re-
invigorate our ecosystems and soils and build healthy
local businesses that supply communities with epic Richard Perkins
quality food whilst returning the dignity and viability Klätta, Västra Götaland, Sweden
to rural stewardship. Dec 2020

© Richard Perkins | richardperkins.co 1

 MARKO ANYFANDAKIS
TERRA, Luxembourg

A personal account of my insights concerning TERRA seasons I have been confronted with challenges con-
cerning motivation and at moments even felt discon-
My name is Marko and I’m one of the founders of TER- nected and distanced from the whole enterprise. I can
RA, an agricultural cooperative in the heart of Luxem- see that these challenges are necessary steps in a con-
bourg. In this text, I wish to share with you some of my structive process of redefinition and reevaluation which
insights gained over the past 7 years of my engagement in turn serve to revitalise and rejuvenate my commit-
with TERRA. These insights presume that you have a ment and engagement.
basic understanding of what TERRA is, so if you would The first few years are naturally characterised by in-
like some further info on TERRA, please see our web- tense drive, determination, excitement and motivation,
site, a video from Richard’s visit in 2017 and the case all necessary ingredients to get something of this mag-
study we presented in Richard’s book. nitude up and running. Both the mental and physical
After 7 years of intense involvement and dedication strength needed to endure the intensity of the birthing
in envisioning, establishing and nourishing TERRA, and teething phase of an enterprise are naturally pro-
I find some time to reflect upon and document some vided by the excitement and novelty of the experience.
of my insights, thoughts and conclusions regarding the However, after a certain number of years, in our case
whole process. These thoughts are personal and do not about 5 seasons, the lack of novelty coupled with the
necessarily reflect the reality of the rest of the team or high demands of the job and the stress and responsibil-
TERRA as a whole. However, I find it useful, both for ity of weekly baskets starts taking its toll. It is sometimes
my process and for other current or future farmers and hard, especially on a cold and rainy day of patiently har-
market-gardeners, to structure these thoughts in an at- vesting corn salad for hours on end, to find the meaning
tempt to make sense of them and provide insights that and thus motivation for what you are doing. The hours
could potentially be of use to others. are long, the work is never-ending, the pay is low and it
Although I love my job and I feel TERRA is in many doesn’t take much to start questioning the whole idea
ways our baby, I must admit that during the past two in the first place. Add a couple of external challenging

2
factors such as consecutive months of drought and a
global pandemic and it doesn’t take much more to call it
quits. So what are the ingredients necessary to deal with
these thoughts of doubt and ensure enduring and long-
lasting motivation and engagement?
Before I list my insights and thoughts on this, I find
it necessary to mention that the prerequisite for engag-
ing with this process is to actually and deeply care for
the organism, in this case, TERRA. This care needs to
go beyond your ambitions and aspirations within the
structure and should extend to the well-being of the or-
ganism as a whole, regardless of your presence. It is only
in this frame of mind that it becomes worth considering
any of the following insights.

I cannot sacrifice or offer more for TERRA than I TERRA is located on the outskirts of Luxembourg City.
would like to

The moment a task becomes an obligation is the mo-

ment I lose motivation. I need to have the time, space
and energy to dedicate my attention to other things that
are dear to me in life. I need to be able to disconnect
fully from the farm and know that I can trust my fellow
workers to keep things running in a smooth and plea-
surable manner without missing my presence or feeling
the burden of my absence.
Only when I have had the opportunity to engage with
the things and people I love can I come back fully mo-
tivated and present to be of service and most use at
TERRA.
This can only be achieved by having enough people
around you that can step in and take responsibilities
when you are not there. This requires that there is at least TERRA was established in an old orchard.
an understanding of the different skillsets and respon-
sibilities each and every person has. At least enough to
ensure that things can keep running even if one of us
happens to be off for a month or two. In turn, this builds
confidence and ultimately resilience in the enterprise.

My job needs to offer me an edge

It cannot become repetitive slave labour day in, day out.

The elements of learning, experimentation, discovery
and growth need to be designed into the process, oth-
erwise…
At first, the edge is always there, and every day is a new
experience. But once things fall into place and patterns
emerge it is easy to get stuck in your ways and thus lose
the source of wonder and amazement provided initially
Ducks help keep the snail population down.

3
by discovery and learning. Don’t get me wrong; work- I. Clarity in procedures; establishing how things are done.
ing with nature provides abundant opportunities for
discoveries and amazement for he/she who allows for Working in an environment full of intricacies and a wide
it. But let’s face it; when you are barely managing to get range of processes that change dramatically throughout
the necessary workload done in a particular time frame, the season, it has become increasingly clear that there
it is not hard to overlook the opportunities for wonder is great benefit in standardising practices, establishing
and learning in a somewhat blinded effort to just get protocols and formulating clear instructions covering
things done. This, coupled with the never-ending na- even the finest details of each task.
ture of our work, means that it becomes very easy to For the first years, it was OK to do things however it
completely forget about factoring in learning and dis- felt best to do them in each circumstance. However, af-
covery in the equation…. ter years of experience, it has become evident that there
is great benefit in standardising certain procedures to
The human side of nature streamline the workflow and eliminate wasted energy
spent on reinventing the wheel every time. Defining
One element that has certainly helped massively is clear procedures for each task from bed prep to how
the human aspect. There is nothing more rewarding things are counted, washed, packed, etc. means you
than experiencing other people’s ‘aha’ moments when can just get on with the task, get better and better at it
they discover something that can be life-changing for each time you execute it and thus liberate brain space
them at times thanks to what you have created. Hav- for other potentially more useful or at least more enter-
ing this feedback loop from people that have in one taining endeavours! Simple things like how and where
way or another benefitted from the whole experience boxes are stacked or where and how things are stored
is immensely rewarding and for me personally a good seem like small details but ultimately end up making a
enough reason in itself to keep going! Whether it is the world of a difference in terms of quality of life at work.
smile of a satisfied member when they receive their fa- Being able to confidently know I will find exactly what
vourite vegetable or the glow in the eye of an apprentice I am looking for in its determined place seems like a
the moment something clicks in his or her brain, this small feat but has yet to be fully accomplished even after
positive human impact is a real need and source of mo- 7 years of fine-tuning!
tivation for me. If it wasn’t for this human harvest of Having protocols and standardised procedures is
exchange and sharing, I am not sure that the vegetable the first step to increasing quality of life at work. This
harvest alone would make the cut. doesn’t mean, however, that a detailed manifesto of the
nuts and bolts of an enterprise will guarantee success.
Quality of life at work is as important as the work itself The most important factor, especially in a setting like
TERRA where we are dealing with a multitude of people
Pressured by the sheer amount of baskets needed to be daily, is clear communication pathways. Ensuring that
provided every week and the limits of time and labour the information distilled and consolidated after years
available to manage that, it is not at all uncommon to of experience reaches and is put into practice by any-
sacrifice the quality of life at work in an attempt to en- one assisting the process requires very clear and precise
sure that the work is done. Indeed the result, namely mechanisms of ‘cross-pollination’. It is incredible to me
the basket itself, is mostly amazing, both in terms of that even after such conscious attempts to standardise
vegetable size and quality as well as quantity and diver- and communicate the practicalities of certain proce-
sity. However, after 7 seasons of repeating a somewhat dures, we find ourselves, 7 years down the line, forget-
similar yearly pattern and having experienced both the ting, mistaking or conveniently evading some of these
best of days as well as days where the going gets tough, practices, while even members of the core team, sup-
it has become increasingly clear to me that to maintain posedly highly familiar with these processes, still have
momentum, motivation and steady positive and ‘light’ conflicting habits! There is nothing necessarily wrong
energy levels it is extremely important to ensure the with this, and of course, these practices are always open
quality of life during work. This is affected by a ton of to improvements and adaptations, it just surprises me
factors but there are a few that, at least in my eyes, stick how hard it is to implement and correctly communicate
out like a sore thumb! this to everyone involved! As a result, energy and atten-
tion invested in clarifying and simplifying this process
4
 is undoubtedly brainpower well-spent.

2. Attention to detail and tending to the needs of all the

systems in place.

It is normal in times of increased workloads or excess

stress to prioritise what is perceived as essential tasks,
overlooking things that may seem more trivial. This is
an inevitability. However, experience has shown me very
clearly that when we are dealing with living systems all
functions are inherently important; maybe not equally
important, but certainly important in the overall well-
being of the system at play. Oftentimes, especially in the
height of spring, we feel inclined to prioritise planting
and sowing over weeding. Of course, we need to get the
Inspecting crops beneath the orchard trees. plants in the ground if we want to harvest them even-
tually, but overlooking the weeding process means that
over time we end up spending even more time doing
something that would have taken a tenth of the time
when done at the correct time. Same goes for tending
the aquatic environments, the trees, shrubs, flowers
and other living systems that, because of their lack of
direct and obvious relevance to the basket itself, tend
to get overlooked and lowered down on the admittedly
extensive priority list. By choosing to prioritise certain
needs at the expense of other needs, we very easily end
up trapped in a vicious circle of always running at the
verge of failure. It is only at times where we have suc-
ceeded intending to all the determined needs of the liv-
ing systems that we gain a net benefit in the quality of
life at work. As far as I am concerned, nothing beats
the feeling of leisurely and completing a task at hand,
A privileged workplace. within the right time-frame and with the awareness that
everything has been taken care of, at least to the best of
our ability. The years where we take the time to tend to
the flower beds, find the time to give attention to the
most remote corners of Terra and even invest energy
in doing something as trivial as colourfully painting
the front gate seem to be the years in which the team is
most content, at ease, happy and fulfilled.
This is a very delicate and complex balance of many
factors, but as the years go by, the subtleties and intri-
cacies of these processes are becoming more and more
tangible. Far from having reached perfection, I strive to
get closer every day to understand what are the mind-
sets, intentions and thoughts that could eventually con-
tribute to the manifestation of this much sought-after
quality of life….

Harvesting with the Quick Cut Greens Harvester. 3. Celebration and appreciation: positive feedback loops.
5
Very much connected to all of the above points, I can-
not stress enough the importance of celebration and ap-
preciation in determining the quality of life at work as
well as ensuring the renewal of motivation and commit-
ment of everyone involved.
Because of the global pandemic, TERRA had to shut its
doors to all volunteers and apprentices as well as cancel
all workshops, open-days and other annual events and
festivities. The one good thing that came out of this was
the blunt realisation of how important these moments
of celebration and appreciation are. It is thanks to their
absence this year that we realised their vital importance
in inspiring, motivating and renewing the sense of in-
terest and engagement of the team. Thankfully there
were enough people on the fields every day to ensure
a fair amount of much-needed human interaction in A basket of bounty.
these times of social-distancing and restriction; how-
ever, the fact that none of the educational or festive ac-
tivities took place left a big space in the story of TERRA
as we knew it. Adapting to the new circumstances, we
established end-of-the-week mini-celebrations on Fri-
day afternoons after the harvest where we made time
to relax and enjoy the fruits of our hard labour before
heading off for the weekend. Personally, it doesn’t take
much more than a moment of laughter, light-hearted
conversation and a cold beer on a hot day to increase
my sense of joy. However, the impact of the absence of
such a moment is, over time, detrimental to my psyche
and the social tissue of TERRA.

Some adjustments and changes for the coming years

In our attempt to further improve the well-being of A school visit.

TERRA and everyone/everything involved, we have de-
cided to make some changes for the next season.
It all boils down to creating enough time to tend to the
diversity of needs in a timely and intelligent fashion.
Since time doesn’t grow on trees, one way of making
more of it is to reduce the workload we have by limiting
the number of baskets to 200, down from 250 this past
season. We would like to maintain our current salaries,
so obviously, the only way we can lower the number of
baskets and keep the same salary is by increasing the
price of the basket. However, rather than simply in-
creasing the yearly subscription by x amount, whether
members like it or not, we decided to experiment with a
sliding-scale pricing system where members can choose
one of four different options for the price of the basket.
This seems to us to be the most sensible solution since,
knowing our members, if we communicate transpar- A cooking workshop.
6
ently what salary we, the workers, get concerning which
basket price they choose to pay, we are quite confident
that we can reach our aim of maintaining the same sal-
ary while reducing the workload by 50 baskets.
After careful consideration and study of our practices
and determining areas of potential time-saving im-
provements, we have also decided to ditch one of the
pick-up spots and narrow the options down to two. This
in itself cuts the workload by at least 6 hours a week.
Personally, another step to ensuring sustained moti-
vation and enthusiasm in the coming years is to con- MARKO ANYFANDAKIS
sciously make time for learning opportunities which
can both improve the quality of our work as well as sat- TERRA, Luxembourg
isfy my inherent need for growth and development. In ____________________________
this light I have decided, with the approval of the rest of
the team, to allocate time weekly to work on something
that, despite having been articulated since day one of MAIN ENTERPRISES:
TERRA’s conception, has so far been overlooked and set
aside in light of more urgent needs. Namely, my deep Market garden
interest in understanding and ultimately supporting life
in the soil as a means to increase its vitality and health, Workshops
remedy for potential pests and diseases, diminish weed
pressure and ultimately increase the nutritional value of Events
whatever product comes out of our soil. In this attempt,
I have invested in a microscope and have initiated a
process of discovering the wonderful world of microor- MAIN SALES CHANNELS:
ganisms and elaborated semi-‘scientific’ approaches to
analyse, introduce and enhance the microbiology of our CSA
soils while monitoring the impact of such processes on
the quality of our result: the vegetable and fruit baskets. Direct sales
Allocating time for this endeavour means I can engage
with it free of guilt or any feeling of time-wasting and Restaurants
eventually reap the benefits of the learning experience
as well as hopefully have a positive impact on the overall ____________________________
balance and health of the natural system we so heavily
rely on, our soil!
It is in this spirit of ‘sense and respond’ that TERRA AREA IN PRODUCTION: 1.5HA
seems to be slowly but steadily moving closer to the vi- STARTUP YEAR: 2014
sion set out right at the beginning: A world in which
agricultural landscapes have the resilience of a natural STARTUP INVESTMENT: €40,000
forest and the capacity to provide an abundance of tasty
fruit and vegetables for all. REVENUE: €200,000
I hope that my genuine and honest sharing of my in- NET PROFIT: €20,000 (2019)
sights can be of benefit to others and I gratefully wel- ______
come any thoughts, reflections or criticisms on this pro-
cess.

website / instagram / facebook

7
 CATHAL MOONEY
Heather Hill Farm, Ireland

The Journey: Setting the Seed seemed like a good time to see some of the world. I emi-
grated to Australia in 2011 and spent 2 years working in
The north-west coast of Ireland, where the first rocks the event industry. We built the temporary infrastruc-
of Europe meet the mighty Atlantic Ocean, is a place ture for all the major sporting events. An opportunity
where farming was always tough. Utilising the rolling came up for me to return home to Donegal when a lo-
hills that rise from the shores of the coastline, genera- cal bakery business was trying to develop a gluten-free
tions gone-by practised the art of small scale sheep bread market. I spent the next 4 years developing bread
farming; it was the way of life. In the last decade, wool products which became the catalyst for setting me on
was prized for its use in the textile industry and tweed my current course. I found myself in my mid 20’s not
weaving was a tradition in our area. Growing up into knowing where my food came from or what had gone
this hill farming, I had an infinite love for nature and into it. I decided I had to take control of this and take
animal husbandry. With the turn of the millennium, I responsibility for my food. I started researching how I
entered into my teenage years and began to contemplate could produce as much of my food as possible respon-
what path in life I was going to take. It was very clear to sibly. This introduced me to Regenerative Agriculture. I
me that farming was not a viable option as there were spent 3-4 years before starting the farm researching and
no examples of people around me making a comfort- training. I consumed any material I could get my hands
able living working full-time on the land. on; Joel Salatin, Curtis Stone, Greg Judy and Allan Sa-
I, like so many other young people from rural commu- vory have influenced me greatly, but I have to attribute
nities in Ireland, decided to move to the city to obtain a lot of the success of the farm to Richard. I attended a
a third level education. I studied to become a teacher, 10-day training Richard gave in Ireland in 2018, and I
specialising in woodwork, construction studies and used the energy and knowledge from this to spring the
technical drawing. I managed to coincide my gradua- farm into existence. I am a lifelong member of Richard’s
tion with one of the worst economic crashes Ireland had online training, which is an invaluable stockpile of in-
ever seen, so my employment options were limited. It formation.

8
2019: The Test Period

2019 was my first year or my test year as I call it, starting

with 200 layers, 50 turkeys and 200 broilers. There were
no examples of this kind of farming philosophy within
100 miles, so I had to test the market to ensure there was
a demand. My concerns were soon dissipated as I sold
my produce with very little marketing effort. I worked
to establish some financial capital, which enabled me to
spend the first season focusing on getting the enterpris-
es set up while supporting my cost of living for the year,
so there was no financial pressure to make money fast.
This enabled me to maintain low-stress levels. This first
year I focused on the layers and broilers. I had built very
low-cost infrastructure the previous winter and I was
able to spend a lot of time dialling in the enterprises and Brand awareness and marketing are critical.
focusing on time in motion (evaluating the minimum
time to complete each task) to become as efficient as
possible, which will pay deviance in the years to come.
My father continues to practice small-scale sheep farm-
ing and he let me use 1 hectare of his land to start my
farm on. Towards the end of the summer of my first sea-
son, an opportunity came up to move the farm. My sis-
ters with their young families purchased a property that
had farmland, which they needed someone to maintain.
The 3.25-hectare site was more central to my sales area
and all my immediate family would be living right be-
side the farm. Sometimes I guess things happen for a
reason; it was the perfect blank canvas to bring Heather
Hill Farm to the next level.

2020: The Real-Time

Being easily recognisable at pick-up points speeds up
2020 saw the second year of Heather Hill Farm, which I the transactions.
consider my first proper year at full scale. Moving to the
new site meant it was time to invest money into proper
infrastructure. I moved there in October 2019 and by
May 2020 I had installed 1000m of fruit tree lanes im-
plementing a Keyline pattern formation, 200m of wind-
breaks consisting of 5 rows of multi-species trees, two
polytunnels, shipping containers to function as a grain
store, an egg packing centre and a tool shop. I also had
to build a road into the farm, which was expensive. I
was able to hire an excavator and do all the work, but
the cost of materials was €4,000. I took some inspira-
tion from my time in Australia where we specialised in
working with temporary portable infrastructure and I
learnt to spend as little money as possible on fixed as-
sets. The road and the trees are the only fixed assets I
have invested in, everything else could be moved to- Egg-mobile on pasture before the morning move.

9
morrow if needed. In total, I have invested €40,000 into working all winter with the use of some clever 12V led
the farm. €10,000 is reserved for cash flow and the re- lights. Water is the lifeblood of any farm and having wa-
maining €30,000 I got 2 fully automatic self-propelled ter moving efficiently around the farm is a must. I spent
egg mobiles capable of handling 800 layers combined €1500 on five trollies equipped with 100m of 10mm
(potential turnover €75,000) 1 gobblygo which can LPG/gas pipe and quick connect couplers. They can be
take 100 turkeys (potential turnover from 1 batch per connected onto over 20 connections points along a ¾
year €7,500; 2 batches per year €15,000), brooder and heavy gauge pipe that travels along the perimeter of the
field pens for 1000 broilers per year (potential turnover farm. Now I have water on every square foot of the farm
€20,000), infrastructure to handle 25 sheep (potential for next to no effort.
turnover €5000), and I have been building up my hon- From my time spent changing my solar fence charger
eybee colonies, although this is at best a side enterprise to a lighting system for my workshop, I had the idea
border line hobby; my goal is to keep 25 hives that to automate my egg mobiles so that the door and nest
should generate €7,000-10,000 turnover per year. So to boxes could open and close automatically. I was able to
summarise, for my €30,000 investment as well as 1 year do this as well as automate the tilting of the nest boxes
working without pay I have an infrastructure with the and lights for €400. I have 2 egg mobiles that I move on
potential to turn over €125,000. I feel that is a year well alternate days. While I’m moving one egg mobile, the
spent! second one opens itself, letting the birds out to grass
The above numbers are maximum outputs on the cur- and opening the nest boxes. When I’m finished moving
rent infrastructure. For the 2020 season, I have kept my the first egg mobile, I come along and check and feed
outputs around 75% to be able to manage the growth. the second batch of birds who are happily out on pas-
As I only had 25% outputs the previous year, I felt the ture. One of the other innovative features I have added
challenge to triple my sales were big enough. As a gen- to my egg mobiles is a 12V winch, which has a 40m ca-
eral guide for all my enterprises on the farm, the cost ble and 6-tonne towing capacity. Using well-established
of production is 40% leaving the gross profit at 60%. I hedgerow trees around the perimeter of the farm, the
run a very lean operation with very little frills, and this egg mobiles can pull themselves along as well as turn
enables me to keep indirect costs within 10%. I do like from one tree lane to the next. This adds about 10min to
to earmark 10% to go towards paying back the initial my day, but it has meant I didn’t have to invest €10,000
investment over the next 3 years, and after that, it can be on a UTV or compact tractor, which would depreciate,
used to reinvest in further enterprise and projects at the for moving the egg mobiles.
farm. That leaves 40% net profit which is my salary at
the end of the year. Based on the above, it is an intense A crucial point in starting any new business is where
workload for one person. I have spent a lot of hours on you spend money and where you save money. I believe
time in motion and a lot of the investment money was investing my money only in things that will return in-
spent on things that would reduce my time in motion. come to the farm has led to success so far. Before I make
If in the future I decide I want to grow the farm or that I any purchase I ask myself three questions:
don’t want to maintain the high workload, then it would
be easy to increase the layer and broiler outputs. I may 1. How much income is this spend going to generate,
need to lease 1 more hectare from a neighbouring farm, or time saved which can be translated into a monitory
but that should enable 2 people to take a respectable value?
salary from the farm; 1 working 12 months, the other
working 6 months. 2. Can I use any of my current resource base in a differ-
ent way to solve the problem or to complete the task?
Investments
3. Is there any more cost-effective solution available?
I think it will be beneficial to spend some time discuss-
ing some of the things I invested in to aid my day-to- If it passes through these questions and meets my holis-
day workload. After spending the winter working by tic context for ecological and social goals, then it’s going
torchlight, getting electricity to the farm was a massive to be a good investment.
luxury; but having no electricity forced me to turn my
mobile solar fence charger into my main light source for
10
 The Marketing

We are based in a very rural part of Ireland and I am still

able to generate more demand than I can supply. Social
media (specifically Facebook) has been instrumental in
establishing a customer network. I make short videos of
how the farm works and show people the story of the
farm, and being so honest and transparent invites peo-
ple to support the farm. Happy customers are the best
form of advertising; each happy customer will attract 2
more. It’s not difficult to sell quality produce when there
is a massive shortfall in the marketplace for local qual-
ity produce. This approach doesn’t cost any money as I
don’t pay for any advertising but there is some time re-
quired in recording orders. I use a simple excel spread-
Good egg handling equipment is key. sheet; however, this is an area where I could find a more
efficient automated system. My deliveries are done in
car parks for 30min and happen twice a week. People
simply message or comment on Facebook what they
want with which location and time. It’s loosely based on
the REKO model but it’s just me at the moment selling
products produced on the farm.

The Future

I started on this journey to produce quality food for

the community while enhancing the environment and
making a living doing it. This is still at the centre and I
imagine it will be for the lifetime of the farm. I have felt
there is a massive gap in the education of farmers and
food producers. Drawing on my third level education
as a teacher I feel a desire to incorporate education into
Marketing farm to fork. the farm moving forward. Heather Hill Farm is a small-
scale diverse regenerative farm and I hope that it will in-
spire other Irish farmers to move towards regenerative
farming as well as educate people on how food systems
should work.
I feel it is very important to remain a diverse farm, al-
though this is challenging as a one farmer operation.
Looking 3-5 years down the line, I feel it will be wise to
grow the farm to employ another person. This would
make it easier to run several intensive enterprises well; it
is very easy for one person to take on too much and the
whole suffers as a consequence. There is a huge demand
in our area for quality vegetables. Finding a grower and
incorporating a market garden into the farm is some-
thing I would consider investing in. I already have some
of the infrastructure to complement this enterprise so it
could be a good fit in the future. As the farm is so reliant
Forest-raised pigs. on pastured poultry for its income, this is a potential
11
A Heather Hill Farm breakfast. Flowers on our fruit trees (Pear).

Sheep using an oak tree for shelter. Rewards from our hardworking honey bees.

Tomatoes and cucumbers just transplanted. Observing the flock on morning chores.
12
problem in the event of bird flu or a similar event. I have
been testing and collecting data on free-range forest
pork and although here in Ireland, it’s not as profitable
as pastured poultry it’s still a nice enterprise. I’m keep-
ing an eye out for some land near the farm to lease that
would suit this enterprise. The last enterprise I’m con-
sidering adding is agritourism. As we are on the beauti-
ful west coast of Ireland, tourism is a large contributor
to the economy; there is a lot of infrastructures set up
regionally around this and it will require very little in-
vestment from the farm’s point of view. The main driv- CATHAL MOONEY
ing factor behind continuing to grow the farm is to gen-
erate some capital to buy land that I can eventually live Heather Hill Farm, Ireland
on and move the farm onto. ____________________________
My advice to anyone setting off on a similar journey is
to first ensure this is the type of life you and the people
around you want. There are several ways to do this; you MAIN ENTERPRISES:
could work on another farm that is similar to what you
envisage yours will be, you could take my approach and Pastured layers
save some money and commit a year to it before going
all in. If you want to be successful, I recommend finding Pastured broilers
the best people doing what you want to do and try and
learn as much as possible from them. Pastured turkeys
Working on the land and in a symbiotic relationship
with nature brings unquantifiable job satisfaction for
me. For anyone thinking about starting their regenera- MAIN SALES CHANNELS:
tive farm, I say; At some point, you have to cast off…
and start rowing like hell… Just go for it. REKO-style delivery

____________________________

AREA IN PRODUCTION: 3.25HA

STARTUP YEAR: 2019
STARTUP INVESTMENT: €40,000
REVENUE: Year 1 €30,000
Year 2 €75,000
NET PROFIT:Year 1 €12,000
Year 2 €37,000
(this makes up wages)
______

website / instagram / facebook

13
 GERT BLANCHAERT
Molenkouter, Belgium

Molenkouter is a market garden in Vinderhoute, East- twenty years. Our house, bungalow-style, was built
Flanders in Belgium. Located only 6 kilometres from in a corner of the greenhouse. I guess the farmer was
the centre of Ghent, a university town with 250,000 in- looking for a low-cost solution to live in temporarily
habitants, we run a CSA-program with weekly vegetable after building an expensive greenhouse, but two years
boxes since 2018. became fifteen years. Like so many ornamental flower
Before starting Molenkouter I worked several years on growers in the region, he went bankrupt in the nine-
a small vegetable garden project with my brother, on the ties because their heated greenhouses became unsus-
spot where my grandfather’s market garden used to be, tainable and production moved to low-wage countries.
organising children’s camps and workshops around out- A lot of their greenhouses are now in use as parking
door cooking. At the same time, I had a professional ca- lots for caravans and sailing boats. They’re not suitable
reer as a manager of a social working place specialised anymore for high-tech heated indoor production but
in garden, park and nature maintenance. perfect for a diverse market garden CSA-style. A lot of
Buying our current farm was a big step, but I had been opportunities… The irony of it all is that these farms, ly-
practising, although on a very small scale; in 2017 I had ing in a belt around the city, used to be market gardens,
run my first CSA for four customers. This test was in- providing the city of Ghent with food until the sixties.
valuable; I learned about crop planning, harvesting and My grandfather was one of these market gardeners. You
customer relations, without depending on it as an in- needed to grow fresh vegetables close to the market be-
come. You can learn a lot from an internship on an es- cause transport wasn’t easy and storage conditions not
tablished farm, but running this test in a home garden ideal. When that changed, the farmers of Ghent started
was the perfect supplement to start planning and organ- to grow ornamental flowers in their greenhouses and
ising my market garden. only corn and potatoes in their fields. The result was
The farm we were looking at contained a 2000m2 glass that by the year 2000 there wasn’t a single farm in Ghent
greenhouse, built in the early eighties for growing or- that you could buy fresh produce from directly. Later,
namental flowers but out of production for more than though, CSA farms popped up in a circle around the

14
city and visiting them triggered me to close the circle
again.
We bought the place in 2017. It took us a year to clean
up and renovate the greenhouse and start working the
land. We made good use of the recyclable materials on
the farm and built a terrace, a tool shed and a market
stall. Although most of the work was done by myself,
we hired contractors for greenhouse repair, irrigation
and digging of the 100 m3 pond, which cost us a to-
tal of €21,000. A lot of money, but now the greenhouse
will stay strong for another 30 years, and I have a fully
automated irrigation system with electronic valves both
in the greenhouse and outside. All irrigation water is
pumped from the pond, which catches the rainwater
from the greenhouse (a good rainy day easily deliv-
ers 20,000 litres), but can also be filled with well water, A perma-bed in the greenhouse with grapes, peach
which is necessary for the most of the summer. and bumblebee hive.
I also invested in a second-hand walk-behind tractor
with a tiller, flail mower and trailer and a new rotary
harrow, totalling €5,100. After long hesitation, I bought
a ride-on mower with collection box (€2,400) to mow
the access lanes on the farm. It was something I could
only imagine myself sitting on after retirement, but it’s
a great machine for collecting grass clippings to use as
mulch. You have to be careful not to let the grass go to
seed, but if it does we just mulch the hedgerows with it.
A Jang seeder, Terrateck wheel hoe and other hand
tools, harvest material, netting and plastic cost me
another €3,000. The nursery, with rolling tables and
a heated propagation table, is very DIY and low-cost
(under €1,000) and so is the wash-and-pack area: three
tables, some scales and a bench for crates with a shower
hose and water drainage under it. I also invested in a Melon - pepper - eggplant - cucumber.
walk-in cooler. I found a second-hand model (just the
panels and door; 9 m3) and installed a window-style air
conditioner with Coolbot for €1,250 in total. I’d like to
mention that a decently equipped tool shed, although
not directly related to production, is often a must on a
farm and easily costs more than €1,000.
With all that installed (over three years), we could start
growing some vegetables and building a customer base.
Being from the neighbourhood (and having uncles and
grandparents who had been market gardeners in the
same village) made it somewhat easier to reach new
customers, but since we wanted to sell all our products
directly from the farm we had to find them in a range of
maximum five kilometres. A densely populated subur-
ban area close to the centre of a town with a progressive
government and a large part of highly educated inhab- Nursery with sliding tables, DIY heated propagation
itants makes it very possible to reach that goal. Social bench and cooler in the back.
15
media helped a lot, but because we’re operating so lo- get the feeling of shopping in a market.
cally, flyers and posters in stores and associations in the We encourage the customers to do a walk around the
neighbourhood also gave us good reach. farm while shopping, and we are now installing a pick-
We now have almost 60 subscribers to our weekly veg- your-own herb and berry border along the driveway, all
etable boxes. 45 of them chose a small share (6 por- to tighten the connection with the people and give them
tions of veg, €600), 13 chose a big share (10 portions the feeling that it’s a bit their farm. We’re also planning
of veg, €1000). We’ve noticed that most people opt for some kind of harvest festival in the field with a pot luck
the smaller share; maybe they eat outdoors and at work from that same perspective.
a lot, or they want to keep the flexibility to shop in the The fact that the farm itself is the only pick-up point is
grocery store as well. I’m considering reducing the con- a huge time-saver for us. Even the grocery stores and
tent of the big share next year. Our harvesting season restaurants come and get their orders from the farm.
runs from April 1st to Christmas, which gives us 40 So no vehicle necessary, no time lost in traffic… This
weeks of shares and revenue of €40,000. Sales to two proximity to my customers has a downside too, though;
restaurants and two local grocery stores count for an- farmland in this area is very expensive (up to €100,000
other €5,000, equals €45,000 of total revenue. The goal per hectare). You can get it much cheaper in more rural
is reaching €60,000 revenue in the following years. regions, but then you have to do the transport.
If we consider running costs, they consist mostly of In that light, we do realise that specialising in some
paid labour, compost and wood chips, and seeds and crops is probably not the way to go for us. If we grow
transplants. This farm is a one-man operation, but from more of a certain vegetable it will always come with
March to October I get help from paid seasonal workers more logistics, and the strength of our farm is to keep
for 20 to 40 hours per week. Compost costs me about these very low. Diversification is key, that’s why we add-
€20/m3, wood chips €13/m3. We use more than 40m3 ed a small flock of laying hens to our operation. There’s
of compost per year. We try to source free local sup- no place for them, but their chicken house on wheels
plies of autumn leaves or grass clippings for mulching, (plans courtesy of Justin Rhodes, with the addition of an
too. Most transplants are raised by ourselves, but we do automated door) and moveable pen brings them along
buy some from a commercial certified organic nursery the lanes and hedgerows of the farm. Occasionally they
that has a drop-off point half an hour drive from our can scratch a patch of green manure and the compost
place every other week. They deliver our first starts and heap. It’s only 35 hens, but the eggs are a nice addition to
leek transplants mid-February. With utility costs, book- the vegetable boxes in the form of an egg subscription
keeping, PR and maintenance of all kinds, total running (€2.25 for a weekly box of six). If we had extra space, it
cost is around €18,000 per year, which gives us 60% net would be the first thing we’d expand. This is, again, an
income (€27,000 - without deduction of social security example of starting small to learn the basics. I would
and taxes). not recommend starting with 500 hens if you’ve never
A typical working week on the farm has two harvest had chickens before…
days because customers can come and pick up their pro- Currently, we don’t have any harvest from January to
duce on Monday and Thursday evenings. On these days the beginning of April, although it might be possible
I get help from at least two workers to harvest, wash and to do so with our (non-heated) greenhouse, but then I
pack all the produce before it goes in the cooler. The would either need more space for storage crops or start
cooling (to 5°C) is mainly to keep the vegetables fresh to buy in produce from other farmers. This resting peri-
during the period they’re in the market stall before they od was necessary because we still had so much to install
go in the customer’s fridges. It’s important to have a clear and the winter months are the only period that a market
schedule and task division visible for everyone listing gardener has some spare time for that, but it’s also the
what has to be harvested from where. A lot of efficien- only possible season to take some very needed rest. We
cies can be gained that way. We don’t do a lot of washing: might leave it that way.
people don’t expect this from vegetables straight from This year’s big instalment was a conversion to no-dig
the farm and growing in compost with wood chip path- beds. A couple of different reasons convinced me to
ways gives far less dirt on the product anyway. People make that move. The good quality compost I could
can grab the vegetables out of crates with signs saying get hold of was weed-free, but by tilling it in, even re-
how much they can take. This system is a lot less work ally shallowly, it was mixed with soil and thousands
than making individual boxes per customer, and people of emerging weed seeds. The fact that the Ridgedale-
16
 approach can make full use of the initial quality of my
compost was a big plus. It cost hundreds of wheelbar-
row loads to install, but the shift of workload from the
already busy summer (weeding) to the quiet time of
winter and early spring is most welcome. Next to the
benefits for soil life, the garden looks really beautiful
now, which was a considerable marketing instrument
for me this year: it’s hard to convince people who aren’t
familiar with your products to pay €1,000 in advance,
but if you can let them do a tour around the no-dig beds
they can only conclude that if a garden looks that neat,
the gardener at least knows what he’s doing.
We already worked with 80cm beds (not 75cm: no big
difference, but 80 cm is the standard width of the im-
plements on our tractor) and 40cm walkways, but now
Spontaneous mushroom growth. topped them with a thick layer of compost on the beds
and wood chips in the paths. A total of 75m3 of com-
post and 35m3 of wood chips gave us 35 beds in the
greenhouse and 25 outside, with all beds measuring 23
meters in length.
This gives me 966m2 of bed and walkway in the grow-
ing area of the greenhouse (1,500m2). The rest of the
surface is access lanes, some storage space and, along
the northeast side of the greenhouse, a 50m long ‘perm-
abed’ with fruit trees, herbs and flowers. The last ones
attract beneficial insects, in an attempt the increase bio-
diversity inside. I’ve noticed a big difference in acces-
sibility by all forms of wildlife between a hoop house
with sides that can open and a big glass greenhouse, but
introducing perennial plants and hiding places that stay
during the whole year helps a lot. We’re also planning to
install a small pond in the greenhouse for that reason.
Pond for collecting rainwater. In the case of the fruit trees, we opted for more Medi-
terranean species like figs, grapes, peaches and kiwi
and herbs like lemon verbena, hoping for a nice addi-
tion to our vegetable boxes in coming years. Because
the ratio greenhouse/open field is bigger than on most
farms, we’re always on the lookout for low-maintenance
heat-loving crops to fill the greenhouse beds in sum-
mer. We’re having good results with sweet potatoes and
morning glory (Ipomoea aquatica). There are loads of
other options, but I have to keep the not-always-so-ad-
venturous taste buds of my customers in mind.
On the field outside there’s a block of 700m2 no-dig
beds and another block of the same surface that is cur-
rently in use for green manure, Jerusalem artichokes and
pumpkins, three crops that don’t lend themselves very
well to no-dig beds. I had that block in production for
other vegetables, too, last year, but that made the whole
Building new no-dig beds. farm too big to manage well, so I decided to focus on
17
one block (and the greenhouse) to cultivate very inten-
sively and to use the other block in a low-maintenance
fashion. Over time, we’d like to convert that last block
to growing perennial vegetables like asparagus, rhubarb
and perennial broccoli. These two-bed blocks are sur-
rounded by access lanes and hedgerows that provide
shelter from the wind and increase biodiversity.
Part of these hedgerows are on the neighbours’ land;
they happen to have started a permaculture-style food
forest next to the farm at the same time as we moved
in. Their garden contains an orchard, a big herb garden
(one of them is a herbalist and sells the herbs as tea) and
a nursery for perennial edible plants and is called De
Verwildering. Though we remain two individual opera-
tions, our collaboration grew organically and we now
exchange resources, machines and tools and knowledge. View of field blocks.
The produce of the two companies complements one
another perfectly, which brings opportunities for devel-
oping common sales channels. Another collaboration is
regarding water management: part of the rainwater of
the greenhouse roof is captured in the neighbours’ ‘wil-
low tank’, a simple construction of wooden planks that
hold a pond liner with ratchet straps and, more impor-
tantly, living willow stalks and can contain 30m3 water.
The goal is to let the willow support the whole structure
over time. They use it as their main source of irrigation.
The following years are all about gaining efficiency in
growing more on the same surface. This means perfect-
ing our crop plan, but we’re also scratching the surface
of what’s possible with interplanting: sowing radishes
between cabbages, carrots between onions and leeks,
lettuce at the feet of climbing peas… The work of La
Ferme du Bec Hellouin in Normandy on that subject is Two-wheel tractor with trailer carrying mulch.
inspiring. We’re also experimenting with growing King
Stropharia mushrooms on the wood chip walkways in
the greenhouse. If all goes well, we should have our first
harvest this autumn.
In the long term, I see further collaboration between
small-scale farmers in our village. In a range of 500
metres, we also have a u-pick soft fruit garden. If we
could supplement that with a small chicken farm or a
micro-dairy operation and maybe someone who can
process all this produce in a certified kitchen, we could
have a mutual selling point and provide the village with
every kind of food they need. I’m more a believer of a
collaboration between several local farmers, each with
their operation, than one farm where all these enter-
prises come together. Becoming an experienced market
gardener is one thing, but getting all the skills of these
other operations is probably too much for one lifetime. Mobile chicken house.

18
Power to the local conglomerates of small-scale sustain-
able farms!

GERT BLANCHAERT
Molenkouter, Belgium
____________________________

MAIN ENTERPRISES:

Market garden

MAIN SALES CHANNELS:

CSA

Grocery stores

Restaurants

____________________________

AREA IN PRODUCTION: 0.4HA

STARTUP YEAR: 2018
STARTUP INVESTMENT: €33,750
REVENUE: €40,000
NET PROFIT: 60% ex.taxes
______

website / instagram / facebook

19
 JEAN-MARC PARRIES
Krautgaart, Luxembourg

Within 5 years we’ve built a profitable market garden Murer)

CSA, set up a small scale pastured laying hen system,
built community and created job opportunities for lo- Vegetable distribution period: Mid-April to end of No-
cal people, and we are now educating the next gen- vember (+/- 34 baskets)
eration of food growers. We supply 140 families with
vegetables and eggs and we provide vegetables, edible Main enterprise: No-dig market garden
flowers, herbs and microgreens to a local chef. We man-
age to make a decent revenue through our transparent Side enterprise: 110 pastured layers
subscription system and we have achieved a desirable
work-life quality. Within 5 years we were able to build a Land: 1.2ha rented land (from three different owners)
profitable market garden which many people around us
believed to be impossible or too hard and poorly paid. Total cultivated area, without pathways: 2,200m2
Growing food for your local community is as essential
and beautiful as a forest providing oxygen for its inhab- Total cultivated area: 3,105m2
itants. Growing food and regenerating the land is deeply
meaningful and fulfilling. We hope to inspire you with Total cultivated area, outside: 2,400m2
our story.
Total cultivated area, polytunnels: 705m2
Krautgaart 2020 in a nutshell
Nursery: 85m2
Name: Krautgaart, Epstein, Parries & Cie s.e.n.c - Short:
Krautgaart Polytunnels: 2x 210m2

CSA: 140 members and one local top chef (Thomas Caterpillar tunnel: 1x 200m2

20
Revenue per m2 in 2020: 45€

Revenue per m2, without pathways: 63€

On the payroll (2020): 5 people; 3 full-time partners, 1

apprentice and 1 wwoofer

Story and vision

In 2015 we started Krautgaart (Luxembourgish for ‘wild

garden’) as a project whilst we were graduating from
university. The goal was simply to grow our vegetables
and learn about gardening through practice. We en-
joyed the outdoor work and got excited about the idea
Low-cost container infrastructure. Tool shack, walk-in
of growing food for ourselves and the local community.
cooler and storage.
Inspired by Jean-Martin Fortier and Eliot Coleman, we
decided to give commercial market gardening a seri-
ous try. Although we soon switched to a no-dig system,
these two guys were our early heroes and we still recom-
mend reading their books. We committed ourselves to
one test year intending to find out if market gardening
suited us if there was a local demand for high-quality
products and if we could start a market garden business
with no farming background on a small budget.
At this point, our vision was to supply a group of lo-
cal people with epic vegetables by doing fulfilling and
meaningful work. Until 2016 we had neither farming
nor business experience. We knew that many challenges
would come up along the way, but we weren’t going to
let them stop us.

Founding Krautgaart and starting on a budget Birds view of our main garden in May 2020.

Krautgaart s.e.n.c (“société en nom collectif ” is a busi-

ness form and means “general partnership”) was co-
founded in 2016 by Jean-Marc Parries (MSc. Envi-
ronmental Sciences) and Max Epstein (MSc. Botany).
Claude Petit (MSc. Agronomy) joined the team later
that year and became a partner in 2019. We are three
independent people working together under the roof of
Krautgaart.
We started on a budget. While the main reason was
limited financial resources, we also wanted to reduce
financial damage in case of failure. “The New Organic
Grower” by Eliot Coleman and “Le jardinier-maraicher”
by Jean-Martin Fortier helped us focus our resources on
the essentials. We used the following questions as a lead:

What essential resources would we need for successfully Edible flowers and herbs for our chef Thomas.

21
growing and selling vegetables in the first season? suming than buying baby plants. Even so, we still like to
recommend it to other people starting. It connects you
What budget results from these minimum requirements? in a deeper way to the craft of growing vegetables right
Does it match our financial resources? from the beginning and helps you deepen your under-
standing of plant biology.
Could the revenue of the first growing season potentially Some essential infrastructure was provided by family
cover the start-up investments? and friends; a barn at the centre of the village provides
storage space for tools and a nostalgic space to distrib-
What resources do we have access to for free? ute our produce and a converted garage is used once
a week for our second smaller vegetable distribution.
First season investments and expenses Also, living at home with our parents during the start-
up phase enabled us to reinvest the profit into better
200m2 polytunnel €4,000 tools, infrastructure upgrades and building the CSA.
We only started taking real salaries in the third season!
Used van €4,000 Everybody’s initial resources are different, but rarely
there are none. Consider ideas like temporarily living at
Different gardening tools €500 your parents’ place or living in a tipi on-site. Saving rent
is huge. If your budget is limited and you start looking
Seeder €500 around with an open mind, you will be surprised by the
resources you have access to around you.
Seeds €400 Due to the low startup costs, we were able to cover all
expenses of the first growing season. We sold our pro-
Potting ground €400 duce locally through a market stand in the centre of the
village and managed to make >€17,000. One year in
Nets and fleece €1,000 business and profitable. This was pure joy! Crops were
decent considering it was our first season, and demand
Boxes €400 was huge. Every week more people came to our little
market stand. The test year was tough but also a success.
Fencing €500 We had good feedback and were motivated by challeng-
ing and fulfilling work. It was then that we decided to
Books and courses €1,000 launch ourselves in professional market gardening.

Expenses 2016 (fuel, insurances…) €1,500 2017-2020 Krautgaart CSA

Total expenses in 2016: €14,200 In 2017 we considered two selling strategies. Establish-
ing a local market stand at our barn as we did in 2016 or
We made use of different resources that didn‘t come at distributing the product through a subscription-based
a financial cost. We borrowed a two-wheel rotary tiller vegetable box model. After an inspiring CSA workshop
from a local homesteader. This was probably the biggest at Ortoloco in Switzerland, we decided to go for the
saving we could make in the beginning and helped us community-supported model. We had planned more
go low-budget. At this point, we didn‘t know that we investments and the CSA approach gave us the financial
would switch to no-dig six months later. resources we needed through some early subscriptions.
To acquire the necessary skills in plant propagation, After four seasons of CSA and a lot of fine-tuning, our
we teamed up with a local heirloom seed grower, Steve vegetable distribution is now highly efficient and cus-
Schwartz. Not only were we able to use some of his in- tomer feedback is great.
frastructures in the first season, but the knowledge we
gained also helped us a lot in the following years. Right Highly efficient vegetable distribution:
from the beginning, we decided to grow our vegetables
from seed. Especially in the beginning, when you aren’t The distribution takes place once a week on Fridays
yet set up for it, it can be more costly and time-con- from 4:30 pm to 7:30 pm. Within three hours all our
22
 produce goes out.

Our customers do the packaging themselves. We don’t

do bundles or any kind of pre-packing.

We do only minimal washing. Vegetables don’t have to

look like they just came out of the dishwasher.

We can efficiently bulk-harvest and prepare the distri-

bution in advance.

No leftovers. We calculate a buffer so that there are

enough vegetables for everybody even with weighing
inaccuracies. The calculated leftovers go to a local chef
who pays a fixed yearly fee for them. And finally what
Max, our production manager. the restaurant can’t use goes to the chickens. They are
excited about every bit of vegetable they get and show
their gratitude through tasty eggs.

Note on temporary adaptations due to the COVID-19

pandemic: To be in tune with social distancing and oth-
er policies put in place, we switched to a system with
pre-packed boxes and drive-by pick-up. We set up a
simple and efficient pre-packing logistic and were able
to deliver the vegetables in the same time frame. We still
prefer the more interactive approach where people pack
the boxes themselves, though; The whole experience is
better, both for the customer and for us. It gives the cus-
tomer more flexibility, kids love it and we have time to
chat with our members and answer questions.

Subscription pricing (2020, check our website for up-

Krautgaart nursery, a side enterprise in development. dates)

We offer one basket size; people who want more vegeta-

bles can subscribe to two baskets or more. The minimum
subscription fee is €800, and subscribers can choose
to pay more if they want. On the subscription form,
people can see how the salaries of Krautgaart workers
change with the average basket price they choose to pay.
We introduced this transparent and flexible price offer
in 2019. Simply by giving people the possibility to pay
more, the average paid price went up from €800 in 2018
to €960 in 2020.

CSA and other sale strategies

After four years of running a CSA, we can’t think of a

better strategy to bring the product to the customer.
Delivering baby plants from our nursery. While going to the farmers market is a quick and easy-
23
to-set-up selling strategy, we think the effort of build- To improve our service, we team up with local pro-
ing a CSA is always worth considering. If done right, it ducers. This allows us to complement our baskets with
pays high dividends over time. The subscription-based high-volume crops that are challenging to grow in our
harvest-share model addresses several common issues current market garden set-up. As an example, we coop-
at once. On-farm food waste can be reduced to nearly erate with local producers for potatoes, so that we can
nothing, which also means that you can sell more pro- supply those all season long. For every season, we set a
duce! The risks of crop failures due to non-manageable position in our budgeting for the expenses we have for
environmental impacts are shared. If done right, the external production. It’s calculated into the basket price
principles of the CSA result in higher financial resil- and we are transparent about it! We inform our custom-
ience, which leads to less mental stress and empowers ers about the provenance of the vegetables.
you to find true pleasure in the daily work. Increased Two years ago we started integrating laying hens in our
financial resources also enable a better working envi- system. Two small self-made mobile coops with 55 hens
ronment through better tools and infrastructure. in each are on pasture surrounding our gardens. The
Vegetable distributions are an opportunity to com- idea is to provide high-quality eggs to our CSA mem-
municate with your customers regularly and educate bers and make full use of the pasture around the garden.
them on the importance of regenerative food produc- The enterprise doesn’t generate much profit, but it en-
tion, local resilience, ecology and other related topics. ables us to improve our service in general. Our custom-
You don’t have to compete with local and global market ers highly appreciate the quality of the eggs, and they
prices, which means you can set the real price for your can only buy them if they have subscribed to the veg-
product and work! etable box. The hens also help us reduce slug migration
The CSA enables us to deliver €4500 worth of veg- from the pastures into the garden.
etables within 3 hours every single week. To replicate
this consistency of revenue and “no-leftovers” on the No-Dig, a game changer!
farmers market is nearly impossible. At the same time,
farmers markets are important social events where pro- At the beginning of the first season, we used the rotary
ducers and consumers can come together. While we are tiller for bed preparation. It felt destructive and was tir-
relying on an old barn to distribute our vegetables, this ing. We started looking for no-till alternatives that could
could also be a public place provided by the commune be applied on a market garden scale. Through Youtube,
to local producers. The farmer’s markets could turn into we found Charles Dowding and were fascinated by his
places where CSAs distribute their products while al- no-dig approach. A two-day course at his teaching gar-
lowing some buy-on-demand besides the subscriptions. den “Homeacres” and some more research convinced
It’s very satisfying to provide a local group of people us to give no-dig a try. Already in the first season, we
with healthy food over many years. Your initial custom- started switching to no-dig. Since 2017 all our crops
ers become people you know and some become friends. are grown on no-dig beds. We now observe that over
It’s building community. It’s healing the land and recon- time crops are improving considerably as the soil re-
necting people with nature. It takes some effort to build generates. If done correctly, no-dig is a huge time saver.
a CSA, but once it’s set up and running, the work that And especially in market gardening, having more time
goes into it reduces dramatically. is a game-changer! Many market gardens fail or aren’t
profitable because the production takes all the attention
Raising customer satisfaction and there is no time and energy left for establishing an
efficient selling strategy, improving infrastructure and
We strive to continuously improve our service and re- workflows and caring about essential details which can
duce yearly customer fluctuation to a minimum. We make all the difference.
make yearly surveys and try to adapt to customer re-
quests as good as possible, but it’s important to recog- Finding Land
nise that you cannot satisfy every customer. Therefore
we focus on a group of customers with similar requests We started on ½ acre, knowing that we would need more
so that we can provide an excellent service to this group. land if we’d continue after the test year. It was challeng-
With this strategy, the percentage of customers joining ing because local farmers and landlords couldn’t imag-
into the next season has gone up every year to now 85%. ine that the market garden project we were up to could
24
work and be profitable. Through spreading the message
and being persistent we found a piece of land that fitted
the needs of the farm for the coming years.
We now advise people to start with what they have
their hands on. Even if it’s only a tiny piece of land that
doesn’t belong to you. There is enough land available,
you have to spread the word and let people know what
you want to do. When people see what you were already
able to do on a tiny piece of land, they’re better able to
envision your project on a bigger scale. Many landlords
are willing to provide their land for ecological farming
projects, often in exchange for farm produce.

What will Krautgaart look like in 3-5 years?

It’s hard to make predictions, as circumstances change Chickens add beauty and value to a market garden.
over time and opportunities you don’t know yet might
come up. But it’s also an important exercise to keep the
ship cruising in the right direction without being fooled
by random streams.
In five years our core enterprise will be the same; de-
livering vegetables to the local community through our
subscription-based model. The average paid basket
price will be considerably higher and allow us an income
that we and our customers can be proud of. (Thought:
Doesn’t it feel great as a CSA member to be able to say
that “our” farmer can make a decent living of the price
we pay for his work?) We will continue our journey of
service improvement to raise customer satisfaction on
one hand and at the same time increase the revenue for
the work we do through communication and informa-
tion. We will have a maximum of 150 members. Before
increasing the number of subscriptions, we will focus Our members love the eggs of our pastured hens.
on offering a broader palette of products to our existing
customers. Seasonal berries and fruits are on the top of
the list. In the long run, we might also provide more
perennial crops (herbs, mushrooms, sweet potatoes)
grown in a forest garden set-up. The berries and fruits
will be extra to the vegetable basket and also available
for self-harvest.
In parallel, we are developing our on-site nursery to be
able to deliver baby plants to home growers. Since we
are growing everything from seed, we have the skill-set
and the set-up to grow more for sale. Demand for high
quality selected varieties is high. This will also allow us
to connect more with the local community, which is in
itself beautiful and can also be seen as a passive market-
ing strategy.

Antoine, our 2020 wwoofer,

25
 Work-life quality

When we started, our vision was to grow epic vegetables

for the local community. We now also focus on creating
a business framework that enables a unique work-life
quality. We are convinced that this is essential for build-
ing a lasting business. Part of this vision is increasing
the financial return for the work we, and ultimately oth-
er growers, do. Why should the job of a school teach-
er be worth three to four times more than the job of a
market gardener? The gardener, who is growing food
for the local community and providing topic-related
education. The gardener, who made it his duty to pro-
vide healthy food to the people and regenerate the land.
Many people are becoming teachers because it’s a well-
Living tiny in the garden of Eden. paid job, which is a bummer. How many of those people
might go into market gardening or other crafts if they
were better paid? Through transparency and customer
education we aim to increase the financial return of the
craft of growing food, and hopefully raise the standard
in Luxembourg.

Krautgaart market garden start-up guide

A list of advice to people starting up, based on what

we’ve learned:

Do yourself a favour and start with some kind of a test

year before you go all in. Either at an existing farm or,
if you are confident enough, on your own. Call it a test
year or a project and invest only in the essentials.

Good tools keep up with farm usage expectations. Team up! It’s good to have a business partner with a
complementary skillset so that you can split tasks.

Start small and don’t go into debt.

When getting started, use every resource you have to

decrease your spendings. It takes away financial pres-
sure and helps you focus on building your business and
doing the actual work.

You can save a lot of money if you buy second-hand

tools, or borrow expensive tools in the beginning. We
bought tools on eBay and local second-hand markets.
One of our neighbours was even willing to borrow us
his rotary tiller, which we only used for half a season
because we switched to no-dig. This saved us a lot of
money!
Krautgaart 2020 core team.

26
Especially when starting your first business, you are
confronted with a lot of challenges you haven’t faced
before. Facing these challenges helps you learn fast and
effectively. As you go, very specific problems or chal-
lenges emerge and you can address those by visiting
farms or taking courses at other farms who have found
successful ways to deal with this exact or similar chal-
lenges.

Learn by doing. We found that the most effective way

to learn the skills we needed was to fully immerse our- JEAN-MARC PARRIES
selves. Learning by doing was our slogan! Today it’s
easier than ever to access the information you need for Krautgaart, Luxembourg
little money or even for free. We read a lot of books be- ____________________________
fore we started, visited local farms and cooperated with
a local heirloom seed grower to learn more about plant
propagation. MAIN ENTERPRISES:

Be proud of your job and set real prices for your prod- Market garden
ucts.
Pastured Layers
Spend time in nature, observe and educate yourself on
natural processes and patterns.
MAIN SALES CHANNELS:

CSA

Restaurants

____________________________

AREA IN PRODUCTION: 0.22HA

STARTUP YEAR: 2016
STARTUP INVESTMENT: €14,200
REVENUE: €150,000
NET PROFIT: €0 (after paying out
€115,000 in salaries)
______

website / instagram / facebook

27
 SANDER LEROY
de Groenteboerin/Hoeve Biesland, The Netherlands

De Groenteboerin, Hoeve Biesland Warmonderhof in Dronten (the garden was a bit small-
er then) and have been employed by “de Groenteboerin
The market garden “de Groenteboerin” was set up 9 years Foundation’’ since 2018. The route I have followed is
ago by the daughter of the farmer of Hoeve Biesland. quite an interesting one. After I finished my training as
It produced vegetables that were only sold in a mobile a Cook/Hospitality Manager during my high school pe-
store next to the garden itself. It immediately attracted riod, I jumped over to the Nautical School. There I stud-
people who either came to shop or offered to volunteer ied to become a Maritime Officer for a couple of years
to be part of the vegetable garden, because the garden and sailed across Europe on different cargo vessels. It
is set up at the beginning of the road to the farm where was a great time but I knew it probably wasn’t what I was
many people pass by. After a few years of gardening on going to do for the rest of my life, so my search contin-
this scale, there was room to expand. The number of ued. After 4 years of studying social work, I became the
consumers grew and the interest from other food com- manager of a music venue. Crowd-control, late nights
munities grew as well. A local vegetable box initiative in an atmosphere from disco to dance to heavy metal; I
came by to collaborate with our market garden, and so have seen all kinds of music. This was great, this was life,
we started supplying them with our vegetables. For the and so I became an entrepreneur at other music venues
past 2 years, “de Groenteboerin” has been a foundation and lots of different festivals. I did this full-time for 10
with a plot area of 1.1 hectares. Half of it is various veg- years before I started considering my life and what was
etables, herbs and flowers that are grown in an Organic important to me. I wanted to learn more about food, na-
Dynamic manner; the other half is still pasture for the ture, growth and life because this was always already my
dairy cows from the farm until we use it ourselves again. point of interest. I found the aforementioned ag school
The foundation “de Groenteboerin” now leases this plot in Dronten in The Flevopolder, and that is where it all
from the Boerderij Hoeve Biesland. began; in 2015 I started my training to become a farmer.
I started on the farm as an intern during my Biologi- I now run the market garden with the help of volun-
cal Dynamic Agriculture and Livestock training at the teers, interns and care clients. We grow vegetables,

28
fruits, herbs and edible flowers for the farm shop, with
the rest supplementing two vegetable packages and lo-
cal restaurants. After my internship at the market gar-
den, I occasionally worked for them when someone was
ill or on vacation. Then, in 2019, I was asked to run the
garden as garden manager and mentor. Right away I
saw the opportunity to shake things up in the way veg-
etables were grown. In my opinion, the way it was done
in the years before me was less efficient and had a more
negative effect on the soil. There were very big cultiva-
tion beds that everyone crawled over and across during
planting and harvesting and weeding. I noticed that this
had a very negative effect on the soil structure. There
was no clear cultivation plan or guidelines on where or
how big the paths should be. Everyone was just walking
everywhere through the beds. The entrance to the market garden.
The vegetable garden had already existed for several
years, so there was a steady customer base. When CO-
VID-19 broke out at the beginning of 2020, we noticed
a big increase in the number of consumers buying our
products. We don’t know yet if we can keep this group
of new customers with us long-term, but we are happy
with our new friends at the farm. However, the culti-
vation plan was not calculated on these waves of new
customers and so we didn’t know if we would be able
to serve everyone our delicious food. During summer-
time, the numbers went down a little because people
went on holiday. This is a normal flow of going and
coming back but this was quite a different year. We were
lucky because at the end of the summer more people
came back to us and so the numbers increased. With
some ups and downs, we’ve managed to meet almost Every year we use willow branches from around the
every customer’s needs. Sometimes we needed to buy farm to build our bean poles.
some extra from a farmer friend, but in the end, every-
one went home happy.
All the figures for this year are not complete yet, but I
am guessing that we will end up with a gross turnover
of €27,500 from the vegetable garden and just under
10,000 from healthcare this year. The biggest revenue is
from the addition of the vegetable boxes from “Kistje vol
smaak” (KVS, ‘box full of flavour’) and Lekker Nassûh
(LN).
KVS is a food box with not only vegetables but also
fruits and dairy products and can be supplemented with
meat and bread from the farm as well. About 3 years
ago, the farm bought this concept called KVS including
a customer base from another company. At that time
there were around 160 customers and it has since grown We use our small greenhouse to pre-sow our planting
to more than 300 customers, particularly this last year. material in the early spring, and later on we grow some
LN is a food community in The Hague where, in addi- tomatoes in it as well.

29
tion to a vegetable box, you can also buy packaging-free ly different from the expectation of the foundation and
food. At their location, you can both pick up your veg- farm. You cannot expect the same from a volunteer as
etable box and also buy a lot of other different products from a paid employee, or a healthcare client as from an
from local producers, from cheese and pasta to soap intern. Healthcare clients come to help us as a daytime
and other sustainable cosmetics products. LN also grew activity that lets them do something meaningful instead
considerably this year from 375 customers to around of sitting at home all day. This group is also very diverse,
600 at the end of spring, so this year it was quite a puz- ranging from people with burnout or depression to ex-
zle to make everyone happy with our products from the addicts, refugees and other people who are just outside
garden. The rest of our produce is sold in our shop on the regular system. Working with this group of people
the farm, where we also sell our dairy products, baked requires a completely different approach. They are here
bread and meat from our cows and sheep. This is not with the hopes to return to society when they finish their
where we make a big profit, though; that comes from recovery. For them, it’s not about production. This rubs
the veg boxes. with the desire of the foundation and farm in achieving
After every season, we meet with our partners of the certain production levels. Besides, there is a group of
vegetable boxes to evaluate. We discuss what went well volunteers who come to help in the vegetable garden.
or what they would like to have next year. We decide This is also a diverse group of people who require a dif-
what KVS and LN customers receive from the feedback ferent approach than paid employees. It’s beautiful and
on the last year’s boxes. This often results in a rough out- fun to work with this diverse group of people, but it isn’t
line of wishes for the following cultivation plan. I always aligned with a revenue model based on production. It
experience this as a very important time of the year to would be good to find ways to generate more income
learn more about our customers and also try to grow from this level of people care, I think. Most of my time
more specifically according to their wishes. This results I spend guiding, demonstrating, adjusting and explain-
in a diverse cultivation plan for yet another new season. ing things to everyone. Especially with the care clients,
It was another tough year, mainly, I think, because it whom I sometimes have to explain the same things over
is difficult to deal with our revenue model. It is a social and over again. However, I have also learnt a lot from
earnings model, by which I mean that the buyers large- working with these people, who have a certain enthu-
ly determine what we grow. This means we also grow siasm when working in the vegetable garden although
products that have a lower yield because they grow they lack the skills, and the diversity also creates beauti-
more slowly. Leeks and celeriac are relatively inexpen- ful social connections.
sive and take a long time to grow from a baby plant to When you are hired as a farmer like I am, you are deal-
a fully-fledged product. This is in principle much less ing with the thoughts and ideas of the farm you work
profitable and results in our income per m2 being much for. The chance that you do not have the same ideas is
lower than what it could be. The vegetables that are sold therefore great, and I have learnt a lot here about deal-
to KVS, restaurants and the shop first go to the farm, ing with this. Communication between the farmer and
wherefore the farm also wants to make a bit of profit me has not always been equally clear, which chafed now
from it; then the farm resells them. Here the middle- and then, and I have now learnt to spend more time on
man is created from which the farm earns. This natural- making clear agreements. We’re not only making plans
ly results in a lower turnover for the vegetable garden. together every year, but we also have to meet regularly
This choice was made by the farm; with the revenue of to discuss what’s going on. For example, I once wrote a
the market garden in mind, this is not a healthy finan- plan to start a laying hens enterprise. Still, in writing,
cial way to run this business. Ultimately, the vegetable it has been decided not to do this by the Foundation
garden and the farm are one company; they have only or the Boerderij. They thought it didn’t fit in because it
been disassembled on paper and the money earned to would yield too little, and so I will just have to keep it
end up in one heap. I would look at the individual busi- for myself for later. I have had several ideas like that, but
ness models of the farm to see if they can be financially because I am hired, I cannot always do what I want. To
healthy independently, but that’s not the case here. work the land on behalf of someone else of course also
Additionally, the income from the vegetable garden is offers opportunities and is not only subject to someone
also subject to work and skills. I have noticed that work else’s rules. If you feel that starting for yourself is too big
with volunteers and care clients makes it more difficult a step, then this is a very safe and pleasant way to gain
to achieve a high yield. The actual feasibility is complete- experience this.
30
 This is not how I ended up here at the farm, by the way.
During my studies in biodynamic agriculture and an-
imal husbandry, I still worked in the event sector for
music festivals, music stages and other cultural events.
At one point, I decided to stop with a large client to cre-
ate more time for myself and try to find something else,
something more meaningful. At that time I didn’t know
exactly what I wanted to do with what I had learned
during my farmer training. What I did know was that
it was time for change and progress. A couple of weeks
later, the farm where I had done my internship called
to ask if I could replace the market gardener, who had
fallen ill, and that’s how my adventure here at Hoeve
Biesland started. Farming for someone else can be nice
Only fast-growing crops can be sown directly into this if you don’t want to take the risk of entrepreneurship, if
soil. The weed pressure is relatively high due to the bio- you cannot find a place to start up yourself or if you are
dynamic cultivation methods. not sure yet if this is what you want to do. I was able to
start with a vegetable garden without any risk and partly
have the freedom here to bend it to my will.
With the knowledge and skills that I have, I have been
able to set up something nice within the framework of
biodynamic vegetable cultivation that they are using on
this farm. This way of cultivation is subject to several
rules that other farming methods are not. There are as
many ways as there are farmers, that’s for sure. One big
group is the conventional farmers who produce one or
more products at high volume and low cost. These farm-
ers use fertilisers, crop protection and heavy machinery.
A second group is the farmers who are organically cer-
tified (less than 4% acreage, 2019) and the main differ-
ence is that these farmers do not use artificial fertilisers
After sowing a bed we inspect whether enough seed has or synthetic crop protection. They are allowed to use
been dropped by the hand seeder. biological crop protection that can be just as harmful
as its synthetic brother. I leave greenhouse horticulture
out of this story for the sake of clarity, because you also
see differences in cultivation in greenhouse horticul-
ture. A third group are the organic dynamic agriculture
farmers (less than 0.5% acreage, 2019), who compared
to the two aforementioned types of farmers not only
look at their own company but also at the bigger pic-
ture. These farmers look beyond their boundaries; they
consider the effect of their farming method on not only
their crops but the natural system as a whole. They don’t
even use biological crop protectors but instead farm
with nature. There are major interfaces with this type of
farming and permaculture. Cows keep their horns be-
cause this is an essential part of the animal that must be
preserved. The soil may not be covered with plastic for
We keep observing what is happening; weed pressure, growing vegetables and reducing weeds.
growth of plant material, soil moisture.
31
After my time as an intern, on-call worker and market
gardener here on the farm, I find that it is time for an-
other chance, and I have decided to start my own busi-
ness with my partner Maaike. We plan to set up a regen-
erative farm in the Netherlands. We’re slowly starting
to look for suitable land and writing a plan. We hope to
have a place in 2021 and start with a vegetable garden
and laying hens as a basis for the first phase. Once this
foundation has been laid, we hope to continue to ex-
pand with broilers if we have sufficient land, or perhaps
make things more modular and use a mobile version to
run them on the land of other farms. The sky’s the limit.
I know it is advisable to look carefully at the distance
between where you live, the vegetable garden and the
broilers. If we then have the opportunity to expand even
further, we want lambs and beef cows to set up a grazing Early autumn morning harvest.
system within the cycle of life, land and the company.
We are currently mainly engaged in conversations with
nature organisations, farmers and governments to see
what the possibilities are. I find this to be a very inter-
esting process and we have only just started. Our work-
ing title is “De Buitenbrigade” (Translated: the outdoor
brigade) and can also be followed under this name via
Instagram.
In the Netherlands, this way of agriculture is still very
pioneering and so hopefully also offers many opportu-
nities. In any case, I see a very bright regenerative future
lie ahead. It was never my childhood dream to become
a farmer or market gardener, and I am the only one in
my family who is into agriculture. I soon realised that it
cannot be compared to a job. It’s a way of life, which is
precisely why it appeals to me. It’s not only the growing
of produce but also the sharing of knowledge with that Time to put this oak leaf lettuce in the ground.
I find very attractive about this lifestyle. Platforms like
Richard’s make me happier and more enthusiastic about
further exploring and immersing myself in regenerative
agriculture. I can only say that if you have a dream, try
to make it come true; go for it. There is no such thing
as failure; at worst you will find out that it was not what
you were looking for, and you can continue searching.
I think that starting this new adventure and creating
something new will be one of my greatest quests and
discoveries, and I’m excited to be doing it with my part-
ner.

Visiting other market gardens for inspiration.

32
 SANDER LEROY
de Groenteboerin/
Hoeve Biesland,
In the summer it is daily fare to harvest courgettes. It The Netherlands
makes it even more fun if your loved one also helps. ____________________________

MAIN ENTERPRISES:

Market garden

MAIN SALES CHANNELS:

Food/veg box collaborators

Farm shop

____________________________
We bring the harvested and rinsed crops to the farm,
where we put them in the refrigerator or deliver them AREA IN PRODUCTION: 1.1HA
to the farm shop.
STARTUP YEAR: 2011
STARTUP INVESTMENT: N/A
REVENUE: €40,000
NET PROFIT: €0 after salary
______

website / instagram / facebook

It’s now the time to set up my own regenerative farm,
the Buitenbrigade, together with my partner.
33
 Michel Kegels
Groenhartig, The Netherlands

Groenhartig got started while I was volunteering for were already a few CSA’s getting started around me, and
a food forest project. The question came up if I would this model didn’t yet suit me as it requires a much bigger
be willing to run a herb garden, which got me thinking range of vegetables to make it appealing for customers.
about what I would need to set up a business in this With my Hotel Management education in hand, I made
field. It was around the same time I started reading and a basic business plan for ¼ acre / 1000m2 growing
watching a lot of videos by some of the Youtube market mostly salads and quick crops and eventually landed in
gardeners. Amsterdam on a wider urban agriculture project that
I loved the idea of perennial agriculture, but I didn’t was looking for someone to rent some land. After the
see any entry point for myself where I could generate an first year, I moved to a second plot with about 1800m2
income from the production alone. I knew I wanted to where I am still situated today. As of this year, I am also
have my primary focus on production, as I think that is working on a second plot nearby with another 2000m2
where innovation is sorely needed. I then wrote a plan to grow more of the longer season fall crops and peren-
to start growing salad greens and quick-growing veg- nials.
etables part-time as a means to start my business, learn Right now the market garden is producing a lot of dif-
and expand my customer base. ferent salad crops, edible flowers, herbs, vegetables,
I chose to focus mainly on restaurants due to the inno- fruiting crops and some niche crops for restaurants.
vative nature of a subsection of restaurants that I wanted Due to COVID-19 we also started selling one-off bags
to work with. A few quality restaurants had managed to on a website, which turned into a small CSA that we
get the so-called forgotten vegetables like parsnips and plan to expand next year. We also became a little hub
salsify, which had suffered from a bad reputation, back for a few other farmers that supplement our product list
in the spotlight in the 90s, and this, in turn, resulted with organic potatoes, fruit and storage vegetables.
in them being widely available in many supermarkets. I
figured that if I want to be involved in a transition to a Startup investment and revenue
more sustainable and perennial form of agriculture, this
would be a good market to focus on. Besides this, there In the first year, I started out growing part-time for

34
about three restaurants in the area. Luckily I had very
low living expenses, which helped me get started in this
way. Over the years the farm slowly expanded both in
crop diversity and customers. The second-year I bought
my first polytunnel and early this year a second one. In
the third year, the first part-time employee got added to
the team. At this point, we have around 1000m2 mostly
high rotation outside bed space, about 400m2 of poly-
tunnels and about 300 meters of perennial vegetable,
herbs and trees.
The biggest investments in the first year were a second-
hand two-wheeled tractor, a trailer for storage and a
very basic office. The walk-in fridge, greenhouses and
bigger infrastructure projects such as automated irriga-
tion and the washing station came in the second and
third year. I probably put around 20k to 25k into the The garden in the 4th year in production.
semi-permanent infrastructure and tools to get where I
am today. This doesn’t include the more direct costs of
things like compost, seeds and plugs (which I initially
bought from a professional propagation plant, but have
gradually started doing myself).
In 2019 we grossed around €50,000, and the progno-
sis pre-corona for 2020 was closer to €60,000, which we
most likely won’t reach. Without labour, the net margin
was around 50% in 2019.
As you can imagine, we have been hit pretty hard by
the corona crisis in 2020. Pretty much 95% of our rev-
enue dried up during April and May, and we are now at
the end of the year only doing around 20% of what we
did last year around this time of year, which doesn’t fac-
tor in the planned growth. We have somewhat balanced
that with our vegetable box sales and subscriptions, but
there was a lot of extra labour and costs involved in set- Rooftop view 2019.
ting that up and keeping it going.
The biggest hurdle to moving the business to a more
CSA-type operation is the fact that it is a very differ-
ent game in terms of what to grow and the timing of
crops. People don’t want to eat the same vegetables ev-
ery week, which means the weekly selection needs to
change. They want diversity. Restaurants also like diver-
sity, but generally need a more stable availability within
the growing season. This leads me to change the crop
plan during springtime and eventually to buy in more
external products from other farms.
Sales and customer base
When I took over the plot, I was introduced to two
restaurants that became my first customers. I then ap-
proached some more restaurants that got added to my
list of customers, but most of the later additions have
been through word-of-mouth. The garden in the 2nd year; new plot preparations.

35
 From the beginning, the restaurant sales were a com-
bination of having some fixed orders of certain crops
and more seasonal one-off crops. We try not to limit our
customer base to the idealistic chefs that want to work
with whatever is in season, but also serve the ones that
have less focus on seasonality but are looking for a di-
rect relationship with a grower that maybe grows more
niche crops or can start growing that for them. We have
also worked with some bigger restaurants that had fixed
weekly orders of certain salads.
Early 2020 we were working on a website and decided
to include a web-shop to start offering one-off vegetable
bags with some homemade sauces made by our neigh-
bour Andres (who has since started his own business
turning a local surplus into tasty products). This went
well in the beginning but dropped off after the initial Insect netting and long-lasting row covers.
hype went down. We have since started a membership.

Vision and challenges

On the whole, my vision hasn’t changed much. My phi-

losophy has always been along the lines of regenerative
eco-agriculture with an emphasis on biodiversity and
including as many functional eco-system elements as
possible along the way. I am a pragmatic idealist with
solid lines I don’t cross. These lines are the use of pes-
ticides, artificial fertilisers and general detrimental use
of resources like cheap potting mixes. I believe that in
a healthy system they are not only not needed, but in
many ways very counterproductive and detrimental to
living systems in general. We also don’t use any one-off
plastics for packaging or farming.
Of course, there is a huge practical component to farm- Fall salad production.
ing in general and vegetable production. It would be
very difficult to do what we do without the use of plastic.
We don’t use any single-use non-biodegradable plastic,
but wouldn’t have been able to set up our farm with-
out the help of long-use planting tarps for weed sup-
pression. We do look to phase these out at some point
soon. The part that I didn’t foresee as much, but which
is a functional addition, is the links we’ve made with
other farmers. Groenhartig is not just a growing opera-
tion anymore, but also has a customer base that is often
looking for other sustainably grown products that we
don’t grow. From the start, we’ve offered products grown
by the other small (mostly CSA) farms surrounding us,
but this was always limited to small surpluses. As of this
year, we’ve made some connections with small farm-
ers in the wider vicinity and started buying in fruit and
storage crops. In this way, we give these farmers access Eggplants and tomatoes.
36
Stale seed-bedding. Groenhartig fall veg box.

Intensive intercropping. Watering the (edible) hedgerow.

COVID diversification. Sunchokes.

37
to our sales channels and the chefs access to small scale
local organic products without the hassle. It is, however,
challenging to manage this at our current scale, so we
limit it somewhat to keep it manageable.
It also brings up the question of certification and trust.
Some of the farms are themselves not certified organic
as they are side-projects by people having fixed employ-
ment elsewhere, and we have a hard limit on what types
of growers we work with.
A major challenge in this area is to find land. I was
lucky to find some in Amsterdam. A lot of the agri-
cultural space in the city is being paved over for data
centres and business areas. Another big challenge is to
transition the operation from being run by one person
having a lot of the ideas and to-do lists in his head, to
having employees with their tasks and responsibilities.

The future

Currently, Groenhartig is expanding to a second plot.

This will increase the diversity of crops we grow and will
result in a bigger customer pool. I also want to work
with more perennials. There is a decent demand for pe-
rennial crops with certain types of restaurants, and I am
looking to further integrate them in the market garden
as edible hedges and windbreaks.
The plan is to increase the number of CSA subscrip-
tions next season and continue to supply the current
restaurant customers with our products.
I am also involved with the agroforestry project on the
Floriade 2022 horticulture expo that is run by my agro-
forestry designer friend Xavier San Giorgi. This project
is aimed at getting wider attention on this type of agri-
culture but also serves as a learning hub on these type of
agricultural systems.

Startup advice

Go online and do your research. There are plenty of

ways to get into farming. Find the one that suits your
life situation and go for it when the moment to do so
is there. Due to my life circumstances, I mostly did it
by starting part-time with a small piece of land with
the knowledge I had from books and the internet, and
slowly grew the operation. But that certainly isn’t the
most common way to do it. If I had to do it all over
again, I would have loved to do a more in-depth course
with someone knowledgable and experienced; it would
have been worth the expense.

38
 Michel Kegels
Groenhartig, The Netherlands
___________________________

MAIN ENTERPRISES:

Market garden

Produce Aggregator

MAIN SALES CHANNELS:

CSA

Restaurants

Webshop

____________________________

AREA IN PRODUCTION: 0.18HA

STARTUP YEAR: 2016
STARTUP INVESTMENT: €5,000
REVENUE: €50,000
NET PROFIT: €10,000
______

website / instagram / facebook

39
 SANDRO WENS
De Paardebloemhoeve, Belgium

An overview where farmland products come from and get more in-
sync with nature. We started our farming journey and
De Paardebloemhoeve is a mixed farm of approximate- adventure on the farm of my father-in-law, who still
ly 40 hectares. Our products count: owns the farm and runs the organic dairy on it. Our goal
for the coming years is to take over the farm. To do this,
Organic grass-fed dairy (herd of ca. 70 animals) we are building up our current enterprises and making
Organic pastured eggs (2 egg-mobiles of 200 hens each) it a more diverse and regenerative place in alignment
Apiary (ca. 100 hives); mainly honey, limited propolis with our vision.
and other bee-products
Organic pick-your-own CSA vegetable and fruit garden Initial focus
(160 members)
Pastured broilers (first year 1 Salatin-style pen, second In the beginning, we focused on our pastured eggs
batch in the brooder) which we started offering in October 2019, building up
recurring business through local activity. To promote
Vision our activities we used local and social media, supported
by customer references. During the winter, we decided
Our vision is to create a farm that doesn’t depend on to start a pick-your-own CSA vegetable and fruit gar-
the commodity market and to offer a wide range of den where families can sign up and pay in advance for a
healthy, nutrient-dense products straight from our farm whole year’s worth of production to harvest themselves.
to our consumers (short-chain). Our goal is to educate By having this enterprise, we’ve created a good base of
our community to understand the concept, the benefits loyal recurring customers who will buy other products
and the why behind the way we work at the farm and from our farm, such as eggs, milk, honey and chickens,
the impact it has on food quality and human wellbeing. or secondary products like pasta from our eggs.
We also promote the social aspect of family harvesting, At the moment we see that our CSA members are our
so that youngsters and toddlers become familiar with primary source of advertisement. They support our vi-

40
sion and are proud to be members of the farm, and they
spread the word about what we are all about and what
we stand for.

Start-up investment

Egg-mobiles: When we started with our layer opera-

tion, we chose to go for a commercially available egg-
mobile from Huehnermobil Stallbau Weiland. The
reason for this was its excellent automated stable with
a built-in fence energizer, automatic doors, light, and
feed and water capacity for weeks at a time. The bottom
tier has a closed floor and the upper floor has a manure
belt below a plastic floor netting. This separates the two
tiers from each other. On the upper floor is the roost-
ing area, the nests and the grain (approximately 1 ton) Sandro and Paulien.
and water (approximately 500 litres) access. Collection
of the eggs takes place from the outside of the mobile;
the bottom part of the Huehnermobil’s roof is hinged
up and can be opened independently at the location of
the nests to provide easy access for egg collection. The
nests are filled with husks of spelt grain, allowing the
eggs to sink into the media and thus keeping them clean
and less prone to damage. To move the egg mobile you
need a tractor since when filled up it weighs around
5000kg. The model we use has a “fixed” wheel design,
so it doesn’t need hydraulic power to push the wheels
out. These two wheels are situated at the back end of the
mobile, giving that end a ground clearance of around
5cm. The front of the mobile gets hitched and lifted with
the tractor to drive it around. If we need more ground
clearance, to navigate a big ditch, for example, we can
move the wheels to another axel which gives us more Drone shot of the farm.
clearance without much effort. Our birds get an outside
run made up of three 50-meter nets covering 2,500m2
of the ground surface to scrape. We move them once
a week during the year. The mobile is also constructed
of isolation panels to avoid overheating in summer and
keeping warmth in winter without the need for extra
heating. During winter, the energy and warmth of the
chicken population keep the mobile’s internal tempera-
ture above zero, which is warm enough for us not to
have any issue with frozen water supplies. This egg-
mobile model is built for housing around 200 hens un-
der organic standards. The price of this investment is
around €37,000, which might sound like a lot, but for
that money, you get a plug-and-play egg-mobile return-
ing around €900 of profit each month, excluding loans
and other running costs. We sell our eggs for €0.5/egg. If
we have excess small eggs from new hens or if sales are Paulien harvesting broadbeans.

41
 low, we collaborate with a pasta factory that produces
fresh dried tagliatelle, spirelli, spaghetti or other kinds
of pasta from our eggs. This has allowed us to work with
almost zero waste.

CSA market garden: To start our pick-your-own market

garden, we’ve invested around €30,000 in tools and in-
frastructure over 2 years.

€10,000 on a BCS with attachments

€3,000 on two second-hand caterpillar-like tunnels
(5x45m and 6x45m)
€12,000 on a big new polytunnel (9x40m)
€5,000 on misc. tools (hoses, hoes, seeder, wheel hoe,
gridder, tilther..) and compost
CSA members in the garden.
Running cost for seeds and transplants are roughly
€6,000 a year since we hardly grow any transplants our-
selves but order them from a specialised grower. The
transplants come in soil blocks, which is also easier and
faster to transplant since there is no fiddling with push-
ing out small plants out of trays. It is an efficiency gain
at limited cost and helps us avoid the risk of not having
good planting material when needed.

We aim to be as ‘no-dig’ as possible and only power-

harrow lightly if there are many beds to prep.

Our gross income from the CSA is 160 members x €365

= €58,400 (incl. 6%VAT).

After labour, transplants, gas and other depreciation

CSA kids in the tomato polytunnel. expense, this makes a net of roughly €30,000 without
harvesting a single vegetable ourselves on a 1-hectare
plot, including crops like potatoes and pumpkins which
take up a big piece of the garden during the season. Our
garden runs year-round, but the main work effort is in
the high season from March to October.

Broilers: Since this enterprise is new to us, we decided

to test-drive the concept and only make one Salatin-
style broiler pen initially to get a feel for whether this
could be something for us and whether there would be
enough interest from our local customers. Turns out
there is, and we’ve only had positive feedback after our
first batch of pastured broilers. We are planning to scale
up the enterprise this winter, but will probably go for a
polytunnel-style pen on a sledge instead of the Salatin
pens. This will be more efficient since our paddocks are
BBQ with some CSA members. wide enough to facilitate them and we already have at

42
 our disposal the tools to move bigger structures, letting
us grow more birds at a time. The running costs of this
enterprise are:

Day-old chicks: €0.5/chick

Feed: €62/100kg-Slaughter + packing: €3.70/bird
Accommodation/transportation etc.: €2/bird

We sell our birds for approximately €12.5/kg or use a

set price of €25 a bird, which nets us around €8-9 a bird
with the slaughter weight aim being 2kg.

Apiary: I started this enterprise 7 years ago before I met

my girlfriend and moved to the farm and had the chance
to become a full-time farmer. Back then my dream was
Filling up the egg-mobile water tank in the sunset. to have one of the biggest professional apiaries in the re-
gion; luckily this idea faded away over the years… Don’t
get me wrong; it’s a beautiful profession and it makes
you see patterns in nature that you otherwise wouldn’t
notice. The downside is that you spend an awful lot of
time bending over hives and driving around the coun-
try hunting down honey flows or pollinating crops. Liv-
ing in Belgium, which is a very crowded place, makes
the operation inefficient. However, to give you an idea
of this enterprise, here are some facts and numbers.
In the beginning, I invested €15,000 in hives, a trailer, a
honey extractor and other small tools. The main income
of this enterprise comes through queen breeding, polli-
nation services and honey sales. Queen bees sell for €35
a piece over here if you use good breeding stock. We sell
most of our honey in jars of 350g, which go for €7-8.5.
In normal years you can harvest about 40kg a hive on
Chickens on pasture in the spring. average. Pollination rates depend on the crops: straw-
berries, for example, are €5/day a hive if they’re grown
in hothouses; outside its €3/day. Cherries, apple or pear
is about €70/hive for 3-4 weeks, depending on the dura-
tion of the blossom period. With our practice, it gives a
moderate return for the amount of labour spend.

Dairy cows: This part of the farm is still my father-in-

law’s, so I don’t know all of the details and numbers of
this enterprise, but here is what I do know. The organic
milk gets collected every couple of days and ends up in
yoghurt, ice-cream or normal milk jugs in the super-
market. The cows graze on pasture during the season
and stay in the stable from December until March-April,
depending on how wet the paddocks are. This year we
started experimenting with rotational grazing in the
hope of following the herd with the chickens in the fu-
Sandro collecting the eggs. ture. For now, this hasn’t been easy, especially because

43
 a dairy cow needs a better constant feeding regime to
keep milk production stable in comparison with beef
cattle, and having the third dry year in a row doesn’t
help either. In the breeding of the cows, we mainly fo-
cus on getting A2A2 genetics into the herd, because the
milk of these cows is more easily digestible for humans
compared to the A1A1or A1A2 milk proteins. As far as
we know, the A2A2 genetics got bred out through selec-
tion without getting noticed. The cows eat mainly fresh
grass or grass-silage with only a little supplemental feed
when grass availability gets low. No corn is grown on
the farm for the cows, unlike most farms in the neigh-
bourhood.

Revenue
Sandro checking his bees.
Our revenue is about €15,0000, and roughly 25% is net
at this moment, but we like to reinvest what we can back
into the farm during these first years. This number is
without dairy revenue.

Running the business

The first year was rough, having no tools or extra la-

bour for the market garden, and building up our cus-
tomer base was challenging in the beginning. Luckily
this grew over the season and started to boom when
corona hit the fan. At this time we have also managed
to buy more tools and infrastructure, which makes the
job much easier. We have also started getting noticed
by other people interested in starting a farm, and some
of them are now doing internships at our place which
Sandro and Sam (an intern) watching chicks grow. after some initial training makes things easier and even
more fun to do. We have mainly built up our customer
base trough word-of-mouth, posting on Facebook, In-
stagram and other media, and signs next to the road of
the farm. Our egg-mobiles also act as big advertisement
banners.

Future vision

For now, I can’t say that my vision has changed, since

we’ve only been at it for around 2 years and so far ev-
erything is pretty much going as expected, except for
the apiary that needs a closer look to be more profit-
able. The only thing I can come up with is that we re-
alised that most people are even more detached from
their food and surroundings than we already thought.
For example, we once had a class from a local school
Pasta made from our eggs. visiting the farm and these kids didn’t even know what
44
radishes were. After a few minutes they were eating the we would make the box more complete with eggs, milk,
radish leaves and all straight out of the soil; they must pasta or other products we can add from our farm. A
have had a real deficit for real food, I guess. This made box of only veg or fruit doesn’t appeal much to me, since
us realise that we made a good decision starting up our there are already many farms doing this in the area. In
diverse farm so that we can at least create a chance for the paddocks, we plan to install silvopasture lanes of
kids and adults to learn what real food tastes like and fruit and nut trees, and on the edges of the paddock,
how it is grown. It’s scary to see that this knowledge can we are already planting trees or shrubs that cattle can
be lost in just a few generations; even people that are a browse on for self-medication and an extra mineral/nu-
lot older than me are missing quite a bit of basic knowl- trition boost. We are also participating in a study group
edge about the subject. looking into trees for cattle to browse on. The fruit and
nuts would primarily go into a pick-your-own system
Challenges with the excess getting juiced and bottled. This can hap-
pen on-farm since there is a juicing truck that comes
When we first got the egg-mobiles, it was hard to sell on-site if the amount is big enough (3 tons). Nuts might
all our eggs without an existing customer base. Luck- get pressed for oil or milled into flour, but we haven’t
ily we were able to sell most of our excess production figured this one out yet. In between the trees or on both
to a colleague who had more demand than production sides, depending on the orientation of the tree row, we
at the time, and any eggs left over after that were con- would also plant berries, similarly to what we did in our
verted into dry pasta, which we also sell on the farm. In market garden. This would enable us to have customers
the garden, we are still in some spots challenged with access the fruit silvopasture enterprise on multiple occa-
a Bermuda-like grass that is hard to get rid off. We try sions during one season and would also mean we would
to tire it out as much as possible and get out the roots/ have the option to make more than one harvest event out
rhizomes in between crops. After the season we tarp it of it. The extra benefit of the silvopasture would be some
for several weeks at a time and remove the tarp and pull shade and windbreak on the now sun-blasted pasture. I
the rhizomes out some more in between. When we have hope this will also end up keeping the pasture to a more
enough compost we will also smother it with a nice lay- growth-promoting temperature during the warmer pe-
er after digging most of it out. Slowly but surely we are riods of the year. We also aim to up our broiler produc-
winning this battle. tion, since we can use the extra pasture-building impact
We also wanted to set up the garden in a ‘no-dig’ way in our paddocks. Running costs would also get lower if
with a nice thick layer of compost on all the beds af- we have a higher number of birds per batch instead of
ter an initial tilling of the pasture. We only managed to just a few 100 birds in a season. If egg sales keep grow-
do half of the garden this way, because it is hard to get ing as they do now, we might get a third egg-mobile or
enough compost onto the farm due to strict fertilisation change a current mobile to one with a higher capacity.
law/rules that limit our nitrogen and phosphorus input We also are looking for ways to run a profitable dairy
even though run-off should be minimal in a no-dig sit- herd on the farm in the future and move a bit away from
uation. In the future, we hope to build a thicker layer of the standard commodity milk market model. It would
organic matter through cover cropping and crimping in be nice to produce a small range of dairy products on
between the main growing seasons and also interplant the farm. Besides the many things already happening, I
some species of cover crops in between the main crops. would love the farm to become a really interesting place
This year we’ve already experimented with sowing one for young people to learn about this way of farming to
thick row of a mix of field beans and buckwheat in be- get started on their own once they get their plot of land.
tween cauliflower and broccoli and had good results. I believe it’s about time that more farmers who are con-
nected to their surroundings start teaching the younger
Plans for the future generations, rather than schools pushed by industry. To
finish off, I’d love to have a full-time employee on the
We would love to continue to grow our CSA member farm year-round, so that we can all enjoy a well-earned
count to 300 and to do this we will have to intensify holiday now and then.
our market garden more in the future. Also, instead of a
complete pick-your-own, we might add the classic CSA
box option if enough people are interested. In that case,
45
Start-up advice

Wait! If you’re in your early twenties, then instead of

settling down and getting a ‘real’ life, go out into the
world, travel around, see how they do things on the
other side, broaden your mind while you are at it. Take
this chance when you are still young and don’t have to
bother much about mistakes if you were to make them.
I believe that if I hadn’t done this myself, I would prob-
ably still be working in a factory today. Get a high data
plan for your internet and binge-watch Youtube videos
about the farming topics you are interested in. Visit as
many farms as you possibly can in your area or where
you go on holiday. If you are looking for tools, try to
look for the best and most efficient for the job within
your budget. Keep in mind that you want a good price
for your product, too; the same thing goes for a good,
well-made tool in my opinion. In the end, it should save
you time and money.

46
 SANDRO WENS
De Paardebloemhoeve, Belgium
____________________________

MAIN ENTERPRISES:

Pastured dairy / Layers / Broilers

Honey

Market garden/ Cut flowers

MAIN SALES CHANNELS:

CSA

Farm shop

Retail shops
____________________________

AREA IN PRODUCTION: 40HA

STARTUP YEAR: 2018
STARTUP INVESTMENT: €90,000
REVENUE: €150,000
(ex. dairy revenue)
NET PROFIT: +/-30%
______

website / instagram / facebook

47
 BRAM BOMBEEK
Wildebeek, Belgium

Developing the vision was a man I wanted to follow. For the first time in my
life, I could see a future and a livelihood in farming. I
Although I had a very happy childhood growing up believe we solve problems through entrepreneurship,
on my family’s farm in Flanders, I would never have community spirit and stewardship. Here all of a sudden
imagined one-day farming here myself. My grandpar- was a blueprint to apply these things to the family busi-
ents were dairy farmers; they are both in their eighties ness and to produce ethical meat of superior quality… I
and still live on the farm. They started out milking on had a mission to rebuild our worn-out, fade-away farm.
pasture, but when the small farms in our village disap- As intuitively as I understood the economics of the
peared they built bigger stables and milked more cows. Salatin model, as little did I know about the ecology. I
My parents switched to breeding Belgian Blue double- knew virtually nothing about grass, nothing about soil
muscled cattle. My father is a veterinarian and he spe- health and very little about the role of the herbivore in
cialised in embryo transfers from high pedigree donor nature. Luckily we live in the age of abundant informa-
cows to more maternal, non-pedigree recipient cows. tion, and when I discovered Richard’s Youtube channel
In my youth, I had other interests than cows. I thought I knew I wanted to study at Ridgedale at the first oppor-
about a career in journalism and studied history and tunity that presented itself.
law, but eventually ended up as an advisor to the biggest
political party in Belgium. Focusing on beef and broilers
After finishing my law thesis I wanted to learn a real
skill, so I took a butchery class. Like all thirty-some- When I attended a Farm-Scale Permaculture Design
things I had started to ask myself the existential ques- Course in August 2019, it turned out to be a pretty life-
tions; I have a nice job, but am I going to do this for the changing event. It was ten days of intense teaching with
rest of my life? I’m always busy, but where am I going? a sweeping range of subjects and an eclectic bunch of
Isn’t it time to build something for me? passionate people. In the evenings we talked about our
I read a craft butchery book with a foreword by a cer- projects. I felt like a real novice but understood the priv-
tain Joel Salatin. After three sentences I knew that this ileged position I was in. My parents had always refused

48
to take on debt to grow the farm, so I had access to land
without the ‘lock-in’-problem so many young farmers
face. I was confident that I would be able to market and
sell our product, I was just missing the experience and
skills of a farmer…
Back in Belgium, I couldn’t focus on politics the way
I used to. My mental energy had shifted, so I took the
leap and left my job in November 2019. I had known
that I wanted to start by direct-selling our beef and
running a complementary broiler enterprise since first
reading Salatin; being at Ridgedale had given me the
push I needed.
Our Belgian Blue cattle have a double muscle gene; they
are bodybuilders. The hanging weight of our cows has
been between 480kg and 580kg, which is - and my par-
ents waste no opportunity to remind me - about double Cows and chicks; building my very own Polyface.
the weight you would get from typical grass-finishing
breeds like Angus or Hereford. A skilled butcher can
turn one Belgian Blue carcass - with yields of 70% and
more - into €7,500 worth of cuts.
Yet these revenues certainly don’t end up with the
farmer. In 2019 my parents sold 15 two-week-old steers
for €750 apiece. These steers end up as veal meat or as
supermarket beef. They also sold 25 ‘reform’ cows for
about €1,800 on average or a total of €45,000. These are
cows that have had 2 or 3 calvings and are at an age of
4 or 5 years. For Belgian Blue cattle, these are the cows
that have superior meat quality and end up at the butch-
er shops. They have developed flavour with age and fat.
I knew that direct-marketing these reform cows could
certainly prove more profitable.
A two-man team does the slaughter skilfully and re-
Few farmers make any profit with their high-yielding
spectfully. Not cheap, but exactly the sort of decen-
Belgian Blue cattle. Accounting records for the last ten
tralised meat production we need. Don’t post these on
years had the average breeder on a negative income.
Facebook or Instagram!
Yearlings and cows with calf require supplemental feed
in the form of corn and concentrate. That means that
our pastures are mostly continuously grazed because
the cows are divided into groups based on their feed
needs. We have a group of about 30 dry cows purely
on the grass in a planned grazing experiment on our
biggest pasture. They know that they are getting a fresh
patch of grass and move easily.
While I have no interest in being a Belgian Blue farmer,
I am convinced that the meat is a quality product and
it would be silly not to use the resources at hand. The
two biggest expenses at our farm are buying feed and
hiring contract labour. Switching to a more grass-based
system could seriously bring down or eliminate these Red gold. The entrecôtes on the left will go into the meat
costs. I tested the water to maybe buy some Angus cows boxes. The T-bones on the right we sell separately. They
but finally decided against it. I’d rather focus my energy can bring in €500!
49
on building my complimentary broiler enterprise. Ev- organic. Feed cost for the first batch was about €1,500.
erybody loves chicken and nobody is doing this kind of The small-scale poultry slaughterhouse we use charges
production; an ethical and aesthetic way to harness the €3.5 for a whole chicken and €5.5 for a cut-up chick-
brutal efficiency of the modern meat chicken. It was a en. This is slightly higher than anticipated, but still not
no-brainer as an entry into regenerative farming. bad. Slaughter price comes in at €1,650. The total cost is
€3,400 or slightly over €10 a bird.
Starting up on a shoe-string budget We lost 6 birds in the brooder and another 21 outside
to Broiler Ascites Syndrome, so we ended up with 333
My parents felt that I had already taken enough finan- saleable birds. Revenues from two pick-up days were
cial risk by leaving my job, so I knew I would have to do about €4,000. We charge €10/kg for a whole bird and
the rest on a shoe-string budget. The direct marketing €12/kg for a cut-up bird. I had done a sort of pre-order
of our beef had virtually no investment cost. crowd-funding selling KIPCOINS, a digital currency
The set-up of the broiler operation took some more that serves as a €15 deposit. About 80% of the chick-
investment but was fairly inexpensive as well. For the ens were sold to KIPCOIN-holders, so were received
brooder, we use two 12m² stables. The pens have a few a €4,000 deposit for the first batch. That adds up to a
hundred Euros of wood in them, and for the closed side, net profit of €4,600 or about €14 a bird. At a net profit
I used old canvas. It’s a cheap build, but not a very du- of 57,5%, the birds are almost twice as profitable as the
rable one. So I decided to adapt a garden-scale chicken cows.
coop from a local supplier which cost about €340, VAT We have pre-sold about 700 birds to date which adds
included. We’ll run our third batch of birds in 4 Kobu another €6,000 in revenue from the broilers. Between
6x3 coops which can house 450 chickens. The galvan- the end of March and the end of June, total sales were
ised metal frames cost €1,080, the chicken wire cost just over €40.000, which is surpassing expectations, to
€260 and canvas will cost about €40. say the least.

Costs and revenue in the first three months Jumping in at the deep end

Between the end of March and the end of June, we’ve While I would have loved to have done an internship
sold five cows. About 360 kilos go in meat boxes of 6kg at Ridgedale and to have more hands-on experience
(€13/kg) or 12kg (€12/kg), which makes about €4,500 running the broiler enterprise, that wasn’t an option be-
in revenue. Orders happen online and end up in a nice cause of a busy job. I knew I had to start at scale to prove
Google Sheet. The boxes are about a third steak, a third economic viability to my parents, and I’m glad I jumped
roast- and stewing meat and a third mincemeat. We will in at the deep end. My parents were extremely sceptical
always have extra steaks and stewing meat. We sell them of my plans at first, and we had quite a few arguments.
separately, as well as the prime cuts like T-bones and Like all farmers, they have to see it to believe it.
tenderloin. These can easily add another €1,000 in rev- They were thinking of winding down the farm, but di-
enue, depending on the weight of the cow. rect selling has given an emotional boost. Having people
The costs are €1,800 on average for the cow and €500 come to the farm to pick up meat and hearing how tasty
feed for finishing. Our butcher is the only one in Flan- it was, is just a whole other story than pure production-
ders that still runs his slaughterhouse, it’s a 50-minute side agriculture. Building the pens and catching the
drive from the farm. Slaughter and processing cost birds became family projects. While so many people
about €1,200. That means that about a third of the rev- were suffering in isolation, my grandparents could see
enue is net, divided equally with the value of the cow if new life being breathed into the farm they built with
we would sell it and the cost of finishing and processing. their hard work.
The numbers for our first batch of broilers: chicks cost With a mortality rate of 7,5%, there were some man-
€0,50 and we picked up 360 for the first batch. We buy agement issues. The birds arrived on cold days and I
starter and finisher feed in bags from our local mill. probably smothered them a bit, not giving them enough
Buying bags is more expensive, but because we don’t ventilation. I was nervous that it would affect the qual-
use organic it evens out at €0.43kg. The conventional ity of the healthy birds, but everything turned out fine
mixes use local grains, while the organic mixes use and people were impressed with the flavour and texture.
grains imported from Ukraine. I prioritise local over Mortality has already dropped to something closer to
50
 three per cent for the second and the third batch.
Farming is hard work. I have lost ten kilos and I fall
asleep like a baby every night. In hot weather, your birds
will go thirsty quick. To my folks I’m still ‘having a try
at it’ and they need to see that I can keep it up. At the
moment I’m not managing the back end of the business
which is still my mother’s domain.

95% on-farm sales

We do all our sales on the farm in the open air. We park

a refrigerated trailer that we rent for €70 in our stable
and put two tables in front. People are encouraged to
pay digitally. A lot of customers want to place orders
with me when I’m feeding the chickens, but I tell them
A product page built like a crowd-funding page. in a friendly way to do it online. My mother does how-
ever have an alternative circuit where older folks can
order with her.
The order page for our meat boxes is a Google Form
embedded on a webpage. The form closes automatically
when we reach the target weight of 360kg, and we ask
people to choose a slot when they want to come to pick
up their meat. We weigh the box in front of the cus-
tomer and charge a by-the-kilo price.
I loved the Ridgedaler (Ridgedale’s farm currency) idea
to pre-sell chickens and adapted it to my context in a
way that was quite COVID-proof. KIPCOIN (KIP is
chicken in Dutch) is a digital currency that gives the
holder the right to one chicken. The KIPCOIN-page is
just a WooCommerce-product page with some inven-
tory-plugins to make it look like a crowd-funding page.
It says ‘Help me get started in farming by ordering your
This is real local food security; one of our customers
delicious chicken in advance!’. The page has a reward
picking up his beef in a wheelbarrow. You can see our
system like a Kickstarter campaign - like a mention on
set-up for sales as well.
our Founder’s Wall or a tote bag - and it gets people in-
volved.
One week before we send the chickens for processing,
we email another Google Form to ask the KIPCOIN-
holders how many chickens they want to order this
round and how they want them cut. It ends up in a
spreadsheet and I can then give my order to our proces-
sor.
While many people think of marketing as selling some-
one something he or she doesn’t need, great marketing
is giving people a sense of why their choices are im-
portant. Joel Salatin is an exceptional marketeer in this
sense, and for many farmers, it will be the missing piece
of the puzzle. In all honesty, I haven’t brought much to
the farm other than my marketing skills.
The first moves are the hardest. It doesn’t have to be expensive. My marketing budget
51
until now has been €150 for two simple advertising pan-
els on the pasture next to my chickens. It is much more
important to have a good sense of timing and creativ-
ity: try to reach people when they are receptive to your
message. Advertise your T-bones when it’s barbecue-
weather, advertise your eggs in the morning…

Changing your mind on things

I change my mind a lot and haven’t written a business

plan. While I would have liked to start with a beauti-
fully diverse farm right from the get-go, I focus on sell-
ing cows and raising and selling chicken for now. That
doesn’t mean I’m not thinking of the next step.
Egg mobiles are such an elegant model and perfectly
complimentary with a beef herd, and while I already My helper for morning chores.
know how I would market and brand them, I’m begin-
ning to think they are not a good next enterprise to
develop. Regulations in Belgium require catching the
manure, which means buying infrastructure and losing
ecosystem services. If bird flu hits Belgium, I would be
in trouble. I’m starting to think now that it’s more logi-
cal to focus on meat production and add pastured pork
and turkeys next season instead.
These are the more profitable enterprises on an hourly
basis, but they just fit my context better. I have devel-
oped a good working relationship with two slaughter-
houses and a customer base for meat, so it’s very easy to
add a new product. I also really like the seasonal charac-
ter of meat enterprises. When I’m done in September, I
can use the rest of the winter to work as a butcher some-
where and gain experience. Curious chickens in their adapted Kobu coop. You can
see your birds at all times, catching is a lot easier and
Communication and context on the road to they can be deconstructed for overwintering.
succession

Marketing and communication are different things.

Fine-tuning communication between generations is
certainly one of the biggest challenges. It’s all about
planning your week and communicating responsibili-
ties and expectations.
However successful the sales have been, I know that I
am still in a trial period and that I have to prove myself
until the end of the season. But when that is done, we
need to talk about holistic context. I know my parents
have certain expectations about the final stages of their
careers - more time, less work, grandchildren to play
with - but putting those things on paper and building a
roadmap towards them is an awkward process for most
farmers. From start to finish in 2 months.
52
 There are a lot of things in regenerative agriculture -
like planting trees in a perfectly good pasture, farmers
without tractors - that people in conventional agricul-
ture aren’t comfortable with. The feedback about our
beef has made them dig in their heels about not chang-
ing breeds... On the other hand, they do have to admit
that the tenets of regenerative agriculture - directly sell-
ing quality products, low investment and start-up cost
- have proven a particularly robust model in times like
these. A lot of discussions are about culture and emo-
tion, not about economics. Letting change flow from
context can hopefully be a tremendously powerful tool.
Because of our land base and proximity to customers,
our farm would be a perfect fit for a micro-dairy. That’s
my goal in a few years. Milking our heritage dual-pur-
pose Flemish Red cow out on pasture would not only Marketing is about knowing when to get people’s at-
be a fitting tribute to my grandparents but also the pin- tention. I offered 8 T-bone steaks before the first BBQ-
nacle of regenerative agriculture. The noble cow turning weather weekend. They were sold in 15 min.
grass into milk and meat, what could be more perfect?
I don’t necessarily need to do this myself. The farm is
big enough to generate income for two or more fami-
lies. I’ll be a certified butcher next year and I see my-
self focusing more on meat. Pastured pork patés, beef
shank chilis, rotisserie chicken… The possibilities are
endless. Traditional Flemish dishes such as rabbit stew
with prunes are a generation away from being forgot-
ten. Cooking these with truly pastured meat could rein-
troduce them in the culture.
Joel Salatin has this lovely expression to create a ‘des-
tination farm’ and there are so many opportunities. I
have a friend who travelled the US to learn whole-hog
barbecue. Hogfest on the farm, what an awesome staff
party that would be? Another friend is a Filipino chef: Half of my marketing budget. Order on our website,
she even wants to use the chicken intestines in her pick up around the corner.
dishes. A slaughter-your-own-chicken workshop, why
not? According to Belgian zoning law, you can’t open a
restaurant in agricultural land, but you can park a food
truck for four months on your farm without needing
permission. Pop-up food from the farm. The potential
for community and creativity is endless. It’s the opposite
of the drudgery and loneliness that drives young people
away from conventional farming.
If you weren’t convinced already, you will be after read-
ing this book: Regenerative Agriculture is a global move-
ment and it has never been easier to get started. If you
are a young farmer with a family farm: stay away from
banks and debts, and find a complementary enterprise
you can use to start generating cash flow immediately.
If you don’t have access to land: find a farmer you can Journalists like a good ‘man bites dog’ story. Transla-
help to direct market and get your foot in the door that tions: ‘Yes, this is a crazy plan.’ ‘People think I’m crazy’.
53
way. Don’t try to convert him to agroforestry or planned
grazing straight away, but think of what skills you have
that could be valuable in a farm business.
There is only so much information you can soak up
from Youtube or books, no matter how good they are.
The real work will have to be done on the ground, with
your hands in the mud. If you believe that this is the life
you want for yourself and that this is the change you
want to make in the world: commit to it, and create your
momentum. Good luck!

54
 BRAM BOMBEEK
Wildebeek, Belgium
____________________________

MAIN ENTERPRISES:

Pastured Broilers

Beef

MAIN SALES CHANNELS:

Direct sales

Online order / Farm pick-up

____________________________

AREA IN PRODUCTION: 30HA

STARTUP YEAR: 2020
STARTUP INVESTMENT: €7,000
REVENUE: €105,000
NET PROFIT: €40,000
______

website / instagram / facebook

55
 Magnus Eriksson
Strömnäsgården, Sweden

Our farm is located in Sweden at 66°N. It’s 5ha (12.5 Darren Doherty, Allen Williams and Richard Perkins
acres) of pasture, 16ha (40 acres) of forest and 5 addi- at Ridgedale Farm, among many others. I read tons of
tional hectares of rented pasture. articles and books on the topic of regenerative agricul-
Our primary enterprise is pastured broilers, and we ture and watched hours and hours of Youtube material.
have a grass-fed beef side enterprise. Coming enterpris- This eventually led me to the point where I felt I had to
es include pastured layers and a no-dig market garden, try practising these regenerative principles myself. And
and further down the line also pastured turkey, forest so the idea of having our farm germinated and started
raised pigs, and fruit trees and berry bushes. to grow. Can I do this? And can it be done in the very
Richard has asked me to share our story, so I will try north of Sweden? I just had to find that out.
my best to do just that. This is a story of how a family Let’s look at some details here. The property we now
of four - me (Magnus Eriksson), my wife Åsa Lindmo call Strömnäsgården is located about 40km from a small
and our two children Felicia and Samuel - with no prior town called Boden. Boden has a population of about
experience or education, only a strong dream, ended up 28,000 people. Our closest city of some size is Luleå
buying a piece of land in the very north of Sweden and (about 78,000 people), just over a one hour drive away.
started a farm. We started our farming experience with We purchased the property for about €150,000. For that
grass-fed beef and lamb. We’ve since sold the sheep and price, we got about 5 ha of pasture, 16 ha of forest, the
lambs to focus more on poultry. house we live in and a handful of other buildings like a
The seed to this farm was planted years ago through my barn for example. All the buildings were in really good
interest in diet and human nutrition. This interest grew shape since the previous owners had done a good job
over the decades and evolved into an interest in how with upkeep and repair.
good, nutritious foods are produced, preferably without When we started the farm, we didn’t have a goal of be-
degrading and destroying the resource we’re all depen- coming full-time farmers. We just wanted a few animals
dent on. Enter Regenerative Agriculture. to cover our own needs and perhaps just a few extra to
I started exposing myself to the works of people like sell. So we began by spending significant capital build-
Joel Salatin, Allan Savory, Will Harris, Gabe Brown, ing infrastructure like fencing, housing etc. for cattle

56
and sheep.
As anyone can see, we started out making several costly
mistakes and looking back I would have done many
things very differently. We started with the most ex-
pensive animals that take the longest to get a return on
investment on. Big mistake. Also, the infrastructure to
raise these animals is no joke. It costs a small fortune.
Anyway, that’s what we did, but I wouldn’t recommend
it. If we instead had started with enterprises that cost
less to get up and running and that give a quicker cash
flow, things would look a lot different.
Our initial investment to start all this, not including the
price of the property itself, was approximately €50,000.
This was supported by our salaries from our jobs. My
idea was that over time we would get at least some of
it back by selling a few extra cattle and sheep here and Åsa Lindmo and Magnus Eriksson.
there. But the cost of having them needed to be sup-
ported by the enterprise itself.
Anyway, we started to graze cattle and sheep and as
time went on we fell in love with the lifestyle. There
were times when both of us wondered what the heck
we’d gotten ourselves into, but over time we grew to love
it. We didn’t implement any Holistic Planned Grazing
at this point, but we at least tried to follow some basic
principles, like not staying more than three days in one
spot and making sure the grasses had recovered before
we came back.
So it didn’t take long for us to realise that being full-
time on the farm was what we wanted. Åsa, who didn’t
want to have anything to do with farming when we pur-
chased the property and moved here, soon changed her
mind, and in the spring of 2018, she told me she wanted
to be full-time at the farm. It came as a bit of a surprise The kids, Sam and Felicia.
to me and I guess I got a bit emotional when that hap-
pened. To be able to share this dream with the woman I
love more than life itself was an amazing feeling. I didn’t
have that goal of being on the farm full-time myself ei-
ther when we set out, but I got seduced by the lifestyle
just like Åsa did. So we suddenly had to come up with
something that could support this economically. Since
our farm is really small in relative terms, we knew more
cattle and sheep wasn’t the answer. So how could we get
two full-time salaries out of a really small farm? We had
to get creative.
I had heard of pastured poultry years before from be-
ing exposed to Joel Salatin at Polyface Farm, and I knew
that Ridgedale was doing it, so when I saw that they of-
fered a weekend course in managing birds on pasture,
both broilers and layers, I jumped at the opportunity to
go there and learn. I quickly signed up for the course. Sune, the Swedish Mountain Cow steer.

57
I went there with the primary goal of seeing in real life
how all this works and figure out if this was something
we could do. It didn’t take me long to be convinced
that this might very well be our ticket into farming full
time. That summer we raised about 80-90 birds just to
see if we could do it. We slaughtered them ourselves in
our backyard, hand-plucked them and ”sold” some to
friends and family. After this, we were convinced. We
were going to do this.
As that summer ended, the work started with plan-
ning and once again investing a substantial amount to
get this pastured broiler-thing going. All in all, with the
building of a hatchery and the purchase of a rather large
incubator, a brooder space in our barn to accommodate
our newly hatched chicks, a slaughter facility with all
the equipment that comes with that, and the pens for The incubator (1,600 egg capacity).
when the chicks get outside, I think we invested another
€40,000. It would have been much cheaper if I had the
practical skills to build it myself, but I don’t, so most
of that went to professional carpentry, electricity and
plumbing.
So in the spring of 2019, we started building the in-
frastructure needed to produce pastured broilers. One
thing we needed was a hatchery since the only Swed-
ish hatcheries are located so far south that they couldn’t
deliver day-old chicks this far north. They could send
us eggs, though. Just the incubator aline was €6,000.
This was a very stressful time for us! Whatever could
go wrong, did. We built everything in the last minute;
e.g. the season started with the incubator being four
weeks late. This led to a massive order being cancelled.
Not an ideal start at all. Also, two weeks before our first
slaughter session was planned, the lorry container we Newly hatched chicks still in the incubator.
were to convert into a slaughter facility was still stuck
on the lorry. We just couldn’t get it to come loose. I had
made plans with both the electrician and the plumber;
as soon as the container was put in place, I’d just give
them a call and they’d come to install everything. Yet
the slaughter facility was finished just days before our
first slaughter session. The plumber even postponed a
vacation with his wife to finish all the plumbing in time.
And in the middle of all this, we still had to take care
of all the chicks, our other animals, our kids and our-
selves. But we got through it. I can tell you that this first
season was a very special journey for us. It challenged
us in so many ways. We only had one goal for that first
season and that was to still be married at the end. To
each other. And we made it!
The second season was much less stressful. We now had
everything in place from the get-go and a season of ex- Brooder area.
58
 perience to draw upon. We knew what expectations to
have and how to plan the workflow. All this has helped a
lot in reducing stress. It’s still a very busy part of the year
to manage the poultry, all our other animals and rais-
ing our kids. Having off-farm jobs doesn’t help to keep
the stress levels down either, but it’s manageable. I have
to say that our chaotic first season has built our confi-
dence and made us more resilient. We feel that whatever
curve-ball life throws at us, we can handle it together. If
we survived our first season, we will survive anything.
I don’t have all the numbers ready to know our exact
revenue, but I can already say that this broiler-deal is
a profitable one. We are currently making new invest-
ments to start with pastured layers next season, but
broilers are a good deal. We produced approximately
Chicks just getting out on pasture. 2,100 chicks this year. Looking at the numbers, I bet we
can support a bit over one full-time salary when we get
up to 4,000 chicks, which is our production maximum
in the buildings we have.
Let’s talk about sales for a while. We have managed to
establish good relationships with some of the best res-
taurants in our area. They love our chickens, and we had
high hopes of selling quite a bit of our planned produc-
tion to them this second season. With the COVID-19
pandemic, this changed dramatically; we have sold
practically nothing at all to restaurants. However, we
have seen an increase in interest from private custom-
ers. I guess a crisis like this is a wakeup call to people
about how fragile the food system is and that it can be
a wise investment in the future to support local farms.
We ran a pre-order ‘early bird’-campaign in March that
was successful. By doing this we raised funds to sponsor
Birds on pasture moved daily. the cost of feed during the season, which is the biggest
expense by far, and we got an idea of how many chick-
ens we should produce. We are going to continue doing
that.
We primarily use social media for marketing and have
a webpage with a shopping cart that we direct custom-
ers to. Customer relations are paramount for success.
All we have is our reputation as good, happy people that
provide a first-class product and service. But - and this
is important - we don’t break our backs to keep people
satisfied. Some customers just aren’t right for us. How
we organise delivery is an example of this. We try to use
REKO drop-offs as much as we can to get the products
to the customers, and if the customer can’t get there,
they have to come to pick it up at the farm. Some people
try to negotiate about this, but we just don’t have the
time or the energy to make deliveries to individual cus-
Åsa at the plucking station. tomers. Not gonna happen!
59
 So, what does the future look like for us at Strömnäs-
gården? We’re just two seasons in, but before we started
we promised ourselves to give this at least five years.
There’s no point in building all the infrastructure and
going through all the hassle to just stop after a couple of
seasons. Things need time to settle before you can eval-
uate. As we learn more, we can also see where we can
improve. So we are continually trying to improve and
make the day-to-day smoother and more streamlined.
After the first season, we automated the watering in the
brooder area, which I calculated has saved us about 60+
hours throughout the season. Now we’re in the process
of extending our barn to accommodate feed storage.
We currently borrow a silo at the neighbours’ farm, but
since we’re now expanding with layers we need some-
where to store feed here at the farm. We are also looking Good looking birds just hanging out, chillin’.
to improve the way we get water to the birds on pasture
and are building a wagon with an IBC-tote on it with a
pump so that we can fill the buckets on the chicken trac-
tors more easily.
Our plan for next season is to start a layer enterprise.
That’s one of the big things happening here. We’ll start
with about 300-350 birds because of the size constraints
in our barn. As the broiler season ends, the plan is to
clean out the brooder area and prepare it for the layers
when it’s time for them to come in over winter. Another
big thing for next season is to start a no-dig market gar-
den, but we’re not going to be managing it and doing
the day-to-day work. A girl from Boden, the small town
closest to us, contacted us because she was interested in
growing veggies and didn’t have access to land. It turned
out that the way she wanted to do this was exactly this
no-dig market garden-thing. Perfect! We can get veg- Packed and ready to sell.
gies grown on the farm in a good non-destructive way
and we don’t need to do it ourselves. Great!
We also plan to try out pasture-raised turkey in a year
or two and planting some fruit trees and berry bushes
in a part of our pasture. Preferably in such a way that we
can graze in between the tree lines and even harvest feed
for winter if we need to. If all this turns well, I still have
an idea in my mind of raising pigs in our forest. Our 16
ha forest is way too small to be useful for forestry, so us-
ing it for forest raised pigs instead and perhaps eventu-
ally having our cattle graze in there makes more sense.
And as we start new enterprises we get more and more
‘waste’ that can be given to the pigs. Not that it will be
enough for them to live on, not even close, but at least
they can convert this waste to high-quality meat. That
idea is compelling. So as things develop on the farm, we
seem to move closer and closer to being able to offer a A tasty pastured chicken meal.

60
complete human diet with high-quality meats, veggies,
fruits, berries and honey from one place. I like that idea
a lot.
We still both have our off-farm jobs to make ends meet.
The plan is to build up this pastured poultry business,
both layers and broilers and perhaps some turkey, get
out of debt and then quit our jobs and be full-time on
the farm. Hopefully, this can be accomplished in the
next two to three years. During that time I hope we can
settle into a routine and solidify the enterprises we have.
What would I do differently if I were to start over? I
would start with enterprises that cost less to get up and
MAGNUS ERIKSSON
running and create cash flow much more rapidly, like
pastured poultry. I would probably start with layers first Strömnäsgården, Sweden
and as that enterprise gets up and running, start build- ____________________________
ing a slaughter facility if I need one. As that first batch
of layers approaches one year of age, I would process
them in the newly built slaughter facility. The second MAIN ENTERPRISES:
season I’d add broilers. This way you can get cash flow
within a short amount of time and slowly but surely Pastured Broilers
build what you need from the profits of what you’re al-
ready doing. Keep your off-farm job if you can. That in- MAIN SALES CHANNELS:
come will help to get things going. Start small and don’t
rush. Take your time to build infrastructure one step at REKO rings
a time. Build your market before you start, if possible.
It’s no use to produce high-quality food if no one buys Restaurants
it. However, if you spend some time and put some effort
into selling and put your mind to it, I don’t think you’ll ____________________________
have too hard a time getting your products sold. There
is an increasing demand for high-quality food produced
AREA IN PRODUCTION: 10HA
in a regenerative way and I suspect that trend is going
to keep increasing. Educate yourself by taking courses (out of 26HA)
like the Pastured Poultry classes they offer at Ridgedale
STARTUP YEAR: 2015/2019
Farm or something similar. Try to anticipate challenges
and be one step ahead. Humble yourself and ask for STARTUP INVESTMENT: €40,000
help and input from those that have successfully done
what you are setting out to do. Their experience can be REVENUE: €36,000 (2019)
worth a bunch! NET PROFIT: €18,000 (2019)
I had a lot of doubt going into this since I lacked prior ______
education and experience and have hardly any practical
skills. So I’ll end with a quote that I feel captures the es-
sence of how I feel about this.

‘When the dream is big enough, facts don’t count’.

If you want it, go for it - and good luck to all of you!

website / instagram / facebook

61
 VIVIAN GLOVER
Gemüsegarten Hoxhohl, Germany

Already whilst studying Organic Farming, I was certain 2015/2016 my partner Alexander and I were asked to
that I would one day want to be self-employed and have take over a farm where the children didn’t want to con-
my own farm to produce whole-foods for my local com- tinue farming. For this farm, we were planning to com-
munity. Before long it became clear to me that whatever bine larger-scale farming with intensive vegetable pro-
I was going to do, it would be what is now called “be- duction. Unfortunately, the take-over didn’t work out,
yond organic”, a regenerative approach to farming. For so we started to look around for alternatives.
me, those principles seemed to be the only logical an- I had already started planning for a vegetable-CSA on
swer to the problems of our time. the farm we were supposed to take over and so I just
I don’t come from a farming background but have been continued with my plan. I wanted to provide vegetables
thoroughly trained in farming both through university year-round for people in the area, but finding land was
and internships. I set out with the goal to earn a liv- going to be the most difficult part. For me, it soon be-
ing from organic farming because I like working and came clear that I would have to live off very little land,
spending time outside and enjoy the challenges that which meant that my setup would need to be very inten-
working with nature bring. sive, e.g. market gardening. In the end, I was fortunate
My main motivation for doing what I’m doing and enough to find a 0.7 ha field for sale two villages away
earning my living from organic farming is now no lon- in the autumn of 2016 and was able to buy it with my
ger only what I mentioned above. It is now also because savings and a loan that my parents granted me. This is
I love high-quality food and find that when not growing where I set up my market garden in 2017. The cattle fol-
or raising it myself, I have to endure too many com- lowed the same year, but so far is more like a hobby (due
promises (e.g. how animals are kept, slaughtered and to the feral herd we took over, the bad state the pasture
butchered or how non-regenerative crops are grown). was in, and mostly the lack of time to set things right).
Finding land for farming is the most difficult thing for The Gemüsegarten Hoxhohl has been a year-round
aspiring farmers here in the region. Nobody wants to CSA right from the start. In the first year, I grew about
lease out or even sell land so either one has to take over 40 different crops for 35 CSA-members. Since then
a whole farm or find a different approach. Luckily, in the CSA hasn’t stopped growing. This year I provide

62
90 members with over 60 different crops every week,
growing on 0.4 ha with two polytunnels (18 x 6 m each).
The garden is cropped biointensively. Hence the name
‘Gemüsegarten Hoxhohl’, which means ‘vegetable gar-
den from Hoxhohl’ (the village we live in). My aim was
and still is to turn the field that I started gardening in
into a super-productive and fertile vegetable garden
similar to the ones I tended to in the years before be-
coming a market gardener, only bigger. After coming
across John Jeavons during my agricultural studies, I
had adopted a biointensive approach minus the double
digging with intensives spacings, season extension, in-
tercropping and permanent beds. I planned to apply
this on a larger area. Only after my initial planning did
I come across Jean-Martin Fortier and realised that this
approach had already been scaled up. I watched his pre- Spring 2020.
sentation on YouTube and bought his book. It helped
me a great deal, but luckily I quickly realised that a lot
of things depend on your specific context. E.g. the two-
wheel-tractor (BCS): Fortunately, I was able to rent one
before buying and quickly discovered that it didn’t work
on the hillside that my field is on. The BCS wasn’t strong
enough to move the power harrow uphill. So I decid-
ed to invest in a compact tractor (Kubota B7100) that
could straddle the beds instead.
In spring 2017 I had the field, which had been a con-
ventional cornfield in the growing season of 2016,
shallowly ploughed and tilled with a cultivator. I then
marked the beds going up and down the hill for better
drainage but didn’t raise them because I couldn’t see a
reason for doing so. We then planted and sowed and
soon realised that the area we had taken into cultivation
was far too big. We had difficulties staying on top of the Summer 2020.
weeds and more than once had to pull out whole beds
of nearly mature weeds by hand to prevent them from
going to seed. But we somehow managed to harvest an
abundance of vegetables without using any fertiliser –
the amount of available nitrogen from years of fertilis-
ing conventionally was so high it even lasted through
the second season.
At the end of summer, we had a torrential downpour of
rain which lead to a lot of erosion. This was when I re-
alised that I had to increase the amount of organic mat-
ter in the soil. I had got to know Charles Dowding by
chance in early 2017 when I attended a talk of his whilst
spending time in England at my grandmother’s. I con-
ferred with him quite a lot about compost beds on hill-
sides because I was afraid that a rainstorm would just
wash all the compost downhill. He said he’d only had
that happen once in his life and that he then just sim- Vegetables for 60 shares on 2,000m2.

63
ply put everything back into wheelbarrows and carted
it uphill again. Because not digging and tilling seemed
so logical to me, I decided to go for it and had a trail-
er full of municipal green waste compost delivered to
build some trail beds. That batch of compost was of hor-
rible quality with huge amounts of rubbish in it (glass,
plastic, batteries…), despite being certified organic. In
spring 2018 we had the next torrential rainstorm with
severe erosion on our field, but the compost beds didn’t
move at all! They just soaked up all the water.
Encouraged by this experience, I had more compost
delivered from a different composting facility this time
and a much finer sifting, hoping for less rubbish. This
was the case, but with this household-waste-based com-
post, the composting process had been much too hot,
meaning the end product wasn’t only nearly black but A colourful coexistence instead of monocultures.
also very dusty and hydrophobic. On our south-west
facing slope with intense solar irradiation, the beds we
built with it got extremely hot on the surface with the
sun shining on them and we couldn’t get them wet be-
cause all the water just ran off. A lot of young trans-
plants we’d planted into these beds died in this process
so in the end we took away most of the compost and
shallowly tilled in the rest of it. This helped to eventually
get it wet. So after that, we only added small amounts
of compost (between 13 and 26 litres per square metre
of bed surface, depending on the crop we grew) and al-
ways tilled it in with the power harrow down to a depth
of about 2.5cm.
After attending one of Richard’s 4-day regenerative ag-
riculture intensives in the spring of 2019 and spending
a lot of time reading up on the soil food web, I decided
to give the no-dig-approach another try. So in spring First Paperpot plantings.
2020 I bought a broadfork, had some more municipal
green waste compost delivered (great quality this time,
it soaks up water brilliantly) and started to develop my
no-dig style. This is how we do it at present: Initially, we
broad forked all the beds once, potentially spread some
horse bean grist for heavy feeders, and added a 2.5cm
layer of green waste compost into which we planted.
Onto the beds we used for direct sowing we spread
about 20litres of household waste compost per square
metre of the bed surface and tilled them one last time.
When flipping beds we now clear the previous crop by
pulling out any leftovers or cutting them off just under
the surface level. If there are some occasional weeds, we
pull them by hand or flame them off. We then either
add some more green waste compost for planting into
(the amount depending on the weed pressure and how
much the previous adding has been consumed by the Intercropping in a polytunnel.
64
 soil life) and horse bean grist (for the heavy feeders) or
we spread a maximum of 1.5cm of finely sieved house-
hold waste compost and direct-sow into it, water thor-
oughly and keep it moist either by watering regularly or
by covering it up with a tarp (white side up) until the
seeds start to germinate.
To start my enterprise, I invested less than €20,000 (ex-
cluding the field) in the first year:
A hut for storing the tools and machines €1,800
An electric fence surrounding the field €200
Drip irrigation and pump €1,900
A compact tractor, rotary harrow and flail mower
€10,200
Tools €1,200
Hoops for fleece-tunnels €650
Gardener and Agricultural engineer Vivian Glover. Insect-netting €1,400
Fleece €600
Crates for transport and storage €200
Pick-up point facilities €250

Because I didn’t have much capital, I asked my (future)

shareholders to each grant me a private, non-interest-
bearing loan of €200 or more. It wasn’t compulsory, but
nearly all of them helped me out and even others who
just liked the idea of what I was doing joined in. That
way I was able to mobilise €12,500 of capital, which I
managed to pay back within the first three years with-
out endangering my liquidity.
Up until today, I have invested approximately €50,000,
split into Trellising for field crops €850, Landscape
fabric €65, Irrigation (including well) €13,000, Office
equipment €300, Pick-up point facilities €660, Hoops
Intercropping in tunnel 2 in spring 2020. for fleece-tunnels €650, Two polytunnels (18 x 6m each)
€6,000, A hut for storing the tools and machines €2,200,
Tools (including paperpot-transplanter) €3,500, In-
sect-netting €1,400, Vegetable storage €650, Machines,
implements and car trailer €12,500, Other infrastruc-
ture €150, Crates for transport and storage €650, Fleece
€1,000, Fence €400.
The Gemüsegarten Hoxhohl turned over €76,000 in
2019, of which 40 % is net. Currently, the CSA-mem-
bers contribute €900 a year on average for one year-
round share. We started with an average of €870 and
had our first raise this spring. Most members raised
their contribution more than that, meaning we’ve got a
bit of financial freedom to try out a couple of things that
otherwise wouldn’t have been possible. The contribu-
tion is paid either yearly up-front in April or monthly.
If shareholders don’t want to continue in the following
The tunnels in summer 2020. season (starting in April each year), they have to quit
65
before the end of December., as that gives me enough
time to find new shareholders.
Having spent seven years in direct marketing and sell-
ing in a big farm-shop meant I already had a lot of expe-
rience in marketing and customer relation. So the first
thing I did, even before any growing-related planning,
was to find my first customers and spread my idea to
find as many supporters as possible. I had stalls at road-
shows, little articles in local newspapers and a supporter
of mine set up a website. This proved to be the right
thing to do because even before I had seeded my first
crop I had sold out all my shares and more. Ever since I
have had a waiting list.
For the first six months, I was still working part-time
on another biodynamic farm where I managed a big
farm-shop with many employees. I had planned to con- A September share.
tinue like that for the first two years, but due to the high
demand, I was able to quit much earlier. In the first two
years as a professional market gardener, I had a steep
learning curve but managed to keep within my financial
and production goals. Then in 2018, we had our first
child. Becoming parents and at the same time start-
ing two enterprises has been very tough at times, and
has also meant that the strain on our relationship has
been even stronger than what farming and being self-
employed usually entails.
Over time some of my principles have changed: After
spending several years managing sometimes more than
40 employees in the farm shop, I never really wanted to
have any myself, but becoming a mother made it neces-
sary to employ people to help me run the market gar-
den. It paid off that I was used to delegating tasks and
managing employees from my former job. Off-grid water.
A similar change has occurred concerning open-polli-
nated varieties. In the beginning, I was adamant about
only using open-pollinated varieties. Over time, I have
not only come to use but prefer and rely on certain hy-
brid varieties. They just sometimes make it easier to
achieve other goals such as keeping time in between
crops as short as possible. Nevertheless, I’m always on
the lookout for OP-alternatives and make a point of
supporting breeders of OP-varieties.
Yet another example is the use of tarps. I never liked the
idea of relying on plastic in my garden, but tarps (woven
and non-woven fabric) is helping me eliminate my trac-
tor, meaning I need much less petroleum.
When starting the market garden, it was off-grid. We
had to cart every drop of water to the field. We first did
this with a tractor and trailer and three IBC-contain-
ers, but soon switched to car and trailer because it was Vivian with her son Laurin.

66
quicker and easier. It took 50 minutes to fetch 3,000l
of water, which was about 25 to 30% of what we would
have needed daily in the dry summers of 2018 and 2019.
So in spring 2019, we decided to have a well drilled, but
it took over a year before this was finally done because
the first two well-drillers never turned up. Having this
well has changed everything. We are now able to irrigate
as much as necessary and also use wobblers for over-
head irrigation instead of doing it by hand to save water.
Germination and growing have got a lot better and per-
sonal stress-levels have decreased.
The market garden is situated on a 5 to 7% slope which
VIVIAN GLOVER
means that we had erosion problems during strong
rainfalls. The continued application of compost has im- Gemüsegarten Hoxhohl, Germany
proved this a lot. To deal with the runoff of the polytun- ____________________________
nels, we‘ve covered the paths below them with wood-
chips (ramial chipped wood). Because of the slope,
we also need to use pressure-compensated drip pipes MAIN ENTERPRISES:
which are much more expensive than simple drip tape.
Since we don’t have any electricity on-site, we still don’t Market Garden
have a cooler for the vegetables and have to harvest on
the same day that the product gets picked up. After MAIN SALES CHANNELS:
harvest, we cover it with wet old bedsheets which work
very effectively for evaporative cooling. CSA
I’m planning to further increase the intensity of how
I use the area in the garden. I will intercrop even more ____________________________
and replace cover crops with cash crops. I have started
to make my compost and want to eventually be able to
make about 50% of what I need myself. This year I’m are
going to plant 20 fruit trees in between vegetable beds, AREA IN PRODUCTION: 8.3HA
and I plan to plant a natural windbreak on the west side
STARTUP YEAR: 2017
of the garden as well as single trees in several places.
I would recommend aspiring market gardeners and STARTUP INVESTMENT: €20,000
farmers to gain as much practical experience as possible
before starting up. Don’t just copy a Jean-Martin Fortier, REVENUE: €76,000
Curtis Stone, Ben Hartman, Charles Dowding or Rich- NET PROFIT: 40%
ard Perkins, but carefully look at their context and try ______
and find out what is appropriate. Then I would advise
them to plan everything and set goals for themselves
(sales, marketing, turnover, profit, liquidity, crops, ani-
mals, seeds, feed, work hours…) before even sowing the
first seed or buying the first chicken. Then they should
only do half as much as they planned, but twice as well.
In the end, they’ll probably have the same turnover, but
a higher profit margin, less work and more peaceful
sleep. So; don’t overdo it, start small, stay small and get
better every year!
website / instagram / facebook

67
 MORENO DE MEIJERE
Aromath Farm, France

Our initial dream into practice everything we had learnt over the years.
That turned out to be a big, but luckily not a fatal mis-
Aromath Farm is a small-scale (0.13ha) no-dig organic take. With no sound business experience and no clear
market garden in a small town in the countryside in path ahead of us all we were doing was dreaming.
eastern France. The farm is run by my partner, Charlène That’s when we had put ourselves at a crossroads. We
Buhr, and me, Moreno de Meijere. were either going to get serious, decide on one clear
Ever since we were introduced to permaculture, re- farming enterprise and then go from there, or stop what
generative agriculture and alternative ways of farming we were doing (as it was not financially viable – a rather
during our overseas travels in New Zealand, Australia, expensive hobby some might say) and get ourselves a
Canada and other countries, we fell in love with the 9-5 job.
work we were doing on farms and the lifestyle that is After analysing, planning and looking at the overall
offered. choices we had with the money we had left, we decided
After spending years together working on many dif- to go 100% into market gardening.
ferent farms in different parts of this planet, we felt the
need to put into practice what we had learned from Becoming market gardeners
other farmers.
Neither one of us had a background in agriculture, so The reason for that was simple. Since we did not own
the step to go into farming was quite a big one. Further- any land (which was going to be too big of an invest-
more, having been heavily influenced by permaculture, ment for us), we needed to be able to rent land that was
we had a big vision for what our future farm was going large enough to sustain us financially. Market gardening
to look like. as a farming enterprise therefore made the most sense
We were going to have perennial systems, annual veg- for us.
etable production, animal systems, aquaculture, worm After we had made that decision, we started everything
composting, a plant nursery and a hundred other farm- from the ground up, and that meant doing thorough
ing enterprises. You get the point. We wanted to put market research in the area where we wanted to install

68
ourselves.
From farmers markets in the area to restaurants, and
from individuals to wholesale, we made appointment
after appointment and met with a large number of peo-
ple to find out, first of all, if there was a demand, and if
so, what exactly they were interested in.
Once we were confident with the demand and we had
collected the required information, we were able to
move forward with confidence. And this meant it was
time to start looking for a piece of land with existing
buildings that allowed us to live on-site and get the farm
started immediately.
We noted down a couple of criteria the land needed to
check off with probably the most important point being
that it had to be within an hour drive from a popula-
tion base of at least 50,000 people (the city where we did Our land at arrival.
most of our upfront market research).
This gave us a clear idea of where we had to look for po-
tential rentable properties to get our farm up and run-
ning. After having visited many different potential sites,
we decided on a 0.13 ha small plot in a relatively rural
area to set up base and get the farm started.
The site we eventually chose, which is now the home
base of the farm, contains an old family-style orchard
of several established mature trees, including a walnut
tree, cherry trees, pears, apples, plums and hazelnut.
From the examples we’d seen from other farmers, we
knew that we would be able to grow healthy vegetables
under the canopy of the trees. It also allowed us to not
start with an entirely bare piece of land and let our farm
be more in line with our ideology.
Another big benefit of this site was the fact that it al-
ready contained a house and several other buildings Creating the no-dig beds.
which we were able to convert into infrastructure for
the farm, including storage spaces, and a post-harvest
station. This allowed us to hit the ground running.
Between the moment we signed the rental contract and
the moment we sold our first crops were only a couple
of months. Not too bad considering we also had a new-
born baby. Having said that, we did work 14-hour days
for weeks to get everything installed and up and run-
ning, but the hours spent were more than worth it.
We knew that once we had installed everything, includ-
ing a nursery for the seedlings, the irrigation system,
the post-harvest station, a high tunnel and the main
infrastructure, we would only have to concentrate on
establishing the production systems of the farm and put
100% of our attention into growing the crops for our
customers.
Our land now.

69
Start-up investments and revenue

Because we didn’t have to invest money into buying a

property, our initial investment costs were relatively ac-
cessible. In total, we spent €17,361 broken down into
the following categories:

Walk-in fridge: €1,291

A high tunnel, nursery, and all the equipment associ-

ated with it: €3,634

Post-harvest station: €417

Harvesting equipment: €1,142

No-dig beds without mulched pathways.
General tools: €991

Irrigation system: €2,174

Seeders: €1,407

Crop protection: €1,057

Compost, seeds, and potting mix: €4,627

Earthworks, fences, windbreaks and other: €621

We’re currently hovering around €60,000 annual rev-

enue with the market garden. Our running costs are
about 25% of that, €15,000. This is excluding our sala-
ries! Which means that basically the profits of the busi-
ness, the remaining 75%, are our salaries. No-dig beds with mulched pathways.

Getting things done

Because I’m not native to this country and my French is

not up to the standards to handle all the administration
that comes with establishing a farming enterprise (and
reaching out to the initial core group of customers), we
decided to split the work between us. I would spend the
majority of my time doing the production side of things
whilst my partner would balance her time between ad-
ministration, supporting me with the outdoor work
whenever needed, and caring for our baby.
After a couple of years, we’ve now been able to stream-
line most of the administrative work, and have clear and
simple systems in place for the entire workflow of the
outdoor production. We’re both playing at our strengths
and allow each other enough space and freedom to do Plot 1 and the high tunnel.

70
 what we’re both interested in. This way we can both have
a more balanced life and be in an overall better shape.
Sometimes this means that Charlène is doing more of
the outdoor work and I take care of our daughter. Other
times it’s the other way around.

Selling

In the beginning, we knew that we would focus mainly

on selling to chefs and wholesale whilst establishing a
solid customer base of people coming directly to the
farm. This allowed us to initially focus a lot of our atten-
tion on growing high-profit crops and sell them in bulk
to fewer customers.
We knew that the size of our land was not going to al-
Our low-cost nursery. low us to do a CSA membership, simply because we
don’t have the space required to grow a larger diversity
of crops to make interesting CSA shares and still be eco-
nomically viable.
Having said that, we knew that if we could hit the ground
running with chefs and wholesale, we would have the
time to get the word out in our direct surroundings and
allow people to come directly to the farm for their pro-
duce.
Ever since we started, this pool of people continues to
grow to this day and we’re now getting close to split-
ting our revenue 50/50 between wholesale and on-farm
sales.
Initially, because of the approach we took, we needed
to focus mainly on growing high-value crops with few
days to maturity that don’t stay in the ground for too
long. Mostly crops like leafy greens (arugula, mustard,
Seeding with the 6-row seeder. mesclun, lettuce heads etc.) and also bunching roots
(beets, turnips, carrots, radishes etc.).
We’re now diversifying the overall crop production to
make it more interesting for our on-farm customers
and offer crops that we simply can’t sell profitably (or
with very low profits) to our wholesale customers.
Because we did thorough market research before start-
ing the market garden, we had met with a large num-
ber of potential customers. At the time of doing the re-
search, we were completely transparent and open with
them, telling them that we would love to supply them
with fresh vegetables. At the same time, we also told
them that we couldn’t promise anything and would only
grow certain crops if they would be economically viable
for us.
This transparency allowed our customers to under-
stand our situation and know exactly what they would
Seeding with the Jang seeder. be dealing with.
71
 As soon as we started growing the crops, we reached
out to the customers that were most interested in our
products to let them know that our crops were soon go-
ing to be available. They loved the updates that we gave
regularly and ever since the crops were ready, we’ve al-
ways been able to sell pretty much 100% of our produc-
tion. Clear communication from the start has been a big
asset!

Revised vision

With the valuable experience that we’ve gained through

farming a small piece of land and having only one main
enterprise, we’ve gained the confidence and skills re-
quired to align our farming practices more with our
ideology and increase the diversity of products on the Processing salad greens.
farm.
We feel the need to provide our customers with a wider
offer and diversity of production whilst continuing to
educate and inspire others to eat local and support their
local economies.
Farming vegetables is a great starting point as it allows
you to get started on a very small scale, build up a solid
base of customers, and learn the ins and outs of running
a business. It also proves to be a relatively low barrier to
entry in the farming world with not much of an initial
investment needed.
We’ve now put ourselves into a position where we’re
working towards a more permanent situation for our
family and are going to be able to pursue our dreams of
creating a much more diverse farming business.

Challenges Freshly harvested produce.

The biggest challenge we confronted early on, as I men-

tioned earlier, was that we spread ourselves too thin. We
wanted to create a paradise right way and focused too
much on the quality of life that it could offer, not on
making the farm function financially.
Although we had worked quite extensively on other
farms before starting our own, we never worked on a
farm that started from scratch. And starting a farm on
your own versus working for a farmer on their farm is
the difference between night and day.
You’ll learn key aspects of farming and gain valuable
experience working for others, but you’ve got to keep
in mind that there’s only so much you can do in a day.
That’s something we had overlooked.
That’s what led us to decide to scale down and focus
on one farming enterprise only, in our case the market Our crops at a local organic store.

72
garden, and then turn it into a profitable business before
venturing into other opportunities.

Our plans for the future

With the experience that we’ve gained, we now want to

buy a larger piece of land, preferably a depleted one, and
regenerate it entirely. Our goal is to create a profitable,
diverse farm where people could potentially come to
learn, work, enjoy and relax. We want to create a place
that can function as an educational demonstration site,
as well as provide a large part of the food that’s con-
MORENO DE MEIJERE
sumed in our local community.
Although starting our farm on rented land was the best Aromath Farm, France
decision we made, we’re currently starting to feel a little ____________________________
‘claustrophobic’ on it as we want to continue to learn
and experiment with other farming enterprises.
For now, we continue to run the market garden in our MAIN ENTERPRISES:
current location but have also started looking for op-
portunities and places where we can start building a Market Garden
more diverse farm from the ground up.
MAIN SALES CHANNELS:
Words of advice
Wholesale
My number one tip for anyone who wants to start farm-
ing is to start small, with one farming enterprise. Farm Shop

Don’t expect to start earning a full income directly in ____________________________

your first year, but focus the majority of your time on
establishing yourself, installing the infrastructure, and
developing a core customer base.
AREA IN PRODUCTION: 0.13HA
From there, with the experience that you gain, double
STARTUP YEAR: 2018
down on what’s working well for you and increase and
improve your production systems. STARTUP INVESTMENT: €17,361

Identify exactly WHO you’re going to serve, and WHAT REVENUE: €60,000
you’re going to grow for them. Make sure to come up NET PROFIT: 75%
with a financial target that is going to allow you to farm
full time and then break this down into a production (this makes up wages)
system based on the actual demand that you’ve identi- ______
fied through research.

And lastly: enjoy the journey. Farming brings a lot of

complexities and requires a lot of hard work in the be-
ginning stages. The more effort and work you put into it
at the beginning, the easier your journey gets after each
season. Envision what you want your farm to be and website
take one step forward each day to realise your dreams.

73
 SARA KNAPP AND ORFEAS FISCHER
Weierhöfer Gartengemüse, Germany

We ( Sara and Orfeas) run a market garden operation of culture in Witzenhausen. Being interested in growing
about half an acre and are in our third year of produc- vegetables professionally, she wanted to start a business
tion. From April to October we supply 220 families with with low startup costs.
mixed seasonal vegetables, generating €100,000 in sales
a year. The vision arose in 2017 while reading the book Getting started
‘The Market Gardener’ by Jean-Martin Fortier. At the
time, both of us were studying Ecological Agriculture Initially, we focused on fast and easy growing crops to
in Witzenhausen, Germany. After a two-week visit to learn the craft of growing vegetables. We limited the
Fortier’s ‘La Ferme Des Quatres Temps’ in Quebec, we variety to 15 in the first year of production, so that we
rented land and started our project. Now, in 2020, we could have two to four successions per bed per season,
are growing on a total of one hundred permanent beds, and focused on fast-growing high-value crops. Another
each of them 16meters long. 25 of these beds are under important point for us was using a lot of compost to
caterpillar tunnels. build healthy living soil where plants thrive and grow.
The main focus and vision of our business is growing a We let people know what we stand for: We grow high
diversity of vegetables with low-till biointensive meth- quality, fresh, ecological, local and seasonal vegetables.
ods, building up healthy soil and developing a sustain- We took the time to build up infrastructure, got help
able customer relationship for the future. And of course, with developing our brand and a website (which has
making a damn good living from it! been a great help ever since), installed irrigation and
Orfeas’ background: His greek father lives on Skyros tried to limit walking distances in the garden (we walk
in Greece and was one of the first farmers on this little about 20km per workday!).
island who, back in 1980, grew ecological vegetables
while most of the other farmers were using pesticides Initial investments
and chemical fertilisers.
Sara’s background: She grew up in the countryside and To start up our market garden we have invested about
after finishing high school studied Ecological Agri- €4,000 in our first year for important tools like the Jang

74
Seeder JP-1, the double wheel hoe with attachments, a
cheap air-conditioner, trays and lights for the nursery, a
second-hand tunnel, irrigation equipment, hoes, insect
nettings, row covers and silage tarps. We also bought
‘The Market Gardener’s Masterclass’ online course from
Jean-Martin Fortier which still helps us a lot, especially
concerning the crop planning which is a key element in
the market garden, and it’s good to have a guide to fol-
low (we bought his course early on when it was cheaper
than it is now).
The Jang Seeder was a must-have because we are direct-
seeding our carrots, radishes and baby kale. It’s is very
robust and easy to handle and we haven’t regretted the
purchase.
Our growing system is similar to Jean-Martin Fortier’s,
which is why we invested in silage tarps for bed prepa- A bird’s-eye view of the farm.
ration. We don’t use a BCS tractor, because it’s expen-
sive and we don’t need it. In the second year, we bought
the tilther and it works just fine for this size of a growing
area.

Revenue

In the first season (2018) Orfeas made €22,000 in rev-

enue, out of which 30% was net. The second-year (2019)
Sara joined and we made €67,000 in revenue, out of
which 53% was net. In 2020 we are making €100,000 in
revenue, out of which 75% is net. We’re each working 40
hours a week.
So don‘t stop after the first or second growing year/
season! The first two years are not easy and you have
to bring motivation, dedication and excitement. Con-
stantly growing with the garden gives you experience Beds, tunnels and toolshed.
over time and tasks will become easier. Always start
with what you want to earn and make it specific.

Workflow and sales

Our small-scale market garden business is going very

well; our customers are excited and very pleased. We
have gained a lot of experience which has allowed us to
be more relaxed throughout the season. The workflow is
smooth and we have cut out hours of wasted time. The
infrastructure is built up and the harvesting part takes
one-third of our working time. We also see changes in
the soil food web and a steady improvement of soil over
time. A side effect of low-till is that weed pressure is di-
minished very fast every year. We buy finished compost
with no seeds and this means less work for us and more
time for other activities. The market garden.

75
 We both love the smallness of our garden and the fact
that our customers come by the garden every Thursday
from 4-7 pm to pick up their veggies. We live in a ru-
ral area where 90% of our customers live in a distance
of 10km. People in the neighbourhood are becoming
more aware of and interested in where and how their
food is grown. The good thing in our CSA model is that
the price for each vegetable isn’t mentioned: Our cus-
tomers simply commit to buying a veggie box with 5-7
different veggies for €12 a week, 30 weeks a year.
At the beginning of each winter, we plan what we want
our next revenue to be the following year. Then we cal-
culate our expenses to determine our sales. For us, it‘s
important to break this number into weekly sales, so that
we can estimate if we can handle the workload. We focus
on the CSA which generates 70% of the revenue. In ad- Salads.
dition to that, we sell mesclun salads to two farm shops
located 5 minutes away from us (generating 20% of the
revenue) and veggie boxes through „Marktschwärmer“
(generating 10% of the revenue).
To build up our customer base we designed a flyer and
asked the local newspaper to write an article about us,
and our customers are now bringing new customers
through recommendation. Another important part has
been using social media like Facebook and Instagram
for advertising and informing about our work in the
garden.

Vision

Our vision remains the same: Growing awesome food

for our local community and making a good living
from it. In 2021 we want to expand it to include teach- Oregano.
ing young people how to make a good living from their
own market garden business and bringing more aware-
ness to local, ecologically grown food and regenerative
agriculture. We also collaborate with research organisa-
tions to collect scientific data about different growing
methods.

Challenges

Luckily, we haven’t had any big challenges. We hired a

tax office to do our taxes to avoid any potential prob-
lems in that area. Once, the deer came and ate the swiss
chard and beets, so we had to build a fence around the
garden. And this year we had a strong hailstorm, but the
plants recovered after two weeks.
In the beginning, people told us that we should finish
our studies first and then start a business. They also said Radishes.
76
 that it’s too difficult to live only from agriculture. Well,
now they are our customers! The biggest challenge is
to have and maintain a positive and growth-orientated
mindset throughout the season - we work on that every
day!

The future

In 2021 we will be teaching two-week intensive market

garden workshops on our farm and we will launch the
first online market gardening course in German. We
will also move our market garden to a new location that
we were finally able to buy - it’s very exciting to have our
own land!
On the new site, our goal is for the farm to be complete-
Young transplants. ly self-sufficient in terms of solar energy and water from
a well. We will also include perennials, bushes, trees and
space where we can teach yoga and folk dance classes.
Another project will be self-sufficiency: We are plan-
ning to grow all the food we need; Sweet potatoes, wal-
nut trees, eggs from our chickens and much more.

Startup advice

Our advice for people who want to start a market gar-

den is to visit different market gardens that are work-
ing efficiently and learn from every farmer you meet.
A good thing to do is to start small and make the best
possible use of the space. Starting small and using a lot
of compost is a good way to go. For us, it was a game-
changer to start buying all our plants from a profession-
al nursery, which we’ve done for the last two years. It’s a
Tomatoes. bit more expensive, but we have more free time during
the growing season, the quality is better and our yields
in the field are higher.
We’ve experienced customers that don’t see and appre-
ciate your work and the quality of your products; don’t
let them destroy your good mood, just let them go! If
someone says something negative about your product,
focus on the other 99 people who like it, because it’s
hard to satisfy all of your customers. They have different
tastes and needs and wishes – if you satisfy 80% of them
that‘s fine!

Be brave enough to start, then things will come and help

you on your way.

Start small, start simple, start now!

The cucumber tunnel. Best wishes on your journey.

77
Washing salad.

The toolshed.

Crop planning.

78
 SARA KNAPP AND
ORFEAS FISCHER
Weierhöfer Gartengemüse, Germany
____________________________

MAIN ENTERPRISES:

Market Garden

MAIN SALES CHANNELS:

Wholesale

CSA

____________________________

AREA IN PRODUCTION: 0.18HA

STARTUP YEAR: 2018
STARTUP INVESTMENT: €4,000
REVENUE: €100,000
NET PROFIT: 75%

(this makes up wages)

______

website / instagram / facebook

79
 ADAM SAYNER
GroCycle Mushroom Farm, England

Our vision Our initial focus

GroCycle Mushroom Farm is run by myself (Adam Our initial focus was to test and then showcase how to
Sayner) and Eric Jong. Our original vision was to dem- grow mushrooms on coffee waste by setting up an Ur-
onstrate and spread the concept of growing mushrooms ban Mushroom Farm in the middle of the city of Exeter,
on coffee ground waste. This vision was driven by a wish UK.
to simplify the process of mushroom cultivation, to We located and obtained a lease for an empty office
make use of coffee waste, and to get more people grow- building in the city centre with no rent or business rates.
ing mushrooms. Previous to setting up GroCycle, I had The landlord was paying business rates on the space, so
run a small scale mushroom farm growing mushrooms they were happy to lease it to us for free as it removed
using traditional techniques, which generally involves their business rates cost. We then were able to claim ag-
steam sterilising an enriched sawdust substrate in large ricultural exemption so that we didn’t need to pay busi-
pressure cookers or an autoclave. This process kills ness rates.
off all competing organisms before you introduce the In this space, we retrofitted a handful of rooms to func-
mushroom spawn. The problem with this sterilisation tion as a mushroom farm, and we focused our efforts on
process is that it requires expensive equipment and a lot refining our growing techniques, output, efficiency and
of energy. It also involves creating and working in sterile profitability by incorporating value-added products like
laboratory space, and it takes a lot of time. mushroom kits and teaching workshops.
So when we started to successfully grow mushrooms We ran this farm for 3 years and in that time received
on coffee ground waste (which is already pasteurised by several innovation awards, a lot of free PR and positive
the coffee brewing process) it cut out a lot of the work press, and also began to receive many enquiries from
and made the whole process much simpler. It also made people who wanted to set up similar projects in differ-
it much cheaper and easier for others to get started and ent countries all around the world.
made great use of all the coffee waste that was otherwise
being thrown into the landfill.

80
Startup investments, revenue and running costs

Our startup investments were approximately €22,0000,

which was spent on the following key items:

Mushroom growing rooms

Equipment for environmental control
Shelving and hanging rails
Walk-in fridge
General farm infrastructure (plumbing, electrics, work-
benches, trolleys)
Initial materials for production & working capital for
1st year of operations

Our approximate revenue is €275,000, with a 10-20%

net profit after all wages and all other running and pro- Eric Jong. © GroCycle.
duction costs are paid (we are a non-profit business so
we seek to reinvest surplus back into the business rather
than generate a large profit).

Our main running costs are:

Staff wages (we have 5 employees + a team of freelancers

for online work)
Business overheads (rent, electricity, office, accounting
etc.)
Materials (straw, spawn, kit boxes, cleaning products,
postal materials etc.)
Postage costs (for kits and substrate supply)
Marketing costs (Facebook ads, website costs)

Where we are today

GroCycle Urban Farm, Exeter, UK. © GroCycle.
Things are going well. We have many different parts
to the business which have all evolved over the last 10
years. On the farm, we have honed our skills and experi-
ence in developing a low-tech style of mushroom farm-
ing which does away with the need for a lot of expensive
equipment traditionally used in mushroom growing.
We have broadened our scope from growing on cof-
fee grounds to a wider range of substrate materials like
straw and sawdust pellets which can also be used for
low-tech, non-sterile mushroom production.
In 2017 we moved from the urban mushroom farm
in Exeter to a more rural farm setting in Dartington,
near Totnes. The farm is made up of workshop space,
an office, an open-sided barn and 3 shipping contain-
ers. From this base, we have been focused on more ef-
ficient production methods and experimenting with
different substrate and growing techniques. Alongside GroCycle Mushroom Kit. © GroCycle.

81
this, a lot of effort has gone into developing stable cash
flow throughout the year and increasing our range of
income-generating activities.
We have developed a partnership with a regional ho-
tel chain that we supply every week with ‘ready to fruit’
substrate columns. We produce and incubate the col-
umns and then send them to the hotels to fruit in their
small grow rooms. The mushrooms are then served as
part of their kitchen garden/hyper-local menus.
We have also developed a high level of experience in
online marketing which has enabled us to sell around
10,000 mushroom growing kits every year direct to our
customers via our e-commerce store, bringing in a large
part of our yearly farm revenue.
In addition to this, we have focused a lot of time and
energy on creating online training resources to meet the Mushrooms bursting out of the bag. © GroCycle.
increased interest that we have received from people all
over the world into the low-tech mushroom growing
methods that we use. In 2015 we filmed our first online
course as a method to teach people how to grow mush-
rooms on coffee grounds. In 2017 we developed a more
in-depth course called Low Tech Mushroom Farming,
which covers the whole process of setting up and run-
ning a mushroom farm. That course community is now
made up of more than 1000 members, based in 60+
countries around the world.

Finding customers and making sales

For our fresh mushrooms, this has just been a case of

approaching potential customers in the local area and
supplying them with free samples, then following up to
establish a regular weekly delivery. We focus on supply- Pink Oyster on coffee grounds and straw. © GroCycle.
ing restaurants and a handful of quality retail outlets.
There are no other Oyster mushroom growers in our
area and most restaurants and retail outlets can only
source low quality imported mushrooms that are al-
ready a few days old by the time they receive them. In
comparison, our product is extremely fresh and high
quality, so for the right customers, it’s a clear choice.
For our mushroom growing kits, we set up our e-com-
merce store and focused on learning digital marketing
and advertising methods to directly reach potential cus-
tomers all around the UK. We focus a lot of effort in
this around Christmas time in particular when there is
a very high demand for people looking for interesting
gifts; approximately 70% of our annual kits sales are in
November and December.
We incentivise returning customers and create positive
word-of-mouth by encouraging people to share photos Golden Oyster outside under shade. © GroCycle.
82
 of their kits on our Facebook page and by offering a dis-
count for returning customers to purchase further kits.
Our substrate supply to The Pig Hotels (a regional hotel
chain) has grown organically. After working with just
one of their hotels and seeing success, they decided they
wanted a mushroom grow-room in more of their hotels.
We now supply 5 hotels with enough substrate to grow
10kg mushrooms each week.

Changes in focus

When we first began, all our focus was on producing

mushrooms. As time has gone by, we have realised that
growing food is the easier part; marketing and selling
your product is the real challenge. After a few years, we
Production of Oyster mushroom columns. © GroCycle. decided that we needed to devote more time to these
activities, alongside developing value-added products
like grow kits and courses. We also widened our vision
from just growing mushrooms on coffee ground waste
to growing them on other materials like straw, sawdust
and various pelleted feedstocks.
This has broadened our thinking, which was originally
focused on urban agriculture, to growing mushrooms
pretty much anywhere and adapting the substrate to
whatever materials are easily and cheaply available.
We also realised that our experiences and learnings
can reach much further afield via online courses, You-
Tube and articles on our website. To this end, we have
changed our vision towards education as a core value of
our company and the activities, trials and experiments
that we do on the farm feed into this.

Mycelium colonising substrate. © GroCycle. Challenges along the way

There have been so many challenges over the years.

Some are practical - for example how to fix a problem
in production or with equipment, or how to send thou-
sands of parcels through the mail. Addressing these is
often just a case of spending the time needed to work
something out, go through a process of trial and error,
or speak to someone who knows more than we do.
The biggest challenges are more to do with how every-
thing stacks up as a business. For example: How do we
maintain healthy cash flow across the year when we rely
on a big seasonal peak of kit sales? These kinds of chal-
lenges required us to spend more time planning, fore-
casting, looking in-depth at numbers, and being pre-
pared to step up and develop new areas of the business
to fill in and generate additional revenue.
Stages of colonisation and fruiting. © GroCycle.
83
Often this has meant learning and developing knowl-
edge in areas we never set out to spend time on - mar-
keting, advertising, website design, customer service,
logistics etc. It has also meant being willing to increase
our costs by hiring staff and other freelancers to free up
our time and enable us to work on developing the busi-
ness.
Related to this financial challenge was the changes that
came from having a family. Both Eric and I had young
children in the first few years of running the business
and this brought big commitments on our time and also
increased living costs that we needed to meet from our
work. We rose to these challenges by realising that if we
didn’t, then we would risk going out of business. In the
end, you have to have a long term commitment to over-
come the challenges and a willingness to change and Large cluster of Oyster being harvested. © GroCycle.
adapt as you learn what does and doesn’t work.

Plans for the future

Here now at the end of 2020, we are currently formulat-

ing plans for the next phase of the business. Ideas we are
considering include:

Buy a farm or industrial unit to base the business from

Develop a mushroom-based meal or snack product
Create new lessons for our Low Tech Mushroom Farm-
ing Course (LTMF)
Grow the number of members in our LTMF course
community
Increase website and YouTube traffic/subscribers
Develop a project supporting mushroom cultivation in
developing countries Tray of Italian Oyster ready for sale. © GroCycle.

Startup advice

One initial thing that I think everyone who is think-

ing of starting a food growing business should consider,
is whether you want to grow food as your full-time in-
come, part-time income or as a hobby. This will greatly
influence how you approach everything.
Once you are clear on this, then spend time learning
from others who are a few steps ahead of you. Take
courses, work as an apprentice and learn from others’
experience as much as you can before starting. This will
reduce the learning curve for you significantly and will
reduce the amount of money you waste in the process.
Then make as good a plan as you can about what you
want to do, but don’t get too caught up on this as you’ll
likely end up adjusting a lot anyway once you get started Mushrooms drying in dehydrator. © GroCycle.

84
and see real-life challenges and opportunities.
Beyond that, I would advise you to get stuck in and be
committed to what you are doing. Be prepared to ride
out difficulties as they emerge - in most instances they
are an opportunity to learn something and grow as a
person and business owner. Be open to experimenta-
tion and changes in direction when things aren’t work-
ing or if you see opportunities.

Most important of all, though, is just to take action!

It’s easy to watch YouTube videos and just dream about

ADAM SAYNER
something for years without taking any action. Take
steps towards what you want to do. It might begin in GroCycle Mushroom Farm, England
a small way; just initial trials, or taking a course or do- ____________________________
ing an apprenticeship…. but this gives you a chance for
learning, connects you with people and builds momen-
tum. MAIN ENTERPRISES:

And remember: there is no such thing as failure, only Fresh Oyster Mushrooms / Mushroom
learning experiences. Substrate Supply / Mushroom Growing
Kits / In-person Workshops / Online
Education Courses

MAIN SALES CHANNELS:

Restaurants / Retailer / Webshop

____________________________

AREA IN PRODUCTION: 0.11HA

STARTUP YEAR: 2010
STARTUP INVESTMENT: €22,000
REVENUE: €275,000
NET PROFIT: 10-20%

______

website / instagram / facebook

85
 © Vincent Nageotte

GAELLE BONNIEUX AND CLAIRE WILLS DIQUET

GonneGirls, France

Our vision spent a year figuring out French bureaucracy and work-
ing on administrative matters. We had to split the farm
As 2 families, we wanted to create a small diverse farm into different lots, finalise the purchase of buildings and
on a piece of family-held land in Normandy - simple! lands, quit our jobs, find schools for the kids, and orga-
Knowing that a background in finance and advertising nise our new life… In December 2018, we became own-
doesn’t necessarily set you up to be an awesome set of ers of the farm. We thought we could now get started,
farmers, we planned out a good few years of training be- but… no! Owning a farm in France doesn’t mean you
fore leaving our jobs and launching into the unknown. can do whatever you want on the land. To have the right
After buying every book available on the subject, we set to work on that land, we had to start taking an agricul-
off for Ridgedale. Gaelle before Claire, due to an un- tural diploma at the beginning of 2019. We spent the
planned horse accident. Ridgedale changed our idea of year studying, moved to the farm in the summer and
a little vegetable farm and became a grass-fuelled chick- started building infrastructure. Finally, in December
en farm as well. 2019 we were settled, with a diploma, both families liv-
ing on the farm, 2 tunnels, 1500m2 of market garden
Our initial focus full of manure and an egg-mobile, ready to go!

Our initial focus was training, training, training… and Startup investments
bureaucracy. It took us 3 years to move to the farm, from
end 2016 to July 2019. We spent the first-year reading To finance the purchase of the tunnels, tractor, tools
and training at Ridgedale for a Permaculture Design and equipment, egg mobile and running expenses for
Course, La Ferme du Bec Hellouin in France to learn the start of the farm (seeds, compost, chickens, chicken
about organic market gardening and with the Savory feed), we received €70,000:
Institute in the USA and Zimbabwe to become certified A €50,000 loan from ECOSIA at 7% interest with a
trainers in holistic management and holistic grazing. 5-year maturity. The interest rate is 0% after 5 years and
Once the project and farm design became clearer, we the loan can be repaid up to 10 years later if needed.

86
A €12,000 subsidy from the region for young farmers
starting a farm in Normandy.

A €6,152 donation through a fundraising campaign

managed by La Cagnotte des Champs on behalf of
GonneGirls and 19 other women-led farming projects
in France.

A €2,550 donation from Seeds&Seeds, a French-based

foundation focused on preserving biodiversity and
planting trees.

Looking back at 2020

What went well: Branding the buildings. © Vincent Nageotte.

We managed to build a strong customer base, with an

average of 120 people coming to the farm every week,
compared to 60 planned initially.

The brand is now well established and the name well

known in the region and Paris.

We have diversified sales channels including direct

sales, local grocery stores and restaurants.

In only 6 months, we managed to build 3 tunnels of

250m2 each, we prepared 1500m2 of market gardening
area and managed to significantly improve the quality
of our soil and organic matter.

We successfully ran our first season with 250 pastured Breathing new life into an old farm. © Vincent Nageotte.
chickens using an egg-mobile.

We are very proud of our first tomato season; we had no

disease, high productivity, limited waste and great taste.

What went badly:

Market garden: Our crop planning could be improved

to have more diversity at every point in time, instead
of having a lot of the same vegetables available at the
shop. Now that we know our customers and their habits
better, we will adjust our vegetable basket to take into
consideration their taste and the fact that many people
in Normandy have their own garden!

Eggs: We could also reduce the percentage of broken

eggs by adjusting our nest boxes. We will also definitely Selling from the farm gate. © Vincent Nageotte.

87
buy a more recent chassis for our egg-mobile number 2.

Teams: Thanks to COVID we had many people offering

to help at the farm. Although this help was extremely
helpful for building infrastructure, we were not pre-
pared in terms of planning and organisation of respon-
sibilities, tasks, processes and operating procedures. We
are better prepared for next year!

Sales and marketing

GonneGirls was a concept before there was a farm. Half

French, half English, based in Gonneville-en-Auge and
managed by women. One of our most talented friends
designed the brand based on a very clear strategy.
The brand gave us credibility before we had landed. A humble note for self-reflection. © Vincent Nageotte.
People like something to hold onto, something concrete
when you ask them to believe in something. This is why
we started the Facebook page and Instagram account to
share our adventure, step by step. We managed to gather
a small community, both local and international.
We painted GONNEGIRLS on the public-facing facades
during our first year, with elements from our brand, so
that people would notice the farm from the road. This,
in combination with tagging the chicken caravan ‘Ça
Roule, Ma Poule’, ensured we couldn’t be missed.
This activity was enough to attract our first customers,
and quickly word-of-mouth started doing the job for
us. We had more people than products. Two weeks after
opening our shop, we were selling all the morning-laid
eggs in only 1 hour. We share news and pictures of the
farm though our newsletter that includes around 400
customers. We also recently had a French national ra- Preparing beds for transplanting. © Vincent Nageotte.
dio station talking about GonneGirls, as well as several
magazines and newspapers.
We have a lot of tourists in the region, which helps to
attract people to the farm during the holidays.

Some changes we have made

We didn’t plan to buy products from other farmers and

sell them at the shop. However, our farm sales began
right at the beginning of lockdown in France and we
only had a few salads, turnips and small eggs from our
young layers. To attract people to the farm, we decided
to establish partnerships with local organic growers to
offer bread, cheese, honey and juices to our clients. It
definitely helped and as clients now have their habits,
we’ve continued after lockdown and even increased the
range of products. Our next step is to add meat, butter A new flock settles in. © Vincent Nageotte.
88
 and milk from neighbouring farmers.
We initially thought we would double the size of the
market garden in year 2. We realised that there is more
demand and less competition for organic eggs and that
it takes a lot less effort and input than the market gar-
den. We, therefore, decided to add another tunnel in our
market garden but keep the same area under cultivation
and focus on increasing our productivity to reach the
same results. The learning curve has been steep, but we
are convinced we are going to rock the garden in 2021.

Challenges

Our biggest challenge during this first year was to build

infrastructure on the farm while we were starting our
Pastured layers at GonneGirls. © Vincent Nageotte. production and running the business, in the middle of
the COVID pandemic and lockdown, with increased
demand from customers and limited time available (as
we had kids at home). Hectic! This situation generated
some delay in our seeding in spring, resulting in pro-
duction gaps later during the year. We addressed this
challenge by taking interns on board, postponing proj-
ects that were not necessary and buying products from
other farms to complement our veg basket.

Plans for the future

In the coming years we hope to have more time for rest

and to ourselves, as well as beautiful farm buildings
with a place to stay for our interns, a place to host train-
ing sessions, trees bearing lots of fruit, and a huge pond!
On the business side, we plan to remain focused on veg-
The first honey harvest. © Vincent Nageotte. etables and eggs and expand our sales to larger cities
like Caen and Paris. We would like to increase the value
of the farm products by building our processing facility
and organising events such as dinners, brunches, farm
and cook days, etc. We will also start renting out our
guest house next year, which will generate a significant
portion of our farm revenues in 3 years. To develop all
those activities, we will need help! We plan to hire our
first employee next year and plan to have 2 to 3 in 5
years.

Words of advice

Spend as much time as possible on other farms before

you start. If you can, a full season! And take your time
to prepare.

A moment to plan. © Vincent Nageotte.

89
Leisure, business and land management combined. ©
Vincent Nageotte.

Taking time out to re-energise. © Vincent Nageotte.

Renovated rooms for farm rental.

90
 GAELLE BONNIEUX
AND CLAIRE WILLS DIQUET
GonneGirls, France
____________________________

MAIN ENTERPRISES:

Market garden / Pastured layers /

Horse boarding / Guesthouse

MAIN SALES CHANNELS:

Farm shop / Restaurants / Wholesale

____________________________

AREA IN PRODUCTION: 14HA

STARTUP YEAR: 2020
STARTUP INVESTMENT: €70,000
REVENUE: €53,000
NET PROFIT: €30,000

______

website / instagram / facebook

91
 ANDREW WOOF
Weston Farm, England

Weston Farm is made up of 173ha of arable rotation, Before my new organic no-till way of farming, I would
23ha of permanent pasture and 4ha of buildings, roads, grow my crops in a standard organic way by having a
woods etc. I farm in a way that, hopefully, puts more fertility-building element followed by a series of cash
goodness into the soil than it takes out. So it is a true crops. Put simply: Clover ley > Clover ley > Winter
regenerative farm, leaving the soil in a better condition. Wheat > Winter Oats. This required too much soil dis-
This is achieved by attempting to have a living root in turbance in the form of ploughing, resulting in a loss
the soil at all times, feeding all the subterranean organ- of nutrients while disturbing and killing the soil’s living
isms and keeping them undisturbed, avoiding tillage organisms.
and nurturing these organisms. I looked for solutions and heard about Masanobu Fu-
Plus, I am farming in a way that, hopefully, shows farm- kuoka’s ‘One Straw Revolution’ in Japan, an early or-
ing has the solutions to global warming by sequester- ganic no-till farmer. One of his techniques was to al-
ing carbon dioxide, and that farming can be performed ternate between rice and barley. He encased the seeds
without artificial fertilisers. For when nitrogen fertiliser in soil balls which he would broadcast onto the surface
is applied, less than 20–30% is taken up by the plants. and then cover with straw, so no soil movement was re-
The remainder is either oxidised to nitrous oxide, which quired.
is another greenhouse gas or leached away, polluting I also heard about J.I. Rodale in the USA, who devel-
the watercourses. I also aim to show that herbivores are oped a device called a roller-crimper, which would push
part of the solution and not a contributing element to and crimp the stems of a cover crop down once it had
global warming. got to anthesis/flowering, leaving a weed-suppressing,
I am the second generation of a three-generation ten- nutrient-providing mass of stems, aided by the soil
ancy from the Dean of Christ Church, Oxford. My organisms’ recycling activities. A cover crop is a crop
father left me with a dairy herd, tractors and various that draws up any available nutrients into the plant,
implements which have since been replaced due to dif- thus preventing them from leaching away. So the crimp
ferent farming techniques and approaches. damages the xylem and phloem within the stems to

92
such an extent that nutrients can no longer flow. This
process cannot be performed prior to anthesis, as the
plant would try and regrow to complete its lifecycle.
A cash crop would then be sown directly through the
mass of stems with a disc drill, this being able to slice
through the mass of stems and into the soil to create
a slot, causing as little movement as possible, and then
placing the seed into the slot and pressing it down with
a covering wheel, so there are no bare patches that
would allow light through to the soil. As a result, no
non-desirable plants can flourish.
The Rodale roller-crimper is good if the terminal crimp
occurred where it was intended to be. But in the real
world, the ground is not always flat and the anvil/soil
may not be in the right place at the time required, such
as in a hollow. This can result in the blades not damag- Roller crimper (1).
ing the stems to the right degree and allow the cover
crop to regrow.
I began to look further into the concept. I talked to a
lecturer, Julia Cooper, at Newcastle University, England
who told me about Ted Kornecki of Auburn University,
Alabama, USA. His original design, which gave three
chances to apply the terminal crimp, was rear-mounted
and suitable for reasonably flat ground. The crimping
bars are on spring-loaded rolls to follow the different
crop thickness, allowing more chances to apply the suc-
cessful crimp. He very kindly gave me my requested re-
design of his device, which again gave three chances to
apply the terminal crimp but was front-mounted onto
the tractor to accommodate a drill behind. Other de-
sign features to note on this roller-crimper are the chain
attached to the top of the pivoting A-frame which al-
lows the implement to pitch up and down to follow the Roller crimper (2).
rise and fall of the land, while the lower link arms are
attached in vertical slots allowing one side to be higher
than other, to follow the undulations to an even greater
degree.
A local engineering business, ‘Becketts Agricultural
Engineering, Inglesham, made the Multi roller-crimper
for GBP 6,000. The modified Krause No-till disc drill
cost me GBP 12,800 from ‘Weaving, Evesham, and the
purchase of the initial cover crop seed of Black Oats at
GBP 43/ha on 45ha meant there was quite an invest-
ment in a new technique. However, the tillage opera-
tions were no longer required, saving costs.
I chose to grow Spring Beans, Vicia Faba, as the cash
crop. They were looking tremendous. Even a conven-
tional neighbouring farmer commented on how prom-
ising they looked. However, the flowers were not pol-
Roller crimper (3).

93
linated and the yield was extremely disappointing. I am place to achieve better pollination and its leaves to be
not sure if it was the lateness of the season, resulting in a more advantageous place to photosynthesise, plus
in low pollinator numbers, or not sourcing the correct keep the pods off the ground to prevent contamination
plant varieties or a combination of everything. and ripen more evenly. The barley would be assisted to
Cover crops are now growing better, if an eight-way grow more successfully by the pea plant supplying ni-
mix is used, harnessing/accumulating various elements trogen to the barley plant, this being translocated via
and removing any harmful traits, as plants like mustard the mycorrhizal hyphae. These are filaments connecting
can act as a bio-fumigant, reducing or removing po- the two root systems, allowing for the nutrient exchange
tential problems, and buckwheat can reduce weeds like to occur in a symbiotic relationship.
docks. There are discoveries or old reinterpretations of I naively chose a 70% barley–30% pea mix, as a cost-
naturally occurring activities; exciting times ahead. saving exercise, as I grew 45ha at a seed rate of 178kg/
The soil takes time to change from a heavily bacterial- ha costing GBP 133/ha. But the peas got over-run by the
dominated one as a result of tillage to the soil having a barley, so the pollination was very poor. I then commu-
more fungal-proportioned one, which the no-till meth- nicated with Benedikt Haug of FIBL Switzerland, who
od of growing advocates and needs. suggested I instead grow the peas at 80% of the normal
Seed selection is also critical, as the current predomi- recommended rate and the barley at 40%. He also fa-
nant system is focused on an agrochemical approach. voured that I stick with two-row barley, as these variet-
So the seeds currently being developed suit that system. ies are less dominant than the six-row ones in soils with
Also, finding cover crop plants with a short life cycle, reasonable mineral content. After seeing his results, it
which will get to anthesis early and mature simultane- looks promising.
ously to successfully crimp, is challenging. Plus, select- Unfortunately, my successes have been limited, so I’m
ing a cash crop that will also mature quickly enough having to return to the tried and tested tillage system to
to harvest within the remainder of the season is tricky, build up some capital to try once more. Admittedly a
producing enough yield at a value that will give a return regressive step, but we live in the real world; one has to
to cover the variable and fixed costs, plus a bit more for make a living.
reinvestment and yourself. The sales are done through Organic Arable, which is
There is a way to select a cash crop variety that suits ones farmer-owned organisation and, as the name suggests,
particular way of growing. This is to grow a Population only trades in organic produce. They also have a clear
Mix. This was developed by the late Professor Martin costing structure, so everything is open to scrutiny.
Wolfe of Wakelyn’s Farm, which is situated on the Nor- Additionally, they perform research and other activi-
folk/Suffolk border in England. He also advocated alley ties. The money to undertake these activities are clear-
cropping, but more on that later. So the Population Mix ly shown and deducted on our sales Invoices. A rela-
is to grow a wide variety of a specific crop mixed togeth- tionship has also been developed with Whites Oats of
er. Initially, wheat was chosen and specifically older, Northern Ireland. Their research is also undertaken on
stronger, more resilient varieties. The dominant variet- the member’s farms to ascertain the best varieties and at
ies with the right growing characteristics that grow best which seed rate to grow under organic systems. Because
for that particular growing method or environment will the buyer is also involved, we get feedback from them
come to the fore. So a natural selection will take place. and a greater understanding of what they are looking
If these seeds are then resown the following year, a fur- for. These trials are very attractive to the host farm, as
ther selection will take place. So gradually the selection the results are extremely relevant to that farm, plus a
will lead to the ideal variety for your farm and growing fair, yet attractive, pricing agreement is developed, as
technique. The maximum yield will not be achieved, long as the specific criteria are met. Unfortunately, this
but the average one will steadily increase at lower grow- research is still carried out using tillage methods, so not
ing costs, so a win-win outcome would arise. The older relevant to us all.
varieties tend to be taller and get up to the light first, I would like to try to grow a winter cover crop into
avoiding being shaded out, or tilled out, to smother the which I would sow a summer cover crop so that an ex-
ground, to again dominate the space. ceptionally fertile soil would be presented to the follow-
I have also grown a winter barley/winter pea combi- ing winter-sown cash crop which again has been estab-
nation, where the pea plants would climb up the bar- lished using the roller-crimper/disc drill combination.
ley stems to position the flowers in a more prominent The future on the arable land will hopefully be to crack
94
 the no-till growing system, so that nutrient-dense food
will become the norm while making the world’s envi-
ronment, on a micro and macro scale, more stable.
The dairy herd once here at Weston Farm has been re-
placed by a Hereford suckler herd, which is mob-grazed
down alleys of permanent pasture, so that when an area
is grazed it all becomes heavily impacted in a short pe-
riod of time. This tight ‘mobbing’ is in order to have the
animals within the herd think they need to eat every-
thing (otherwise their neighbour may eat it), and not be
selective grazers. This also concentrates the muck de-
posits in tight areas to create even more fertile pastures,
ones with high diversity in species to offer a wide range
of nutrients with different maturing time frames, so
that the diet is truly balanced. The spring growth, which
The Hereford suckler herd. is normally very palatable, can cause the forage to go
through a ruminant so quickly that the full nutritional
benefits cannot be gained. A solution is to have a sward
with the new green and the old brown forages together
that can complement each other, slowing the digestion
flow down to smooth out the energy peeks. This can be
achieved by not grazing the paddocks down tight be-
fore winter, leaving the old stems to be amongst the new
lush growth. So when an animal takes a bite, both green
and brown forages are consumed. The spring paddock
moves have to be rapid, so as not to stunt the fresh
growth through over-grazing.
As mentioned before, Martin Wolfe had other innova-
tive practices with agroforestry. I am hopefully going to
incorporate trees and hedging plants into the fence lines
to create a Silvopasture layout, creating little micro-cli-
mates within the alleys. Some of these trees and hedging
The type of grass that needs to be in front of the cattle. plants should be leguminous to further supply the pas-
ture with more nitrogen, as these plants are connected
with the mycorrhizal hyphae, and I will also be choos-
ing tree and hedging species that are palatable and good
to browse to further supplement nutrients not supplied
from the pasture. These plants will have a different
rooting structure and draw up different elements, the
animals can also self-medicate themselves with their re-
quired supplementary minerals and elements through
their own selection. Also, there are other benefits that
the animals have found, like Aspirin compounds that
come from willow bark.
The current field divides will be double up, with the
second fence line positioned 3 meters away from the
first. This is just enough room to allow the trees that are
planted in between the two lines to be out of reach from
Our solar-powered fencing unit is from Hotline Elec- being grazed when in the early years, so as not to stunt
tric Fencing Limited. the main stem. However, the hedging plant would be in
95
reach for selective grazing, also causing these to fill out
more. Also, to provide a greater barrier from the wind
and better habitat for all the wildlife to flourish, the pe-
rimeter fence would not have to be 3 meters away, as the
animals can only have the chance to graze the bushes
and trees from one side.
A point to mention is that as pigs and chickens are om-
nivores, they require a mixed diet which can include
grains, while cattle and sheep are herbivores and should
eat a forage diet only as this produces - in my opinion,
and that of others, too - a better quality product. So the
land required for herbivores can be concentrated onto
the grassland, which there are considerable amounts of,
while the omnivores can share the grassland and utilise
the remainder for the alternative food items.
For various reasons my cattle are only now in conver-
sion to become organic and I will hopefully become a
member of the PFLA (Pasture for Life Association), re-
sulting in the product seeking a higher premium.
This grazing system means the cattle are regularly
moved onto fresh pasture, resulting in a rest period
from 30 to 50 days for forage recovery. This way they are
not creating a worm burden, resulting in the animals
not having to be applied with any products to counter
a potentially developing problem. Ideally, I would also
have a poultry flock following the herd three days later
to scratch and spread the dung around and consume the
emerging maggots, providing the birds with a fuller diet
and leaving the herd free from the troubling fries.
However, being a one-man operation, this is still an
aspiration. Unfortunately, I, very occasionally, have to
apply an insecticide to control the troubling flies. But
soon, I am also going to encourage birds like swallows
to assist in controlling fly numbers by supplying bird
boxes along these alleys, encouraging them with a home
to nest in. As it is said, ‘If you build it, they will come.’

A note on climate change

As stated before, cattle can be part of the solution in

combatting climate change, as the correct grazing sys-
tems will sequester carbon into the ground through the
‘Carbon Pump’, this being the growing green plants se-
questering the carbon into the plant as building materi-
als within the development of stems, leaves and roots,
plus the root exudates, containing carbon too, are re-
leased to feed the subterranean organisms. The plants
are allowed to nearly complete its life cycle to collect a
wide variety of nutrients. Then the mob will be allowed The two crops this year were barley and oats. You can
into the paddock to graze a third of the plant for them- also see some fertility-building leys in the distance.
96
selves, a third to be trampled upon to be broken down
by the subterranean animals and fungi for themselves,
too, while the remaining third would have enough leaf
area to quickly grow back.
The methane gas question has been overstated, as a
problem being caused by ruminants, as methane within
the atmosphere is broken down after nine years. So the
animals omitting their methane nine years ago have no
effect now, for the herbivore number, both naturally and
farmed, has not altered much over time. The methane
from this species has kept fairly constant and is not an ANDREW WOOF
increasing problem as many people would like us to be-
lieve. However, the trapped methane within the melting Weston Farm, England
permafrost caps is being released, which has no connec- ____________________________
tion with ruminant animals now but stems from the ru-
minants that were living when the ice was formed. The
world’s atmospheric temperature has been rising due to MAIN ENTERPRISES:
the other gasses.
The burning of the hydrocarbons may have caused the Cereals and pulses / Cattle
problem to be exacerbated. But as previously mentioned,
the carbon can be sequestered with growing plants. It is
the nitrous oxide that should be held accountable. If the MAIN SALES CHANNELS:
political desire was there, the solutions would be found,
but politicians are too interested in the short term and Wholesale
their immediate legacy.
The water cycle also has an important role. Wherever ____________________________
it rains, the topography and the soil’s constituents and
ground cover can affect how long it stays where, or near
to where, it has landed. Soils with high organic matter AREA IN PRODUCTION: 196HA
can hold considerably more water within itself, there-
fore increases in it is again advantageous. STARTUP YEAR: N/A

STARTUP INVESTMENT: N/A

Our future
REVENUE: N/A
The future will hopefully be one where organic no-till
farming will be even more successful. People and some NET PROFIT: N/A
omnivore animals need grains and pulses, animals need ______
to express their full natural and holistic existence, and
we need to look after the planet and the type of food we
eat. The challenges we need to overcome are the immi-
nent climate emergency and crop failures if adaptations
are not followed. So let us work together and show the
solutions are within our grasp if we follow the natural
ways. Mother Nature has been getting it right for such a
long time without our interference. Work with her.

Let us show everyone that good, nutritious food and a

healthy environment are within our grasp!

97
 MATTHEW LIVINGSTON
Enso Farm, England

Our vision ples. We aim to blend natural and traditional wisdom

with scientific understanding to optimise for carbon
We intend to co-create a tranquil, beautiful environ- sequestration, biodiversity, beauty, harmony and hap-
ment alongside Nature that can functionally inspire piness. Also, a part of our vision is living together as a
a regenerative culture by enhancing and proliferating family on the farm, eating truly wholesome food, be-
Life. This in contrast to the continuing intensification ing closer to nature and accepting the responsibility
and technologisation of agriculture, the urbanisation entailed in this lifestyle. Thus the homestead is intrin-
of humanity and the encroachment upon or destruc- sically linked to the land and its management.
tion of our wild places.
We aim to cultivate in accordance with the Tao, which Our initial focus
simply means to do that which needs doing and not
do that which does not; it is why we are inspired by We initially focused on the site infrastructure and the
and have named the farm Ensō, which ‘exemplifies the establishment of the no-dig market garden (consisting
various dimensions of the Japanese wabi-sabi perspec- of 900m2 outdoor bed space plus another 100m2 in
tive and aesthetic: the polytunnel) as well as planting a fruit orchard, nut
trees, windbreaks and other perennials. The fruit trees
Fukinsei (asymmetry, irregularity), kanso (simplicity), are 24 varieties of apple and pear to start, and we’ve
koko (basic; weathered), shizen (without pretence; planted 2 varieties of almond and 5 of hazelnut.
natural), yugen (subtly profound grace), datsuzoku
(freedom), and seijaku (tranquillity)’. Investments and revenue

Practically, our work involves producing nutrient- We invested ca. €27,500 in the startup phase, not in-
dense food as well as orchard-, hedgerow-, woodland-, cluding the cost of the family house, land, compact
pond- and meadow establishment and management, tractor with loader and (currently non-operational)
all in ways that are aligned with regenerative princi- borehole.

98
We’re earning ca. €2,300 per month in box scheme
sales, with markets just starting back up. I don’t have
a precise net figure to share, but the financial year-to-
date cost of goods sold is currently equal to revenue,
including bought-in produce as well as non-amortised
items to be used over multiple periods such as com-
post and other soil amendments. Including operating
costs puts us net negative for the current quarter.

Where we’re at

It was a difficult start, with the first season negatively

impacted from a growing perspective due predomi-
nantly to the application of poor-quality green-waste
compost, some of which led to all of the signs and
symptoms of aminopyralid weed-killer poisoning, The initial compost application.
which has become a major issue here in the UK. Com-
post being the literal foundation of a no-dig garden/
enterprise, I learnt my lesson of how crucial it is to in-
vestigate and understand its quality; unfortunately, the
certification schemes here are not stringent enough to
protect growers from damage, contamination or pol-
lution. This experience forced me to deepen my un-
derstanding of soil health for which I’m grateful, as it’s
led to new avenues of study and exploration including
Korean Natural Farming, remineralisation, nutrient-
density, and the works of growers including Bryan
O’Hara, Steve Solomon, and Eliot Coleman to name
a few.
Over that first year, we focused on building out our
infrastructure including fencing, irrigation and the
polytunnel, as well as managed the first thinning of
our mixed-native deciduous woodland, which pro- Applying compost to the no-dig beds.
duced a cornucopia of beautiful woodchip for us that
we’ve used for all of our pathways, tree mulching and
base layers of our compost piles. 2020 has thus been
our first proper growing season, and we’ve harvested
and sold €8,800 more worth of products than we had
during the same period of time last year off thirty 15m
beds plus the polytunnel; a big improvement for us but
still a lot of work to be done.
It’s also been a highly unusual weather year with one
of the wettest winters in a century, record-breaking
sunshine and drought in spring, and now a cool and
wet start to summer. But the no-till, diversified bio-
logical approach seems to be paying off already as the
health of our soils and crops are improving, we’ve had
no erosion problems, we haven’t had to irrigate heav-
ily, and we’re seeing the associated flushes of fungi in
the garden. Using the bed roller before direct-seeding.

99
 Sales and marketing

We started with an opportunity to join a nearby farm-

ers market, which started my education in sales; pric-
ing, payments and customer relations. When COVID
started, we transitioned into a small and person-
alised custom box scheme, initially buying in organic
wholesale to ensure some diversity whilst building up
our production.
The competition is stiff, as several established lo-
cal organic farms have massively pushed their box-
es, in addition to the major nationwide organic box
schemes, not to mention supermarket deliveries, so
we are focusing on differentiating ourselves as no-
till (and what that means) with a focus on customer Inspecting the salad mix.
service, personalisation and growing crops of interest
such as agretti, mashua, Aztec broccoli, etc.
Later we hope to prove, perhaps with a spectrometer,
the significantly higher nutrient-density of our crops
compared to conventional produce, but hopefully,
the improved flavour is enough of a game-changer
for the average customer. We are still trying to figure
out how to balance and make viable operating at such
small-scale selling directly to consumers versus scal-
ing up to include more restaurant and/or farm shop
sales in our model.

Learnings

I’ve become more aware of my physical limits work-

ing alone, and I’m currently deciding between find-
ing slightly less-intensive ways of doing that abide Checking out the ripening tomatoes.
by regenerative principles yet satisfy yield and scal-
ing requirements or taking on additional help in the
form of apprentices, a farming partner or otherwise.
One of my inspirations is Masanobu Fukuoka and his
methods, and I endeavour to find ways to practice
into my old age as he did.
One practical example from this season was direct
seeding half the winter squash crop instead of doing
all transplants, which was significantly more easeful
and still achieved near 100% germination using clay
seed balls soaked in KNF SES solution; some of those
plants are the healthiest in the field and I used fewer
inputs and spent less energy overall, with the caveat
of slightly later harvests.

Ensō summer produce.

100
 Challenges

Our initial application of green-waste compost

turned out to be very poor quality and compro-
mised the first growing season. It has taken over 15
months to show signs of breaking down, and we’ve
pulled out hundreds of pocketfuls of rubbish. Af-
ter numerous crop failures that first spring, we tried
multiple strategies to remedy the problem, includ-
ing; topdressing those beds with better compost;
spraying with vermicompost, KNF and weed teas;
amending with rock dust, minerals and pelletised
chicken manure; mulching; cover cropping; and we
finally tarped the beds over winter.
The following spring many of the first crops, includ-
In the fruit orchard. ing beets, peas and salad mix, were still struggling,
so we removed the old material into the pathways
and re-applied mushroom compost at a cost of an-
other €925 for 20 out of the 40 beds; a classic case
of the sunk-cost fallacy and I should have done this
much sooner! Finding quality compost continues to
be a challenge, and I’m now making as much of my
own as possible, reducing the amounts used once
weeds have been smothered as well as using more
mulch (primarily grass clippings/scythings) and
under-sown ground-covers for long-season crops.

Plans

We plan to continue building towards an evermore

diverse, beautiful, resilient and productive system
that can provide nutrient-dense food using fewer
Planting an ornamental cherry tree. inputs whilst drawing down carbon:

2020

Compost bays built (Spring)

Solar system install (Summer)
Rainwater harvesting and irrigation upgrades (Au-
tumn)
Small pond restoration (Autumn)
Berry and multi-functional perennial plantings in
and around the market garden and into the fruit or-
chard (Winter)
Mushroom cultivation - continue investing in de-
veloping a small side enterprise (Winter)
Farm beautification work - an arbour, willow/hazel
screens (Winter)
Addition of new habitats for birds and insects to
Thinning the woodland. complement existing hedgerows (Winter)
101
 2021

Farm barn build (proper wash/pack, cold storage,

tool storage)
First bee hives
First farm tours
Start of wildflower meadow creation
Orchard doubling

2022

Full market garden space in production

Workshops, education, on-farm traineeships
Orchard and nut trees first crops

An inoculated reishi log. 2023+

Animal integration? Ducks, geese, rabbits to start?

Garden expansion? Polytunnel #2? No-till hemp
and grain fields?

Advice

Before starting your own farming business, gain ex-

perience and confidence or have plenty of starting
capital/financial backup; preferably all of the above!
Budget carefully. Build your vision and holistic con-
text. Carefully consider the pros and cons of farm-
ing alone - there are limits to how much can be
taken on and that will differ for everybody. I would
say it is worth spending a season on someone else’s
farm, despite not having done that myself. I have
Installing solar panels on the compost bays. trained informally with two Permaculture design
certificates, a masters in sustainability and a year
apprenticing in Costa Rica, but I’ve still had to learn
the majority of the nitty-gritty operations through
books, Youtube and self-teaching, which can slow
things down and generate unforced errors. Having
said that, diving in at the deep end has forced me to
learn quickly and broadly into all aspects of running
a business, including the less fun but critical parts.

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102
 MATTHEW LIVINGSTON
Enso Farm, England
____________________________

MAIN ENTERPRISES:

Market garden

Tree crops

MAIN SALES CHANNELS:

Box Scheme
____________________________

AREA IN PRODUCTION: 0.1HA

(out of 7.5HA)
STARTUP YEAR: 2019
STARTUP INVESTMENT: €27,000
REVENUE: N/A
NET PROFIT: N/A

______

instagram / facebook

103
 JOEL RODKER
Norwich Farm Share, England

Norwich FarmShare (NFS) is a CSA growing chemical- limited number of shareholder members.
free vegetables on 2,564m2 of land on the SE edge of The plan was to recruit and have in place a part-time
Norwich, Norfolk, UK. I am Joel, the most recent grow- grower, and later a ‘grower’s assistant’, in January 2011,
er to join, and the current farm manager. with a view to the first harvest in summer 2011. The
NFS was inspired by the ‘food theme group’ of Transi- target for membership by the end of the first year was 80
tion Norwich (TN) launched in July 2008, which want- members, but this was soon readjusted to 60.
ed to create a CSA for Norwich as there was much en- The funding enabled the purchase of a second-hand
thusiasm for growing food locally, inspired partly by the tractor (€5,500, equipment for tractor €18,700), a sec-
work of Tully Wakeman which showed how it should ond-hand van (€3,300), and some farm tools and equip-
be possible to feed Norwich on land within a 15-mile ment (irrigation and 2 polytunnels, €13,200), including
radius of the city. For many people, it was a dream to a shipping container. It also paid for farm consultan-
have access to land and grow food, and that spirit is still cy for the growers (€82,500 over two years). This was
strong in the community. deemed crucial in the set-up phase and a local expe-
East Anglia Food Link (EAFL) – a small NGO consul- rienced organic farmer was recruited in this role. This
tancy – secured a grant of €165,000 Big Lottery funding person helped with a lot of maintenance jobs and teach-
to set up a CSA (and some other projects). ing the growers how to use the tractor, do crop planning
The first Board of Directors met in 2010 to agree on the etc. In these first years, the main equipment used was a
legal basis of the organisation, establish a good land site, tractor with cultivator, rotavator, potato ridger and har-
recruit the first employed grower and the first tranche vester, and mower. The cultivated area was 5 acres and
of members/subscribers. plots were 50m long, 18m wide, with 15 beds per plot.
The precise legal status and structure of NFS took some Beds were 1.2m including 30cm paths. The poor soil, in-
time to work out, and we eventually chose to register as efficient set-up and trying to farm too much land were
an Industrial and Provident Society Cooperative (later big constraints at this time. There was a huge weed bur-
changed to a community benefit cooperative), with a den and the water pump and tractor broke often. There

104
were big problems with mice and rabbits, the growers
did not have enough paid hours to farm, a lot of time
was spent managing volunteers and the growers did not
have a lot of experience.
Despite all these difficulties, NFS in this sense was seen
as a model which, if replicated, could create food secu-
rity for a city like Norwich.
Between 2011 and 2016 several adaptations were
made to the operations. Originally it was intended to
distribute the veg shares in clusters around particular
geographic localities where members lived. This was
thought to be impractical by the then-growers, and a
‘food hub’ where members weighed out and collected
their shares was the favoured option. A cycle delivery
service was also introduced. Local sign-maker Alex Clayton (front) hand-painted
There was another change in the legal status of NFS this farm sign. Behind the sign are volunteers with farm
so that any paid-up members were deemed sharehold- manager Joel Rodker and grower Jack Astbury.
ers and could vote in meetings. In hindsight, it’s inter-
esting to reflect on the amount of time that has gone
into exploring all these different legal frameworks for
the project, which I believe have had very little impact
on the actual growing of food and in many cases have
sapped the energy of the growers and volunteers. This
reflects a tension between wanting to be very rooted in
community democracy and the need to produce food in
a business-minded way.
Membership churn was a fairly constant concern over
the whole period and the aim of 120 members was al-
ways, until recently, an elusive figure. Over those first
years, the membership fluctuated from as little as 60 to
100 as a maximum.
Around 2014 two more grants of €11,000 were secured
for NFS from the National Lottery. At that time we ran An aerial of the market garden.
various events to get more press coverage and con-
ducted a feasibility study for a new site and a few other
projects. The funding helped steady the operations for a
while, increased members through increased activities/
promotion and gave the scheme a lot more visibility.
Alongside this, there was a consistent deficit in farm
labour, and encouraging members to do stints on the
farm was a recurring task. NFS very nearly liquidated
several times during its first incarnation on the Post-
wick site but managed to keep going with huge commu-
nity support and hard work on the part of the growers.
Growing on the early site was tough. The field had been
farmed with chemicals for many years and in the first
year of growing in 2011, there was no rain for 10 weeks.
Due to a lack of irrigation on the site, a few thousand
euros was spent buying in tanks of water. By the end of
Aerial of the 81 field beds (in 3 blocks of 9),

105
this first phase of NFS, there had been 120 members for already laid out 6 blocks of 9 beds, each 25m long by
a couple of years. 80cm wide. Winter crops were grown in the two tun-
In late 2015, due to a change in the ownership of the nels over the winter of 2018 to 2019, and in the spring of
land, the land was passed over to a Trust who gave NFS 2019, we started marking out the field beds with string
Notice to Quit. For two years NFS did not have any land and cultivating them, mainly with a BCS 740 walking
and much time was spent looking for a suitable site and tractor which I had brought with me (cost €3,300). 2019
writing grant applications to pay the growers and set up was the first season of growing crops on the field at this
a new market garden. Member numbers dropped off new site. The field-scale tractor is still owned by NFS
considerably and the financial situation deteriorated. and in the first year on the new site was used to do a lot
There was a very successful crowd-funding campaign of the weed clearance on the field, using the cultivator.
in 2015/16 which helped in the process of finding new It has been used less and less and is now mainly used
land and setting up on the new site. By January 2018 the to top the grass in half of the field that is not being cul-
decision was taken to shift focus to a new site which had tivated. It is idle for most of the year but did come in
been found at Whitlingham Nurseries in Trowse, also useful when we opened a new area of land (625m2) for
on the south-east edge of Norwich. Around this time squash. After the initial ploughing, the BCS was used
the members decided to change the organisation to a several times to flatten the ridges and dry out the exten-
Community Benefit Society. sive nettle roots.
In Spring 2018 the growers at the time, Rosa and Jack In the 2019 season we grew in the two tunnels (124m2
began setting up the new site. The 2.5-acre field had been and 70m2), 54 field beds (1,080m2 without paths) and
unused for some years and was very weedy with some 9 beds for salad (126m2). We received a free delivery
very well established stands of nettles (other prominent of several tonnes of ‘peat diggings’ from the Norfolk
weeds included small bugloss, creeping cinquefoil, but- Broads Authority who manage nature reserves nearby
tercup and different grasses). The site used to be a plant and were digging out a pond. In 2020 we have bought in
nursery and has a 90metre borehole with extensive un- some cow muck and horse manure that we will compost
derground pipework around the field with standpipes until it is mature. In the summer of 2019, we decided to
at various locations that just needed reconnecting, giv- aim for a no or minimal till system and tried to avoid
ing us a free supply of groundwater although of variable using the BCS rotavator as much as possible. But due to
pressure. A rabbit fence had to be installed as there were not having enough compost to mulch beds thoroughly
(and still are) significant numbers of rabbits in the area. and experiencing heavy perennial weed pressure we did
Two large polytunnels brought from the previous site have to rotavate several beds to clear them quickly for
(19x7m and 11x7m) were erected and a smaller tun- re-planting. The BCS is now mainly used for flail mow-
nel, which is being used as a propagation tunnel, was ing old crops or the grass verges. Nettles and buttercups
donated. There was a small portacabin with drinking continue to invade and made bed preparation and har-
water and electricity, which is now used to store tools vesting in 2019 time-consuming and unpleasant. We
and seeds and make tea. Electricity does not extend also have a problem with wireworm and are under the
further than the cabin and all irrigation is done with impression that rotavation is one of the best ways to get
the borehole water. Current and future veg rinsing will rid of them.
use the mains water. The field inside the fence is about In the autumn of 2019, we created another 27 beds
2.5acres, so there is room for expansion. This new site (540m2 not including paths) in 3 new blocks alongside
has marked a significant change in growing techniques the first 6 blocks. In Spring 2020 we cultivated a new
and membership numbers of Norwich FarmShare. area of the field (625m2) which has been covered with
Rosa left in the autumn/winter of 2018 and a new grow- woven membrane and planted with winter squash. This
er, Tara, joined for a few months. Jack and Tara pro- will likely be converted to more beds in the following
ceeded to establish beds and grow in the tunnels and years and hopefully, the weed pressure will be lower.
layout the beds on the field. Financial problems going We raise most of our seedlings and buy some in to cov-
into Winter 2018 meant that Tara left the organisation er shortages or save ourselves time. We mostly sow in
and Jack continued working only one day a week. seed trays, but I have a Jang single-row seeder which
In March 2019 I joined as a grower after having spent I use for sowing carrots, radish and parsnips. We are
one year attempting to set up a market garden on a farm growing about 30 different vegetable crops. Perennial
near Peterborough which didn’t work out. Jack had weeds are our biggest challenge and hopefully weeding
106
 will become less time-consuming as time goes on. We
harvest once a week on Wednesday, store the veg over-
night in an insulated van and pack the members’ bags
in a rented space in a local sports centre with volunteers
on Thursday morning. Veg bags are distributed for de-
livery by a paid driver and paid cycle couriers (Zedify
UK). Before COVID many members used to come to
the ‘food hub’ to weigh out and collect their veg. Due
to Jack withdrawing the use of his van from the farm
we are planning to hire a private driver to do deliveries
for us.
As of mid-July 2020, we have 130 veg bag subscribers.
With prices from €7.42/week to €17.03/week per bag,
this equates to a monthly income of €5,709 or €68,507
a year. Much of 2019 was spent trying to recruit new
Propagation in the tunnel. members and the membership rose from about 60 in
March to 90 by the end of the year. This enables Jack
and me to be paid for 2 days a week each. We also asked
members who were able to to pay for a year up-front,
which is not something we normally do. In 2020 we re-
ceived about €6,678 in advanced payments. After the
COVID outbreak membership rose to 140 and now
seems to have stabilised at around 130 members.
We also sell on fruit and eggs and make a profit on
those. In 2019 we introduced a wider cycle delivery ser-
vice, which was expanded in March 2020 in response
to COVID. We make no profit on the delivery. In 2019
NFS began selling to local restaurants for the first time
in its history. Due to our legal status, we can only sell
to members, so restaurants had to pay €1.10 per order
to be registered as members. We developed some very
positive relationships with 2 or 3 chefs and the income
Using a Jang seeder for direct-sowing carrots. was very welcome. However, the logistics of harvesting
small amounts for chefs and organising extra delivery
jobs meant this market stream wasn’t satisfactory. Due
to COVID leading to the closure of most restaurants we
have focused on the CSA, and we haven’t missed the ex-
tra planning and driving that restaurant sales required.
Our wages expenditure is for 4 days a week (8 hours a
day) for 2 growers, 10 hours a week for an admin and
5.5 hours a week extra for farm management, veg order-
ing and other admin. In June 2020 the wages expenses
were €3,090/month The other major expense is buying
in organic veg from wholesalers, especially during the
winter. In February 2020 the cost of buying in veg was
€2,067.97. We usually do 2 or 3 fundraising and social
events throughout the year such as farm open days and
a ceilidh. Occasionally we receive donations from sup-
portive members of the community. With all our other
Grower Jack Astbury harvesting in our 80cm beds. overheads (utilities, farm supplies, accountancy, in-
107
surance) we are generally losing money in the winter
months. Reducing our purchase of veg over the winter
is one way to increase our margin. Another way would
be to reduce the number of months we are operating if
we can’t grow enough and don’t want to buy-in.
We have traditionally always had a volunteer workday
once a week. Due to the COVID pandemic, we had a
huge number of new requests to come and help in the
market garden. We issued some new guidelines for safe
working practices with a form that people must sign. We
created a google sheet rota that people must add their
name to before they come to the farm so we can manage
numbers – maximum of 12 on-site at any one time. The
increased number of volunteers (50-70 hours a week)
has meant a lot of extra people management time but
has also enabled us to keep on top of jobs that we might Harvest crates ready for preparing boxes.
have struggled with otherwise; the nettle pressure is still
high but they haven’t got out of control like in 2019 and
we have mulched all paths with card and woodchip and
kept up with planting and succession. While Jack and
myself are only on the farm Tuesday to Thursday, there
are usually volunteers on the farm on Monday and Fri-
day. We ask neighbours to water our seed trays at the
weekend. We are operating on a shoestring budget and
have not been able to invest in automatic watering sys-
tems – yet!
The turnover for 2018-19 was €63,053 with a net of
€6,562. The turnover and profit for 2019-20 should be
higher given our increased membership and a greater
amount of produce grown on our land. On the area
of cultivated land in 2019 (1,400m2) this profit would
equate to €4.69/metre2/year.
Since starting production at the new site we have been Weekly box preperation done by customers until 2020.
growing much more intensively. We have prioritised
keeping on top of weed pressure and building up soil
fertility. Having a better supply of water has been a
game-changer and this year we have made further im-
provements to the irrigation system to save time. Im-
proving our customer service and communication has
played a big part in member retention and recruitment
but a lot of this has been done in unpaid time. I make
a lot of use of social media which means our presence
on those platforms is much greater and we take a lot
of enquiries through Facebook and Instagram. Keep-
ing our membership substantially above 100 has been a
long time goal of NFS and while COVID has helped, the
recent improvements in our systems and making sure
we are providing better quality veg has also played a big
part. Our margins are still not as good as they could About 50 of our veg shares each week are delivered by
be and to fairly reimburse our growers and be able to Zedify, a cycle courier company.
108
invest in the farm we need to raise our prices. There has
always been some resistance to this because of a desire
to keep our products as accessible as possible to people
on a low income. This tension between the needs of the
community and the needs of the farm enterprise seems
a difficult one to negotiate but ultimately if the farm fails
or the farmers get burnt out because of a lack of funds
that does not serve the community either.
I am curious about the huge sum of money that NFS
used at the beginning for consultancy compared to the
present situation where I have learnt most of what I JOEL RODKER
know from Ytube, books and apprenticeships. Jack runs
his own growing business in London and has worked on Norwich Farm Share, England
other farms, so he brings a huge wealth of knowledge. I ____________________________
recommend anyone starting to get as much experience
as possible on other farms or with a small piece of land -
start slowly, be patient. I would not start another market MAIN ENTERPRISES:
garden without a reliable supply of water. Being profi-
cient with spreadsheets and other digital auditing tools Market garden
is very helpful. Relying heavily on volunteers has pros
and cons. It is possible to get a lot more work done and
volunteers get a great sense of achievement, but manag-
ing volunteers and rectifying mistakes can be time-con-
suming. I believe that even in continuing to welcome MAIN SALES CHANNELS:
volunteers we should be trying to make the farm earn
enough money to pay for all hours done on the farm, CSA
otherwise it’s not a viable career for new entrants.
Looking forward, owning our land would make our
long term future more secure and I’m confident we have
enough community support to raise the money. If we ____________________________
stay on the current field I would like to see some ex-
tension of the cultivated area to enable us to increase
membership by growing more veg but also to allow us AREA IN PRODUCTION: 0.22HA
to rotate cover crops for soil fertility – at the moment STARTUP YEAR: 2010 (2018)
we have no spare beds. My priorities are: to keep im-
proving our beds by adding organic matter and remov- STARTUP INVESTMENT: €22,000
ing weeds; tweaking our irrigation system to make it
as efficient as possible; improving our seed raising sys- REVENUE: €63,000
tem with more space, automatic irrigation and heated NET PROFIT: €8,800
mats for earlier sowing; installing a walk-in cooler and ______
making our packing system more efficient; investing in
more tools and infrastructure that will make our lives
easier; investing in software that will make it easier to
manage our increasing membership. I would like us to
offer more formalised training and clarify our financial
and farm planning records so that we have a much bet-
ter idea of how to make the farm more successful.
website / instagram / facebook

109
 RICHARD PARK
Low Sizergh Farm, England

An overview of Low Sizergh Farm and located 6.4 km/4 miles south of Kendal in the river
Kent valley on the southern boundary of the Lake Dis-
Low Sizergh Farm is part of the National Trust’s Sizergh trict National Park. Our soil is free-draining clay loam
estate, rented by my parents John & Marjorie Park in over limestone bedrock and our average rainfall is
1980. I have been responsible for the farm’s manage- 1,400mm/55”. Our total area is 168ha, out of which 153
ment since 1988. My sister Alison is a managing direc- are farmable.
tor in the farm shop enterprise. The two business are National Trust has worked in partnership with many
operated financially separately, with my parents being conservation projects. Here they have helped with: the
involved with both. re-planting of orchards with local varieties of apple,
I, Richard, am married to Judith (a teacher and camp- damson, plum; the creation of a pond; fencing off less
site proprietor) and we have three grown-up children; useful grassland for wildlife habitats; the development
Hannah (a journalist for a UK farming publication), of a farm trail.
Emily (a nurse) and Matthews (works with me on the The grassland has been managed organically since Sep-
farm). The farm employs 2 people full-time and 3 peo- tember 2019 (perennial ryegrass Timothy with white
ple part-time. Our main enterprise is dairy, and we also clover, plantain and Chicory for grazing with Red clo-
have laying hens and small sheep flock. ver for silage). We have 12ha of arable land with spring-
The shop and café opened in 1991 (tea room in 1992), sown barley and peas for arable silage.
and now employs 38 full- & part-time people. Sizergh Our herd consists of 170 Holstein x Swedish Red x
Caravan and Camping opened in 2020. It has 6 touring Montbeliarde cows and 120 young stock (45 heifers of
caravans, 10 tent pitches and 1 Luxury Pod. 1-2 years, 45 heifers of 6-12 months, 20 beef calves of 12
The farm also hosts Growing Well, a social enterprise months). They’re milked twice a day, bringing in 7,000L
growing and selling organic vegetables, creating place- (4.30BF, 3.40PRT). All beef calves are sold locally and
ments for people recovering from mental health prob- 25 beef heifers are reared and sold at 12 months. Dairy
lems and offering training courses in organic horticul- heifers are reared at Low Sizergh in their first year. Heif-
ture. We’re situated 45 metres/144 ft above sea level, ers in their second year are being contract reared by a

110
local farm. We have 130 lambing sheep, and normally
also up to 650 layers but not this year as the moveable
cabin does not meet Organic standards.

Becoming a farmer

I can never remember a time when I didn’t want to be a

farmer, and I grew up on another farm 25 miles away. I
moved to this farm when I was 15 and helped out when-
ever I could. After leaving school I worked full time for a
year on the farm and then went to Agricultural College.
This was in the south and east of England, the course
was in general agriculture, and my experience up until
then had been with dairy cows and a limited amount of
pigs. The climate was much drier and the course includ-
ed practical experience on the College farms with dairy, Dairy cows paddock grazing.
beef, sheep and arable crops as well as field-scale veg-
etables, cereals and other field-scale horticulture crops.
This was a good introduction to other areas of farming
as well as mixing with people who were from farming
and non-farming backgrounds. The course also includ-
ed a year working on a farm, and I chose a farm on the
Welsh Border in Herefordshire farming beef sheep and
cereals while growing all the feed requirements for ani-
mals on the farm. There were also cider apple orchards
and the family grew much of their food requirements
with a large vegetable garden, poultry for eggs and meat,
and pigs; these were all processed on the farm.
After my final year at college, I returned home and
joined my parents working on the farm. I had intended
to go travelling, probably to New Zealand, but the in-
troduction of milk quotas in 1984 by the EU to limit the
production of milk altered my parents’ plan for the farm Heading back for milking.
business and they had to make an employee redundant.
I had been away for 3 years and felt I should return
home to help out. I had a final year dissertation at col-
lege, and when discussing with my father on the topic
to choose, he suggested another enterprise to make up
for the drop in income from the reduced milk output. I
chose pick-your-own strawberries, which was common
in the south of England but unknown in the north.

The first years

The farm’s main enterprise was limited in the amount it

could produce, so the emphasis was on following best
practice at the time and lowering the cost of produc-
tion. Good technical advice was available free of charge
through government agencies and commercial compa-
nies. This promoted the use of inputs such as fertilisers Winter housing and feeding.

111
to grow more feed for the cows on the farm and sprays
to control weeds in grassland which were seen to limit
production potential.
This was following a policy which had been developed
after World War II to increase food production in the
UK. Historically much of this had been imported from
around the world to feed the increased population em-
ployed in industrial production in towns and cities.
Low-cost food allowed wages to be kept at a lower level
and the manufactured goods could then be sold for a
more competitive price. During WW2 imports were
limited and food rationing was introduced, and the
poor economic state of the UK economy post-WW2 led
to a focus on domestic production. Increased use of fer-
tilisers and sprays as well as plant and animal breeding
developed in the 18th century; refinement in the 1960s Ploughing for crop establishment.
led to a dramatic increase in production.
When the UK joined the European common market in
1973 this had also been the policy in Europe, but there
it was linked with a desire to improve the incomes of
farmers and grants were available to increase the finan-
cial viability of farm business. This usually meant an in-
crease in size and capital grants for improvements on
buildings and land including drainage, fertiliser, lime
and removal of hedges to increase field size. This was
done with the best intentions and the unintended con-
sequences of environmental damage were either not ap-
preciated or seen as acceptable collateral damage.
The pick-your-own strawberry enterprise was started,
and the farms’ location next to the main A road sup-
plied a good customer base along with the local com-
munity. The success of this enterprise led to my parents
researching the possibility of a farm shop to sell other Spreading slurry with the low emission spreader.
products. This would also provide another income for
the business and allowed me to have a larger manage-
ment role in running the farm. Several years later it also
allowed my sister to become involved in the business
after returning from her career.
Starting a new business on an existing farm requires a
level of financial investment as well as personal time to
research and implement the new enterprise. It’s easy to
lose focus on the main business, hence lowering per-
formance and negating any benefit the new enterprise
brings. I have had a desire to sell more products directly,
but this has been a costly learning exercise. Setting up
a milk processing dairy without clearly identifying the
market resulted in it having to close, but the process led
to outsourcing the processing element and a successful
relationship with a local cheese and ice cream maker,
who has the equipment and knowledge and allows us to Peas and barley for winter feed.
112
 focus on the marketing and production.

Initial investments

Investment-wise an established farm can become a

money pit if care isn’t taken in striking a balance so that
investments give a good return either financially or by
saving time or by improving working pleasure.
My main areas over the last 5 years have been in infra-
structure for the cow grazing paddocks. The milk cows
need to return to the farm to be milked, and tracks have
been built out of recycled stone and topped with dust
so the 32 paddocks can be accessed. This has gained an
extra 4 to 6 weeks on the grazing season depending on
the weather at each end of the year, reducing costs of
Herbal ley for summer grazing. production through cows spending more time harvest-
ing their feed and spreading their manure themselves.
A water system and troughs have also been installed,
one in each paddock, with electric fencing and existing
hedges and walls making the subdivisions.
The choice when making investments is whether to
go low-cost or to spend more and avoid having to re-
invest later on. This depends on whether this is for an
established enterprise or experimentation, whether the
capital is available and whether one has time to home-
build. I have gone for better quality with machines and
equipment but will set up a more temporary arrange-
ment for things like trying out a new grazing system for
the young stock.
Investing in changing the system from conventional to
organic, in improved pasture quality and in attending
training and educating myself have been of great ben-
Shearing the sheep. efit.

Sales and marketing

For income from the main dairy farm, I aim for a 20%
return on capital invested to allow for an income and
reinvestment. Industry averages are around 8%. Pro-
ducing over 1 million litres, a shift in either the price
paid from my milk purchaser or spikes in particularly
bought-in feed can have a significant effect on this. For
other smaller enterprises like raw-milk vending and
eggs, where I have more control over the selling price, I
aim for 30-40%.
Around 5% of milk sales are direct, but a greater % rev-
enue. The raw-milk vending has built up slowly over
time and is a combination of local sales and tourists.
95% of my milk is sold through a UK farmer organic
Pastured layers following the cows. Coop. It’s professionally managed and has a good spec-
113
trum of buyers as well as contract processing and selling
its own dairy products.

Development over time

In 2015 and 2016 I didn’t make any money from selling

milk. Although prices recovered, I could see that sell-
ing milk into the commodity market would inevitably
mean this would happen again. The typical solutions are
to become larger, increase output, be very low-cost or
sell into a market that offers a more stable price.
I had the opportunity to supply organic milk but had
ceased organic production 10 years before for financial
and technical reasons. The organic market offered a
more stable milk price and with good technical perfor-
mance farming-wise also a higher income, but from my Orchards for fruit and wildlife.
prior experience, getting the farming right is difficult.
I attended a meeting on Holistic Management and sub-
sequently undertook training on our farm. This com-
pletely altered how I approached farming problems and
how I viewed the land and the interactions of soils ani-
mals and people. I have been implementing the changes
in grassland management, applying the principles of
Holistic Management to my farm and being aware of
the impact my farming has on our soil, water, plant and
animal health.
I have become better at financial management and now
have a much better understanding of where the money
is going and what impact investments and changes will
have and are having on financial performance.

Challenges
Winter in the farmyard.
For our farming business, I need to balance the level of
production with the costs of producing to arrive at the
margin required. I have been putting efforts into areas
that give the best return for me. This includes improv-
ing pasture with the addition of clover and herbs, im-
proving grazing management by going to slightly longer
rotations 822 to 30 days), rotating young stock grazing,
and improving the quality of silage made for the winter.
Our cows calve in the autumn and 70% of the milk is
produced during the period when the cows are housed.
Organic feed is 100% more expensive than convention-
al feed with the milk price being only 40% higher, so to
achieve a better margin I need to feed less bought-in
feed.
I built a mobile hen cabin to have pastured layers. This
was run for 18 months, but I couldn’t get organic certi-
fication for the system. I found this frustrating and was Caravans and camping.

114
annoyed that a system which works so well wasn’t meet-
ing a set of standards. Upon reflection, the organic label
allows me to access a stable higher-value market for my
main product milk, and I will have to find a method of
producing eggs that meets the standards and my goal of
integrating the hens and the cows on pasture.

Plans for the future

The last 3 years have been focused on changing over the

farm to organic production and developing the camp-
ing and caravan site. While it’s sensible to allow these
RICHARD PARK
changes to bed in, I think there will be some further op-
portunities to invest in and develop the business, since Low Sizergh Farm, England
with the UK exiting the EU there will be a focus on do- ____________________________
mestic agricultural policy.
I’m confident that grants will be available around en-
vironmental protection and business development. If MAIN ENTERPRISES:
these fit in with plans that are already being considered
and don’t compromise with restrictions, it seems sen- Dairy
sible to consider them. I’ve found that these rarely come
at the optimum time for your situation, so it’s good to MAIN SALES CHANNELS:
have a development plan in place and to have already
done much of the research beforehand to avoid inap- Wholesale via coop
propriate expenditure or the business taking a route
that doesn’t fit with your expectations. On-farm vending machine
I’m looking at housing all our animals at home during
the winter rather than contract-rearing a group away,
improving manure storage to allow more timely appli- ____________________________
cations, and restarting the layers enterprise with a pos-
sible purchase of mobile units that comply with organic
standards.
The next 5 years will see my son Matthew taking on AREA IN PRODUCTION: 153HA
more management of the dairy herd and for him to im-
STARTUP YEAR: 1980
plement his ideas. His youth and my experience should
be a powerful combination if utilised correctly. STARTUP INVESTMENT: N/A

Advice for aspiring farmers REVENUE: €532,240

NET PROFIT: €66,500
I’ve always had a bit of a thing about attention to detail. ______
It’s those that add up, but also you need to keep your
head up, stand back and view the big picture.

Unless it’s a hobby, then a good understanding of the

finances is important. I have found that the lack of it can
cause a lot of stress as well as focus on the wrong areas.
website / instagram / facebook

115
 MATT SWARBRICK
Henbant Permaculture, Wales

The farm

Henbant Permaculture is 30ha and located in North ral environments and travel meant I felt the need to
West Wales, UK. Our current primary enterprises settle down and become part of an ecosystem of my
are a market garden, tourism, pasture-raised beef own. We, at the time, consisted of myself and my part-
and pastured eggs. Side-enterprises include pasture- ner Jenny; we were both in our early thirties.
raised sheep, forest-raised pigs and biochar. Future We were very conscious that if well-meaning people
additional primary enterprises will be micro-dairy buy small farms but never actually produce food then
(100% grass-fed with calf at foot), top fruit/nut agro- even more of the world’s food just comes from indus-
forestry (with a focus on juice/value-added prod- trialised agriculture. We wanted to use permaculture
ucts) and holding space for people to come together as an approach to smallholding, but with a strong eye
(to learn and train and to share visions and experi- to efficiency, productivity and profitability. We don’t
ences to build a more beautiful world). carry passengers, everything on the farm has to serve
at least one purpose and ideally three.
Our vision We also came in with the view that farming is the
most important job in the world. We wanted to prove
We set out to know and be part of an ecosystem, to that it is possible to buy a small farm on a mortgage
build a nest and produce great food for our family, whilst paying for it by producing real food. That at
and to share that life with those for whom it is harder the same time it’s possible to build natural capital, in
to access. The idea was to be a permaculture-inspired soil and biodiversity, and social capital, by sharing the
smallholding that sells and is funded by its excess. farm both locally and wider with tourists and volun-
That sounded like a good life. I had spent much of teers; and that we could do all this whilst enjoying
my previous years making natural history films and ourselves. If we could do this, we felt the future would
the combination of spending time in amazing natu- be better for all involved.

116
Our initial context:

To have time to enjoy each other, not get stressed and

stay healthy.
To have an abundant and productive farm with healthy
soil.
To have a stable, sufficient income.
To live purposeful lives we can be proud of and to make
the world a better place.
To have a diversity of visitors to the farm and for the
farm to be valued by them in their lives.

Our initial focus

We bought Henbant in Autumn 2012 with Jenny ex- Henbant farm centre from the air.
pecting our first child in the spring (we now have three).
The house had not been lived in for forty years and the
land had very little left by way of fencing and walls. The
house had no roof, electricity or water. So we bought a
caravan and set about renovating the house and basic
infrastructure.
We did not have deep pockets, so we needed a reliable
income quickly. We initially focused on tourism. We set
up with just camping and glamping via bell tents, then
over time, we have built first yurts and later a low-im-
pact roundhouse and wooden yurts. Things that can be
used year-round and that we don’t have to worry about
on a windy night. To keep spending low and to make
rapid progress, we have a never-failing ‘that will do’
attitude and this serves as a reminder to aim for good
enough, not perfection.
We wanted to provide for our diet first, then that of Jenny and I with Esme, our youngest child.
our guests and the local community. We thought it a
good idea to try a bit of everything that we may want
to do, see what we liked and have time to understand
the farm’s weather, layout and qualities. Also to then
have smaller mistakes that we could learn from, rather
than catastrophic ones. It’s always better to poison 10
sheep than 100. In the first year, we bought three Shet-
land cows, 50 laying hens and the start of a sheep flock
(much of which was donated by neighbours). We also
developed a good-sized kitchen garden and a small or-
chard.
It was important to try with sheep and beef as a way
of understanding how the local agriculture currently
works and it helped a great deal with fitting into our
community.
Jenny and I with Nel and Meryn, our two eldest chil-
dren, and some of the sheep.

117
Our startup investments Glamping unit (homemade yurt with decking, stove,
simple kitchen, fit-out): €4,400-€7,700 per unit; we have
We intentionally took on a larger piece of land than was four of these and have installed one per year over the
needed. This was mainly because I get bored easily and first four years.
thought I could change jobs every few years. I could be a
sheep farmer for a few years, then a forester, then set up Market garden (~1,200m2): Compost €1,435, irriga-
the lakes and ponds with aquaculture etc. We thought tion €660, pack shed €1,100, fruit trees and perennials
that we may at some point want to share the farm with €880, 2x polytunnels €5,500, crop protection nets €660,
more families, our parents or for our children to have windbreaks and rabbit proofing €550, plastic bed cov-
space to also live their lives here (or kick us out to live ers €440, tools €660, start trays and propagation space
in the woods). The farm cost €375,000 and we have a €880. Total set up: ~€12,800.
mortgage of around €145,000. This bought 30ha of land
and a small derelict house and outbuildings. One-third Pastured eggs (enough for 300 chickens): egg mobile
of the land is improved pasture, one-third rough grazing €990, energiser and nets €440, nest boxes €330, feed
and one-third woodland and lakes. Its diversity made it store (adapted shipping container) to allow buying in
more affordable and yet, for us, more attractive. We are bulk feeds €2,200, egg packery €1,100, 300x 16week old
two miles from the sea and at about 100m in altitude. hens €1,985). Total set up: ~€7,050
We managed to get everything up and running very
cheaply, but as enterprises have become more real, we Micro-dairy (enough for six cows): Milking parlour/
are investing further in them to add efficiency and some dairy building €2,200, bottle storage space €550, milk
level of safety, quality or volume. I would say we could pump €880, bottling room fit-out, posh dishwasher, and
have saved by going straight for the better systems but it milk chiller (actually just a freezer) €2,750. There is an
would have been too much as an initial cost and it’s dif- additional cost for some winter housing and concrete
ficult to know what you need from the start. yard etc, €6,600. Total set up cost: ~€13,000.
After we bought the farm, we had €33,000 in our pock-
et to make the farm work, to renovate our house and to Our other current enterprises have very little indi-
last until we could make an income. We have never had vidual capital expenditure not already mentioned and
that again, but nor has that pot ever run dry. We haven’t our agroforestry set-up is only halfway through and
repaid a significant portion of our initial debt, but we hard to cost. An estimated cost so far of what we have
have continually reinvested in the farm and we are mov- spent breaking up 10ha into 30 day-sized grazing units
ing it towards a more perennial, layered and resilient with top fruit, soft fruit and some browse/shelter rows
farming system. (with semi-permanent electric fencing) would be about
Though I can estimate our setup costs, these don’t in- €7,500.
clude all the more complex ‘farm-wide’ costs such as
trackways, car parking, water and electrics etc. nor the State of affairs
cost of the quad bike/tractor, livestock and seed. These
are all not insignificant. We love what we are doing very much. We are paying the
We have used grants to help with building up infra- mortgage, producing food, providing a valuable space
structure, but we have been very selective with these for people, building biodiversity and soil and bringing
and only used them where it was something we would the community together. I do feel like our income is
have done anyway. This has helped enormously with pe- still very much dependent on the tourism side of the
rimeter fencing and some hedge planting and fencing business and this, especially highlighted by COVID,
on existing field boundaries (€44,000), building an egg lacks resilience. It is also not the model I want to be able
packery (€2,200, known to the EU Grant scheme as a to show to other farmers. Recently we have become a
chemical store), setting up an independent spring wa- demonstration farm for Welsh Government and whilst
ter system (€2,200), efficient water heating for the dairy, this is brilliant, I do feel like we need to up our food
which by chance can also heat our house and camper production game if we are going to inspire the hearts
showers (€3,300) and animal handling facilities, cattle and minds of more traditional farmers. This is however
crush and sheep race (€4,400). changing rapidly and I think next year this won’t be an
issue.
118
 The market garden is now running properly and we
are selling most things under a CSA model with thir-
ty members collecting pre-made boxes from the farm,
which allows us to sell them other items from our small
farm shop and many do buy meat, eggs or bought-in
organic staples. It is very much a Ridgedale-inspired
system with fruit tree and flower rows every ten beds.
Whilst this is very hard work, it is one of the most re-
warding things we are doing. Next year we will try to
get somebody else to run it as their own enterprise and
I think we could easily do forty shares.
The eggs are working, and although we did have initial
plans to expand up to 900 birds in three egg-mobiles, I
feel one and 300 hens is the right scale for our land and
market.
The market garden. We have finally got good with sheep and also built up
a solid market for them including wool for crafts and
tanned sheepskins. We have done well at making the
most of every animal. For us, however, there are real
problems with them and the agroforestry lanes, as they
break fences and eat trees. We have reduced the flock
from 70 ewes to about 35 and may stop sheep all to-
gether this winter.
We find beef very easy to sell and it could be signifi-
cantly more profitable than it currently is. As we reduce
the sheep numbers, we will increase the cattle. As we are
developing the enterprises, I can see an evolution taking
place; the beef herd will migrate into a dairy herd that
we will fatten and finish a few animals off the back of.
We did get running with the micro-dairy, but we were
doing too many things at once so we paused to estab-
lish other enterprises first. We will move our focus more
Our new tunnel. towards the agroforestry; if we could implement that
across the rest of the farm the potential is huge.
We are meeting all of our holistic contexts apart from
having time for ourselves. We are working hard, and
though we are providing a great space etc, for our chil-
dren, both Jenny and I do often reflect that we don’t give
ourselves or our children enough time. I find there is a
real conflict between the ambition of building an inspi-
rational farm and staying within my holistic context. I
would love to find a way of taking time out for exercise
and getting lost on adventures with the children.

Sales and marketing

We have gone for a smaller group of customers to whom

we can sell a wider range of things. This fits with the
feeding-our-community model we wanted and in many
Jenny packing CSA boxes. ways is easier. This has built slowly over time and is still
119
very much evolving; in some cases, it has taken a year ting out on similar paths to ours who come here as vol-
or two to get the customer base. We do still advertise on unteers. This has become a really valuable thing on both
Facebook and to an email list when we sell meat boxes. sides of the relationship. It is very hard for people to
We tend to try and sell one batch of meat a month and step aside from their day to day lives, to stop paying rent
then just have some in the freezer for the farm shop in and earning an income and to learn if farming is for
between. them. I do sometimes feel like for our sanity it would
We often have a surplus of eggs over what our local cus- be easier to employ people, but it feels good to hold that
tomer base wants. Here we are fortunate to have anoth- space and I love the energy, community and entertain-
er local veg box scheme who can sell our excesses and ment that comes with it. Farms are meant to have peo-
a few local cafes that want eggs. We do have difficulty ple on them and we wouldn’t have achieved half of what
getting the price we need for the eggs with retail sales. we have without outside energy. This winter we planted
The tourism works well for us, as the summer peak of 1000’s of trees on weekends with volunteers, and this
visitors also matches our summer excesses when sup- was a joy apart from the fact that it is very hard to get
ply outstrips demand and also when our CSA members people to take straight lines seriously.
may be on holiday etc. For the past few years we have had an intern who has
specialised in each aspect of the farm; somebody looks
Challenges and learnings after the chickens and the dairy, somebody looks after
the growing, and sometimes we have had people who
I always thought we’d grow some veg, some cows and want to look after our guests. Whilst this helps a great
a few children and have a nice time. I never foresaw deal, all the responsibility still bubbles quite quickly up
the amazing challenge that is offered by trying to cre- to me. I think I now want to share the responsibility. I
ate a layered farm and edible ecosystem. So far we are would rather have a smaller income and share out the
only making use of 10ha of the farm well. Some amaz- load of the farm. One of our next steps is to look for
ing agroforestry, pond and aquaculture systems can be people who would want the responsibility of running
developed in our woodlands and between our lakes. I their farm enterprise or to create some paid roles.
never saw the true potential of agroforestry and fruit
and nut crops before we started. Plans for the future
I feel like Henbant is a bigger project than we ever
imagined and comes with an obligation to produce food The next five years on the farm will be exciting and
and to share the space and experience. Whilst these are transformative. Our main aim is to return to our holis-
all the things I value and love, sometimes I feel it would tic context. Where an enterprise is making a real profit,
be easier to do less with the farm. we will use that profit to offer it as a functional business
Our biggest challenge has been the amount of time and to somebody else on some kind of farm-share model or
energy that the farm can use. If we did everything that else employ somebody to do it with us. I spent a long
wanted to be done, even ‘needed’ to be done, each week time thinking I was lazy if I got somebody else to do
we would be putting in 100’s of hours per week. This is a things for us; now I see that we are creating job oppor-
challenge in that you have to prioritise a lot; sometimes tunities and space for others to share in a regenerative
you have to decide to ignore something, sometimes this livelihood.
may be your own children. Animal welfare is the only I would love the farm to run more formalised intern-
place where there is very little compromise. ships and training. We are building a training space,
For example, we could meet our basic financial needs café and permaculture/regenerative agriculture library.
with tourism and just produce food for ourselves with a I feel the farm will be much richer in trees and biodi-
little excess or one or two enterprises, perhaps beef and versity in five years. W have planted many that are now
fruit juice. This would meet more of our holistic goals in really starting to become trees, but the weight of our
terms of family time and looking after our health, but I trees are going in this year and next. It is great to see this
am addicted to building a complex ecosystem of layered increasing complexity and watching what was a quite
enterprises. I see the value of regenerative agriculture two-dimensional system turn into an edible system of
more than ever and I love being part of this growing and paths and glades.
essential movement.
We have an almost constant population of people set-
120
Advice for aspiring farmers

Get on with it, yes, do plan, yes, do think things through;

but do also keep making practical steps forward.

Pick your fights. Yes, be principled, yes, hold the Earth

Care, Fair Share and People Care in your mind and your
actions; but get on with things and don’t beat yourself
up if you sometimes don’t meet up to your principles.

Get the things that make the easiest money running

first, then your trees, then your infrastructure, then the
businesses you believe in the most.

Get a few people along to help you. Don’t pretend you

can train them (unless you can), be honest with your Some of the cows and the egg-mobile with the layers.
knowledge; but if you are setting out on this path, there
will for the next fifty years at least be many more people
a few steps behind you or that can’t get started. Let them
come and share in your learning, mistakes and joys.

Spend the time looking at the farms and farmers that

inspire you; visit them to see what they do, how they do
it and if they enjoy it.

The layers.

The sheep between agroforestry rows.

121
An agroforestry row.

The low-impact roundhouse for guests.

Community is at the heart of Henbant.

122
 MATT SWARBRICK
Henbant Permaculture, Wales
____________________________

MAIN ENTERPRISES:

Market garden / Tourism / Pasture-

raised beef / Fruit agroforestry /
Pastured layers

MAIN SALES CHANNELS:

CSA / Farm shop / Wholesale

____________________________

AREA IN PRODUCTION: 20HA

(out of 30HA)
STARTUP YEAR: 2012
STARTUP INVESTMENT: €565,000
(over 8 years, incl. farm)
REVENUE: €140,000
NET PROFIT: €95,000
______

website / instagram / facebook

123
 MICHAEL WALSH
Broadfield Farm, Ireland

We have been farming in southeast Ireland for 4 gen- A note on the slaughter facility is that we dry-pluck all
erations and farming suckler beef for approximately the poultry. This does limit the birds we can through-
20 years. I began my regenerative journey around 2015 put, but we feel it adds to the finish of the birds, extends
while I was working on a research farm for a university. shelf life and is a great selling point for turkeys.
Researching the field, I found that market gardening In Year 2 we have 450 layers and will finish 1,000 broil-
was a big focus point that seemed quite simple to get ers. Our broilers are run from May until November as
into. I previously worked on a fruit farm for a couple we have very wet cold winters here (annual rainfall is
of months and realised the labour that was involved in 1,200mm). We house our layers in a polytunnel with ac-
horticulture, so I approached cautiously. My focus was cess to pasture during the winter also.
to set up a pastured poultry enterprise with on-farm My focus starting was to try to remain debt-free. That
slaughter facility. I had the vision from 2015 for the on- was why I purchased so much equipment while I was
farm slaughter facility and decided to purchase equip- working a job. My egg mobile is a cattle trailer that I put
ment while I was working to dilute the initial start-up a roof on and put roost and nest boxes into. I used as
cost. I found plucking machines, cold rooms, stunners much material that we had lying around as I could. To
quite cheaply, as I could shop around. accommodate the extra hens, I used the loading ramp
Approximately 2016, while I was still working, I started for the cattle as a floor and made extra room on the back
Broadfield Farm and began selling some extra vegeta- of the trailer.
bles I was growing. I also had a small laying flock of I built Salatin-style pens for the broilers, but I decided
40 birds, so I was selling eggs as well. (I still have those to change them and put permanent wheels on them as I
customers today). found that I wasn’t running enough poultry to make it
Having experience within the different enterprises on worth my while moving the birds daily. So, I now have
a small scale, I decided to scale the layer flock when I 150 birds under 2 Salatin-pens on wheels inside a 50m
went full-time at Broadfield Farm in March 2019 and poultry net. I move every 3 days, as I found it increases
gradually build up the pastured chickens. I went with the impact on the ground to a larger area and reduces
200 layers in year 1 and approximately 600 chickens. workload. I also changed my broiler breed to Hubbard

124
from Ross 308. These birds are very well suited to my
system. They finish from 73 to 94 days (we slaughter
over 4 weeks) and are such lively birds. They will roost
where they can; catching them for slaughter day is quite
difficult as some will fly out of a 2-foot-high pen.
The slaughter facility I built is based inside an existing
shed. When I purchased my cold rooms back in 2016,
I had to have future thought when putting them up as
to how my slaughter was going to be laid out. I had to
knock an existing wall and knock some holes in walls
to create doors. I had to pour a floor and put in drain-
age. I was able to do all this work myself. I then sourced
as much cheap material to finish the facility as I could.
It took a long time to figure out what would work for
ceilings and walls, but I eventually found simple materi-
als. For example, I used some old timber I had built my Egg-mobile from converted cattle trailer.
first Salatin-style pens with. I used these in the ceiling as
they were quite heavy timber. Being innovative is criti-
cal in this industry as there is no end to what you could
spend.
My costs for setting up each of the enterprises were
quite low. My egg mobile, which was formerly a cattle
trailer, was purchased approximately 9 years ago for
€1,500. When I converted it, it was worth probably half
that, so €750. I invested €300 in year one and another
€300 in year two. We purchase hens for €5/bird (high-
line brown layers).
My slaughter facility has cost me approximately €10,000
over 5 years. Building Salatin pens cost €150/pen and I
have 4 of them. 50m of netting is €170 and I use 2 of
them for our broilers. We use a battery fencer which
cost €200, of which I have 2 for the broilers. We used
old batteries we had lying around. I purchase the birds Inside the egg-mobile.
as day olds for €0.85/bird. My brooder was built using a
small shed we have; I used a lot of scrap timber to make
the structure. I use a gas brooder which cost €180.
For the layers, I turn over €32,000/year currently with
450 hens (200 of these layers are currently over 1 year
old so are laying at 65%; I will replace these in Sep-
tember 2020 with 300 birds). I will net approximately
€18,000 in 2020.
Broilers are again quite a small enterprise currently.
Turn over from 1,000 birds in 2020 selling birds at €9/
kg with an average bird weight of 2.3 kg is €20,000. I will
net approximately €11,000.
We run a small turkey operation. I will run 100 tur-
keys for Christmas market. These will be sold for €10/
kg. They are all bronze birds. They will turnover €6,000
and will net €3,500.
Hens enjoying fresh pasture.

125
Working in my second full-time year now, I find the
easiest sell is eggs. People love them and they are quite
simple to sell once you establish customers. I have
worked with livestock most of my life, but managing a
poultry flock is very time-dependent and requires you
to work long hours. You must be prepared to put in long
hours to establish your business. I find the most difficult
part is the selling. I can sometimes find myself getting
sucked into doing all the hands-on physical work but
then forget to put time into my social media where I do
most of my selling. So, finding a mix between the two
is important.
The enterprises I have started on the farm are very
complimentary of one another. We do not lose anything
but gain from the poultry on the farm, which works
well with our beef enterprise. The slaughter facility adds Day-old chicks in the brooder.
great value to the farm also going forward.
My main sales have been through Facebook. I built the
Facebook page in 2016 and have been building it ever
since. It can be quite difficult to get the strategy right as
you cannot be constantly selling, you need to be adding
value to your service, like giving receipts or advice. You
need to give back to receive more attention on social
media. This can be difficult and trying not to be repeti-
tive is important. Keeping the audience interested is a
time-consuming job. I created a Facebook group to try
and make an interesting outlet for people who are in-
terested in a different way of looking at food and liv-
ing. This has also helped with sales. I used Facebook
ads quite a bit, but recently I have stopped as I find my
return from them is lessening. I have now moved to
try creating WhatsApp groups for all my customers for
each location. This may make it easier for people who Broilers on pasture.
may not use Facebook as frequently as I may need. I sell
through drop-off points. I target large towns and cit-
ies in a 100km radius of the farm. I do two drops each
week on a Wednesday and Thursday evening. For ex-
ample this week I will be in Kilkenny city from 5:15 to
5:30 pm, then continue to Waterford City, which is 30
mins away from Kilkenny, where I have 3 drop-offs be-
tween 6:30 and 7:25 and New Ross town is then on my
way home at 8:00 pm. I leave the farm at 3:45 and I am
home by 8:30 pm. This particular drop is my furthest
and for the rest, I usually leave the farm around 5 or 6
pm. I have 2 cities with approximately 50,000 people in
this drop-off, so I have the potential to develop here.
My customers are consistent returns, and I find that
from doing it for over a year I am now almost becoming
friends with so many of them. This is the beauty of re-
lationship marketing. Putting time into your customers Packaged pasture-raised chicken.
126
 will eventually pay off. It was a slow start as I only sell
trays of 30 eggs and convincing people of this was diffi-
cult. But once they started there was no going back. The
egg quality is huge, which helps. I have one customer
who can buy up to 18 trays in one drop-off from me.
This customer has friends who she gets eggs for. I ap-
preciate customers like this as it makes my selling much
easier now. And showing appreciation to them from
time to time is important also, like extra eggs or chicken
to keep the relationship good.
I find that as I have experience with livestock and I
have done plenty of poultry slaughter for myself before
I started fully, I do not find the animal husbandry dif-
ficult. But building a customer base and building web-
sites, paperwork, social media etc. is quite difficult. I
Turkeys enjoying the outdoors. find that sometimes the plan on paper does not always
correspond to what happens on the ground. I find there
must be wiggle-room financially in plans when making
them. I had plans to have x amount of chickens pre-
sold by a certain date in the pre-season. This did not
work for me this year and I found myself tight on cash.
I found I did not leave enough scope in my plan for this
situation. Luckily, I got through it.
Weather can be a huge factor in how your season goes.
For pastured poultry, especially broilers, wet weather
is not good. I’ve found myself early in my first season
rescuing birds late in the evening because a field got wa-
terlogged from heavy rain. Not ideal, and it shows the
importance of being observant and present.
I ran into quite a few bureaucratic problems in my first
year. I had full inspections from the Department of Ag-
riculture just after starting. This in turn led to further
Bronze and white turkeys. interactions, but I believe that if I had gone through
all the correct channels before starting, I may not have
started at all.
On one of my drop-offs, I was ambushed by an organic
marketing standards officer. I had said in some of my
social media posts that we feed organic feed and men-
tioned organic-fed poultry. I was forced to remove all
my social media posts that gave any reference to organ-
ic, even a picture of the organic feed we use. These were
not major problems but just I found angered me at the
time. I have since looked back and realised they were a
great learning curve and I worry less about the official
administrators, inspectors and bureaucrats now and put
my focus into what I am doing.
I aim to move my slaughter to wet-plucking next year
and set up a separate clean room where I can process
meat. I will then begin cutting up chicken and sell
On-farm slaughter facility. whole or part. I will also be moving our beef to try to
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 sell pasture-raised heifer meat. Again, I will plan to
butcher that on-site and sell it fresh and frozen. Expan-
sion of our egg-laying flock is in the cards. I would like
to be around 1,000 hens in the next 3 years, provided
our economy is still ok and enough people can afford
to eat good food, which I think some always people
are. All the above expansion we will be able to do for
small money. I reckon we can build our new cleanroom
for about €3,000. And expanding our layers requires a
new or bigger egg mobile, which I believe we can do for
around €2,000.
When I started, I began with a vision of what I wanted
to be doing. I built this over time and eventually got to
where I am. I am a long way from where I want to be,
but I am building it. So, do not give up. Accept that you
Heifers on pasture. may be going to have tough years, but if it is something
you want to do, stick with it and do not give up. Ap-
preciate your customer, without them you have noth-
ing. And if you can avoid getting into too much debt, be
willing to live humbly for a few years. Life is long; enjoy
the process.

Dry-plucked chickens ready for package.

Views for the hens.

128
 MICHAEL WALSH
Broadfield Farm, Ireland
____________________________

MAIN ENTERPRISES:

Pastured layers / Pastured broilers

Pastured turkeys / Suckler beef

MAIN SALES CHANNELS:

Direct sales via drop-off points

____________________________

AREA IN PRODUCTION: 27HA

STARTUP YEAR: 2016
STARTUP INVESTMENT: N/A
REVENUE: €58,000
NET PROFIT: €32,500

______

website / instagram / facebook

129
 JENNY AND ANDY MACDONALD
Woodside Arran, Scotland

Woodside Arran CIC is a small social enterprise farm on 10 and 30m, both of 75cm widths. The beds are active
the Isle of Arran, off the south-west coast of Scotland, year-round with the majority of our product sales com-
around fifty miles west of Glasgow. The farm is 39ha of ing from June until December; however, with tunnels,
mixed grazing and conifer plantation, on a southerly as- we can offer year-round salad production without heat.
pect. As a social enterprise the farm has a board of direc- Other enterprises such as meat chickens, bees, free-range
tors, however, is managed exclusively by husband-and- pigs and specialist poultry are all kept at a homestead-
wife-team Jenny and Andy Macdonald. The farm was ing level. Alongside animal and horticultural activities,
initially rented annually, so all infrastructure had to be we operate a Norwood HD36 Mobile sawmill, milling lo-
moveable, however, we now have a secure short-term cal timber on-site and catering to other small woodland
agricultural tenancy of another four years, giving us ad- management contracts.
ditional stability. For the first three years, we were on a The vision for Woodside Arran is to establish a model of
private water supply which often ran dry, and we were sustainable, resilient and self-sufficient community-led
unable to improve due to the insecure tenancy; however, regenerative agriculture that protects biodiversity and
eighteen months ago we connected to mains water. We generates local livelihoods on the Isle of Arran.
started trading in 2017 and the business is now focused Back in 2016, our initial focus was on testing the mar-
exclusively on free-range laying hens and organic fruit ket and establishing a community-supported agriculture
and vegetables. (CSA) vegetable box scheme. Over the first eighteen
We currently have two hundred hybrid laying birds who months, we offered three different sizes of boxes, sold
rotate on pasture, year-round, in a Ridgedale-style mobile year-round, supplemented by other organic growers’
house. Due to being on the coast, roughly three hundred produce, and over time we built to around 35-60 boxes
and fifty metres above sea level, we have late frost dates per week. Alongside this we developed a rare breed free-
(late November – March), so despite high rainfall snow range pork enterprise, selling animals in half pig, quar-
is uncommon and we can keep the birds out year-round ter pig and taster-sized boxes. Within the first season, it
with moves ranging from daily to weekly, depending on quickly became clear that to engage our community we
the season. Our market gardens have two-bed lengths of would have to offer other retail options, as a weekly box

130
scheme did not allow the flexibility people needed. At this
point, we purchased a Mercedes sprinter van which had
been converted into a mobile shop, as there are no farm-
ers markets on the island and we hoped to create a de-
mand for one. The shop travelled around the island sell-
ing our produce, other organic produce and a variety of
other island producers’ wares. So by the second year, we
were focused on CSA, the mobile shop, free-range eggs,
Christmas turkeys and geese and a large heard of Oxford
Sandy black pigs. Not long after, we added an online shop
to our website to allow customers to order specific indi-
vidual items. Throughout this period we were also heav-
ily involved in local education; providing school talks,
attending education festivals, having open farm days and
doing a lot of community engagement work.
Over the following eighteen months it became clear that Isle of Pladda and our new COVID gardens.
by doing so much we were missing out on what was im-
portant. We were constantly stretched for time and stress
levels were high. We have had other seasonal part-time
members of staff and yearly interns, however, the farm
is fundamentally just run by Jenny and Andy and while
trying to maintain that level of work and raise our two
young kids, it became clear that we were heading in the
direction of burnout. After the 2018 season, we realised
we had to reassess our holistic context and reevaluate the
timescale of our ambitions considering all we had learnt
by this point. While the pork enterprise was very popu-
lar, the margins are extremely tight. Heavy rainfall dur-
ing winter leading to constant mud and high bedding
costs plus additional island haulage costs on animal feed
and expensive slaughter fees made it clear that the work
involved in creating the pork was not cost-effective. We
sold our breeding animals and focused on the enterprises Base of operations and our first no-dig beds.
with the highest return. It was also clear that while com-
munity engagement and education work is extremely
important, with time being our limiting factor we had
to pull focus towards the on-farm enterprises, accepting
that while marketing and education are ongoing pro-
cesses, we have to prioritise production for just now. We
also assessed the sales within the mobile shop and had to
accept the feedback that many of our community found
it difficult to arrange their lifestyle around shopping at
specific times, being so used to the long opening hours
of the supermarket. With a choice between spending
our limited time managing the shop for longer hours or
spending that time increasing our production, it was ob-
vious where our focus needed to be. We, therefore, chose
to cite the shop permanently at the farm and return to a
more traditional form of CSA, producing only two sizes
of boxes for twenty-one weeks of the year, with only our Directors Andy and Jenny by the pond.

131
own produce. This allowed us to increase production by
100% that season and reduce expensive wastage rather
than trying to cater to everyone’s needs. At this time, we
also re-evaluated our overall sales patterns; typically 20%
of our sales were wholesale and 80% public sales. With
our island being a limited market of 4,500 residents and
the time involved in public sales being much higher than
that involved in commercial retail, it seemed appropri-
ate to try and increase our wholesale accounts, as while
they offer a lower sales price the time to manage these
accounts and deliver is considerably less.
At around the same time that we were planning to in-
crease our wholesale accounts, we also managed to con-
nect with our local authority North Ayrshire Council
(NAC). This led to us being able to negotiate a unique
procurement contract to provide fruit, vegetables and Close-up of the newly-made beds.
eggs to the seven local primary schools, the high school
and the care home. This opportunity came about with
the support of the Soil Association’s Food for Life pro-
gramme who collaborated with ourselves and NAC in es-
tablishing the contract. This unique contract we felt was
making more of an impact on our community than the
education work, ensuring that local produce was getting
to the most vulnerable of our community rather than just
the middles classes. The contract also presents a signifi-
cant financial input which can be delivered with limited
administration and is a relationship we are keen to grow
as the local authority understands the importance of a
circular economy within the region. While difficult to es-
tablish and time-consuming in the beginning, we hope
that from 2021 we will be able to showcase this relation-
ship nationally and act as an example of how small-scale
local growers and local authorities can work together Salads and greens in 10m beds.
throughout Scotland, ensuring more local food within
government-run establishments.
The initial investment into the business came from a
small amount of personal funds and grant support. As a
social enterprise, we are eligible for certain funding in the
UK. This takes a lot of time, however, and throughout the
first three years, the equivalent of one full -time position
was spent fundraising, again limiting production time
significantly. Through the initial €39,000, we were able
to purchase the necessary tools to start production and
sales. Over the first three seasons, we had an overall turn-
over of approximately €109,000. As a social enterprise, we
are not looking for a large net turnover and rather rein-
vest in the organisation. With the money produced, how-
ever, we have been able to sustain two full-time members
of staff and two seasonal part-time members of staff and
have purchased all the equipment necessary to run over A mixed CSA box by the pond.
132
 1,450m² of market gardens year-round, including cater-
pillar tunnels, a BCS two-wheel tractor, polytunnels and
specialist tools like the paperpot planter. As previously
mentioned, one issue we do have is regarding haulage.
Our average haulage bill is over €4,400 per year. Compost
for the no-dig market gardens is a perfect example; where
20,000 litres of municipal compost may only cost a few
hundred pounds, to get it to the farm costs at least €550
in delivery fees. We were fortunate to receive grant fund-
ing last year for an in-vessel rocket composter, which we
now use to produce much of the onsite compost needs.
We collect waste from the care home we deliver to and
before the COVID restrictions from the high school also
to manufacture compost on-site. However, all other feed,
tools and materials still have high delivery costs.
Chicken tractor version one, for 50 hens. 2020 has been a year of significant change for all. For
ourselves our main contract was stopped overnight as
the schools shut, our international interns could not at-
tend, and as we also had to homeschool two children our
workload increased dramatically. We decided that we
would do our best to just produce as much food as we
could despite the difficult circumstances and donate it to
our local food bank. However, we were fortunate that one
of our funders heard of our plan and suggested we apply
for Scottish government funding to provide for our com-
munity during the lockdown. Therefore this summer, due
to this funding, we were able to significantly increase our
growing space by 1,000m² and bring on additional sea-
sonal staff. This allowed us to produce over 1.3 metric ton
of food which we distributed to those financially strug-
gling as a result of the pandemic. This new market garden
space will be used in subsequent seasons to increase our
Our first beehive, an enterprise we intend to expand. production, without any limitations on the income pro-
duced.
During standard times, as a very small island, we rely
heavily on word-of-mouth for marketing. With only
4,500 residents on the island, we have to cater to our
community’s unique needs, as there is not a reliable way
to sell to the larger populations on the mainland. This has
meant growing crops that they are comfortable with and
not over-stretching their palette too quickly, as we did
initially. One of the main things we have learned is that if
you have to explain something you will be unlikely to sell
it, at least within our context We have therefore reduced
the number of crops grown and focused on those which
we know will sell regularly with a higher profit margin.
We continue to challenge the low food market price, de-
manding a premium for our products; however, we have
to monitor this closely, as unfortunately culture in the UK
Our Oxford Sandy and Black breeding boar. is still around constantly lowering food prices, instead of
133
increasing standards. Regarding animal enterprises, we
choose to focus exclusively on egg sales as this is the best
return for the amount of time spent. This is an enterprise
we intend to expand over the next two years, both with
public and wholesale markets available.
As mentioned previously, doing too much too soon was
an expensive mistake we made and advise against. Since
focusing on market gardens and eggs, we have been able
to increase our production more gradually and efficiently.
While it is unavoidable that mistakes will be made at the
beginning of establishing a farm business, this is the thing
we always tell new farmers: start small and keep your am-
bitions in check. Farming always provides the unexpected
while taking everything you have and more, so if you are
doing too much from the beginning you will only burn
out. If you are planning on farming as a couple or fam- Andy operating the Norwood HD36 mobile sawmill.
ily as we do, then considerate and clear communication
and boundaries are essential. Financial pressures, con-
stant hard work and Scottish weather combined have of-
ten pushed our tempers and patience to the limit and as
two fiery characters, there have been times where this has
been a recipe for disaster. As much as we love what we do
and accepted the inevitably huge amount of work start-
ing a farming business would create, there have still been
extremely tough days. If your relationship has noticeable
cracks before starting, they will turn into gaping fissures
at one point or another. We counter-balance this by trying
to joke and laugh as much as we can and keep Sundays as
sacred family time. However, the odd in-bed discussion
about chicken tractors does still occur, so we are constant-
ly trying to recommit to off-work boundaries.
With the lessons learned from our first four seasons and
having successfully adapted to the very changing circum- Our Tidy Planet Rocket composter being delivered.
stances of 2020, we are looking towards the next five years
with renewed optimism. Brexit and the post-COVID
economy means that food security is more important
than ever. Due to weather and ferry issues our commu-
nity is used to empty supermarket shelves for a few days
at a time, however, seeing it occur nationally has changed
the public perception around local food. We aim to capi-
talise on this as our products have often been viewed as a
luxury, not a necessity. Through constantly analysing our
sales figures and holistic context we have learnt to focus
our attention on what works for our specific community
and fits our lifestyle well. We aim to add a small herd of
Shorthorn Beef cattle to the farm in early 2021 and will
continue to research the viability of raising meat chickens
on-site. As our egg enterprise increases, we will have to
deal with larger numbers of birds coming out of produc-
tion each year and there does appear to be a market for Our mobile shop up in Lochranza.

134
pasture-raised meat birds; however, we have the chal-
lenge of high feed costs. With this in mind, we continue
to review if or when will be the right time to invest in an
on-site slaughter facility. Our immediate aim is to pur-
chase 13 acres of the farm by the end of 2020 allowing us
to focus on perennial agroforestry crops and increasing
our laying flock up to seven hundred birds. A mixture of
fruit trees, bushes and coppice wood species will add in-
come which after setup fits within our seasonal timescale.
We also aim to tap into the tourist market; over 400,000
visitors come to Arran each year and capitalising on that
market is a priority for growth. The local timber aspect
JENNY AND ANDY MACDONALD
of our business is also something we are keen to develop.
The only on-island sawmill closed in 2018 and as over Woodside Arran, Scotland
one-third of Arran is covered in timber, with almost all ____________________________
of it being shipped off-island or cut for firewood, there is
an opportunity to build into the forestry industry on the
island and promote local timber products and agrofor- MAIN ENTERPRISES:
estry techniques in the replanting scheme. The sawmill
is mainly operational during the winter months, and this Market Garden
year we aim to build up a stock of green timber while
building a solar kiln to dry hardwoods for future sales. Pastured Layers
Alongside the raw timber products, we will be producing
garden furniture, raised bed kits and other products for MAIN SALES CHANNELS:
sale from our timber. We also received funding this year
to improve our intern accommodation, so we will be us- CSA
ing that to produce a tiny house build which we could
use as advertising for producing further sustainably built Wholesale
buildings in the future. Beyond these immediate plans,
we are waiting to see what the upcoming year provides Farm Shop
before making any long term goals, as it appears 2021
will be just as fluctuating as 2020, in the UK at least. Our ____________________________
long term goal to purchase the farm at the end of our
tenancy remains our ultimate ambition, however, with
high house prices in our area, the question of agricul-
tural land-worth continues to be an issue. Valued at over AREA IN PRODUCTION: 39HA
€665,000, our farm is the perfect example of how the
STARTUP YEAR: 2017
housing market and land availability makes it nearly im-
possible for new entrants to get a start in farming, as does STARTUP INVESTMENT: €35,000
the fact that one-third of the island is still owned by an
off-island aristocrat family. Land ownership issues aside, REVENUE: €88,000 pa average
it is clear that our island needs more local food and we NET PROFIT: €38,500 pa average
are ideally suited to provide it. However, with such great ______
uncertainty in the UK currently, we intend to take our
time with reviewing and adapting our new holistic con-
text and ensuring our business and lifestyle is sustainable
for the ever-changing future. website / instagram / facebook

135
 SANDRA BAER AND LYNN CASSELLS
Lynbreck Croft, Scotland

We only meant to homestead lay ahead. We knew that Lynbreck had everything we
would need to run a successful business that would
We never meant to be farmers…. We started with a provide mental and physical sustenance. Ultimately
shared goal of wanting to live closer to nature and the our health and wellbeing have to come first and that is
land. We had a dream of a couple of acres with some something we believed that life here could provide for
trees, some hens, a veg plot and maybe a corner for us.
some camping spots to earn us a small income. We al-
ways knew we wanted to grow our food and live more First steps
symbiotically with nature and in harmony with the sea-
sons. We wanted a place where we could quietly grow Within the first few weeks, we started to tackle 2 main
old together, opting out of a society where material jobs; the first was to set up our kitchen garden. Our be-
wealth dominates and having time to stop and appreci- lief from day one was that we can’t feed those around
ate all life around us. us until we can feed ourselves. An area in front of the
We were looking for land for 8 months before we found house was fenced off and raised no-dig beds installed.
Lynbreck, and the old cliché of ‘we just knew it was The second task was planting trees. We had just come
right’ applied. It was above our budget, but we believe from 2 years working as tree planters in the south of
it was our focused drive and determination that made Scotland and this was a project we felt we could tackle
it happen. We pushed ourselves financially to buy a with confidence. We have an area of about 15ha of hill
landholding that was bigger than we had planned in an ground that was starting to reforest with Scots Pine and
area where we knew no one, many hundreds of miles Birch, due to a period of low-intensity herbivore brows-
away from friends and family. It became clear to us very ing. We decided to speed up the process and add more
quickly that we would have to review our plans to sit diversity by planting a native broadleaved woodland.
within a new context of owning a small farm. We applied for funding from the Scottish Government
But where it felt right was seeing the potential of what for a woodland creation grant scheme and were success-

136
ful. By undertaking the majority of the works ourselves,
we were able to bank any surplus money. During this
time we started to understand the benefit that this deci-
sion would have in the longer term for our new farm
business. Through planting, we would be creating 15ha
of sheltered hill grazing with a more diverse mix of fod-
der for our cattle and pigs.
Alongside delivering these projects, we were earning as
much money as we could off the croft and were starting
to focus our ideas into a structured business plan that
we could use to guide us and apply for other funding
in the future. We were starting to think more seriously
about sales and marketing, accounting and other core
aspects of business management that we had no direct
experience in. Like everything else, we wanted to do as
much of this ourselves as we could – we’ve always felt View of Cairngorms.
that we are the ones who know our business best and
therefore we are the ones who are best placed to make
the decision.

Investments and income

After many years of working and saving, we had man-

aged to gather most of the financial capital to pay for
our land upfront. We had a shortfall of around €22,000
which we were able to cover thanks to a loan from a
good friend. Therefore, when we moved to Lynbreck,
we had zero money with a debt needing to be paid back
within an agreed period of 2 years.
On reflection, this sounds a bit risky but it never felt
that way as we recognised the potential of the landhold-
ing. Our first task was to start earning a regular income
which we did through off-farm jobs. We have always Highland cattle.
been happy to turn our hands to anything, so finding
work was always quite straight forward. This income
would pay our bills with any surplus going towards the
loan.
We quickly made use of any grant funding available
provided through the agriculture support system. As we
were deemed young farmers and new entrants, it meant
that we could access 80% funding on capital projects
up to the value of €28,000 which enabled us to build a
new barn, renovate an old stone building, improve our
farm track and put up some new fencing. We had our
tree planting project 100% funded and we managed to
get a new deer fence around an area of 9ha of naturally
regenerating woodland in another section of the croft.
And by having a business plan, we were able to qualify
for the Young Farmers Start-Up grant, a €70,000 payout
Pigs.

137
to fund a kit which included our animal handling set up This is where we have found Holistic Management has
and a quad bike with implements. been helpful through the writing of our Holistic Goal.
We did have to contribute our own money as and We undertook training as a couple a few years back and
when it became available to make up the shortfall on it has been really useful in guiding us through different
the capital grants. We tried to maximise the €28,000 crossroads in our journey. It has helped us to stay true
project available, meaning that our contribution was to who we are and what we want, rather than getting
often around €5,00 - €6,0000 per large project. Whilst caught up in endless projects. It has helped us balance
our investment costs have been high, we were able to the three core aspects of ecological, economic and so-
build a long-lasting infrastructure that requires little to cial wealth.
no maintenance and should stand the test of time. Our
motto is to build once and build it well to last. And this Building a customer base
investment has substantially increased the value of our
landholding and enabled us to progress our business As we were new to the area, we had to build a customer
model. base from scratch and an easy route in was through egg
It has taken us a few years to start to document and sales. We started with selling eggs from our honesty box
understand our costings. This financial year we are pro- which sits at the top of our track. We also started to use
jected to make an income of €39,150 from meat, eggs, social media to share our vision and raise awareness
honey, tours and engagement and writing contribu- about our work.
tions, of which €14,500 will be profit. After 2 years, we had substantially increased the num-
Next year, our profit margin will increase by an esti- ber of laying hens we had. We were interested in the
mated €110,000 due to running courses, extra tours for REKO model and were conscious that we didn’t have
holiday companies, a publishing deal and income from time to spend going to farmers markets, but we enjoy
our holiday rental. Once we have repaid the finance on the direct customer relationship. Therefore we started
the holiday rental conversion, we anticipate an annual our own subscription-based Egg Club. It’s a very simple
profit from it alone of around €16,600. model whereby people pay in advance, either monthly
or annually, for a box of eggs delivered to their door. We
Core decisions only deliver once a week and to our nearest town which
is 5miles away. Our delivery takes between 1-2hrs and
We moved to Lynbreck in March 2016 and it’s fair to that’s all the eggs gone for the week. Egg Club has been a
say that we hit the ground running. We were working huge success as it now runs itself and we have an excel-
16-hour days every day doing a mixture of outdoors lent customer retention rate.
and desk-based tasks. Whilst a lot of similar setups have We decided to opt for a similar model for our meat
decided to go down the route of getting in a volunteer sales. We produce small amounts of seasonal pork and
workforce through opportunities like WorkAway and Highland Beef, some of which we offer in meat box
WWooffing, we made the decision fairly early on that sales. The rest goes through our Little Mountain Meat
that would not be the route we would want to take. Club that offers artisanal produce which we craft our-
We’ve always been acutely aware that whilst we want selves. We invite members, again exclusively within our
our work here to engage with a worldwide audience, local community, to sign up for an annual subscription
Lynbreck is our home and we live and work here as a whereby they receive a monthly instalment of our add-
couple. Therefore from day one, we have been very con- ed- value produce directly to their door. Our club has
scious of balancing the amount of time we give to others been so successful that we have a renewal rate of over
and the amount of time we give to ourselves. 90% and a substantial waiting list, so any vacancies can
Often this means that jobs take longer because there be filled quickly.
is just the two of us working on them. It also means we Another good way to build up customers has been to
have to be realistic about what we can do and achieve create a mailing list. Whilst our produce is exclusively
here with a limited workforce. Whilst the potential for local, we offer tours, courses and holiday accommoda-
Lynbreck is endless, we have had to carefully explore tion which has a much wider audience. By releasing
what it is we want to do here and the workload we are occasional produce with updates that include other rel-
willing to take on board, balancing that with making a evant parts of our business, we can get good sales on our
living. farm diversification elements, which form a significant
138
 part of our income stream.

Staying true to the original vision

When we were dreaming of our place, our bit of land,

we wanted to grow our food and live as harmoniously
as we could with nature. When we moved to Lynbreck,
the stark reality of needing to earn money hit us fairly
quickly. We both wanted to live and work here full time,
but to do that, we had to come up with a plan to pay the
bills.
We started to build a strong social media presence and
word began to spread of our ‘progressive’ approach to
farming. We became better known and started to win
awards for our work, catapulting us into the limelight
Butchery. even further. In 2018 we spent 9 months with a film
crew from the BBC charting our first year of farming
here at Lynbreck and when it aired in 2019, we became
better known, now even in far-flung places.
We have found that people are asking more and more
from us, wanting a bit of Lynbreck, and that is some-
thing that we have had to manage very carefully. Our
early vision has held steadfast and, if anything, our ap-
petite for it has increased. We are passionate about shar-
ing our story of high welfare regenerative farming, our
commitment to local sales and our business learning to
help others on this journey and to help our customers
make informed food choices. But now we host sched-
uled tours or offer an opportunity to book a private
tour. We give talks but ask for a contribution in return
to justify our time off the croft. We have never been
solely motivated by making money, but by charging for
Whisky Oak Smoked Highland Beef. our time we are asking people to value what it is that we
do and the time that we can share.

Overcoming challenges

By far our first major challenge was financing. We put

ourselves in a good position by buying our land but we
had spent everything we had to get us there.
The most obvious route was off-farm work. We also
started to look at funding available through the Scottish
Government for agriculture support and looked closely
at the range of available capital grants. The advantage of
the capital grant is that you apply for funding towards a
project and once it is delivered, the money is paid out.
As long as you deliver what it is you say you will, it’s
quite a straightforward process and we felt there were
multiple options for us which would align with the in-
Egg-mobile. frastructure we would need for our new business.
139
 We have decided to opt-out of ‘management’ schemes
that include annual basic payment subsidies and en-
vironmental schemes as we find these too prescriptive
and restrictive. We’ve always set out to build a business
that will pay for itself annually through the products
and services that we provide.
An additional challenge was maximising the return on
our meat product sales. We carry low stock numbers,
to ensure our animals have a positive effect on the land,
but it is difficult to earn a notable return for the time
and effort invested. We were awarded a 5- year inter-
est- free loan from the Organic Research Centre who
were offering support to small ecological farming units
to diversify. We installed a high spec micro-butchery
including freezers, a walk-in chiller, meat processing
equipment and a smoker. We taught ourselves butchery, Beekeeping.
had the facility approved by environmental health and
started making added- value artisanal produce. The in-
vestment pays for itself with no additional burden on us
to find extra money.
We are now in a position where Lynbreck is valued at
nearly double the price we paid for it. We have the in-
frastructure we need to run our business which is now
delivering an annual profit. And we have the capital we
need to reinvest for the long term to give more diversi-
fied income, which helps to build greater resilience into
our business.

Looking ahead

We feel as though we have reached a turning point in

our Lynbreck adventure. This summer we managed to
gather the funds to start the renovation of our old croft Tree planting.
house. This will become a holiday rental and once we
have repaid the finance, it will be a really good earner
for us into the future. To get this underway is a major
piece of the puzzle completed.
This coming winter we will be writing a book. We were
approached by Chelsea Green Publishers earlier in the
year and, following conversations, were offered a deal to
write a book on our experiences at Lynbreck. They are
a label who has published some of the biggest names in
regenerative agriculture and organic growing and to ap-
pear next to names like Joel Salatin, Charles Massy, Ben
Falk, Steve Gabriel, Eliot Coleman and Gabe Brown is
very exciting for us.
We also plan to expand our kitchen garden. We have
just installed a large polytunnel which will be transfor-
mative to extending what we can grow and our growing
period. We want to improve our skills and knowledge Kitchen garden.
140
around food preservation, learning more techniques
around fermentation and drying. We plan to build a
root cellar for more winter storage of our summer har-
vests. We also plan to get 2 goats for our dairy consump-
tion. Now that our business has strong foundations, we
are enjoying the fact that we have more time to pursue
what it was that initially brought us here.
Another goal is to work more cooperatively with other
regenerative farming businesses in our area. We have
started to offer our butchering services and we hope to
share marketing and promotion going forward.
And of course, a final goal is to get a holiday! It is the
SANDRA BAER AND
one area we have failed in, so we are excited to finally get
away again in the not too distant future!
LYNN CASSELLS
Lynbreck Croft, Scotland
Our two cents on starting up ____________________________

The first piece of advice we always give to people who

haven’t yet started, who haven’t yet found land, is to en- MAIN ENTERPRISES:
joy what we call the ‘dreaming’ phase. We spent so many
evenings talking excitedly about what life would be like Layers / Cattle / Pigs / Bees /
when we realised our dreams. This is a really special Farm Tours / Courses / Holiday
time and looking back, we wish we had enjoyed it even rental
more.
The second piece of advice is; don’t rush. We spent many
many years working and saving to build up enough cap- MAIN SALES CHANNELS:
ital to buy our place. Even then, we were a little short,
but we were confident that we could make it work with Subscriptions / Member club /
the solution we had found. But to own somewhere out- Honesty box / Website
right gives you so much freedom to do what it is that
you want to do. It takes longer but there is no monthly ____________________________
mortgage or rental to pay and the weight that takes off
your shoulders is immense. All of a sudden the day to
day bills seems much more achievable. AREA IN PRODUCTION: 61HA
Thirdly, where possible, visit other people who do what
it is that you want to do and learn from their experi- STARTUP YEAR: 2018
ence. This was invaluable to us and helped to shape our STARTUP INVESTMENT: N/A
unique approach to farming.
And finally, if you are going into this venture with a REVENUE: €39,150
partner, then look out for one another. Allow each other
to develop your areas of specialism and find your roles, NET PROFIT: €14,500
but always keep the communication levels flowing so ______
that you are working as one unit. It’s not easy and tem-
pers will fray and stress levels rise, but it’s important to
keep talking and keep forging the road ahead together
as a team.

website / instagram / facebook

141
 SOFIA MARIA BANG ELM
Avdem Gardsgrønt, Norway

The farm it is possible to grow high-quality vegetables up here,

even though we have a very short season and a risk for
Our farm is called Avdem and is located in a quite harsh frost throughout the summer. Apart from that, I wanted
climate 600m above sea level, in the very north of Gud- to be in control of my own time, be economically inde-
brandsdalen in Norway. The farm is run by my part- pendent and create an active, meaningful and healthy
ners’ parents, who have 40 milking cows and their dairy life for myself.
where they make high quality, unpasteurized cheese.
When my partner Hans and I moved here in 2017, Getting started
Hans joined his parents in the work on the farm and I
started a diverse market garden on 2,500m2 called Av- In the beginning, it was all about figuring out what
dem Gardsgrønt. I grow around 40 different vegetables would grow up here. I tested a lot of different vegetable
varieties and tried to grow almost everything.
on raised beds, without pesticides or artificial fertilis-
Then I needed to find some customers. Since our farm
ers. I sell the vegetables to restaurants, to the locals in
weekly boxes, and in our local-food shop Avdemsbue, is located very far out on in the countryside, and the
where we also sell our cheese and other products from people who live out here are spread out over big dis-
small-scale farmers around Norway. tances, it was a challenge. But one good thing was that
since nobody else is growing vegetables up here, my
Becoming a market gardener project received a lot of attention, and the customers
began to show up quickly. I also had the advantage that
My main motivation was to create a space and meaning my partners’ parents let me use their well-known farm-
for myself in an already well-established farm business. name, and I spent a lot of money on a logo that fitted
To create my own small business and through that get in into the style of their dairy logo. That meant that restau-
touch with and get to know the locals and the environ- rants etc. associated me with them, which was, and still
ment here, which is extremely different from my native is, very helpful. Otherwise, the start-up was all about
Denmark. The vision also turned out to be to show that growing, selling, explaining, learning about VAT and

142
how to make invoices.

Some numbers

I invested approximately €9,400 to get going. That in-

cluded all the seeds, trays, soil, row covers etc., as well
as an old two-wheel tractor, a rotary plough to make the
beds and some necessary hand-tools. We built a 45m2
greenhouse ourselves, and then I was good to go. This
year, 2020, the revenue will be around €37,500 and the
net around 50%.

2020

It´s going very well now. I was very surprised to see how
many different vegetables could grow up here, and how Sofia with her parter Hans and their son Alfred.
big an area one person can manage with hand-tools.
It has been a steep learning curve, and it still is, but I´m
enjoying growing vegetables and all that comes with it.
The soil work, the seeding and planting, the harvest, the
washing and packing, the contact with the customers,
and so on. The second-year was much more focused,
well-planned and structured than the first one, but I
think this is still where I have a lot to learn.
This season, my 4th, I’ve had my 1-year-old son with
me, and that suddenly brings up a lot of new challenges,
especially time-wise, and it also means a whole new fo-
cus and role in the business. I have been more a man-
ager than a worker in the field. Luckily, we’ve had a lot of
good people helping out this year, and all in all, I think
this will be our best year so far.

Selling The market garden seen from above.

Right from the start, I have delivered vegetables to two

restaurants, two local food shops, and a few markets
during the season. Last year I also delivered weekly veg-
etable boxes to the locals. The first year I did not know
what to expect, since I neither knew what I would suc-
ceed in growing nor what or how much my customers
would buy. Therefore I was very satisfied when I had
sold out almost everything I had grown when the winter
came. The second-year I did some bigger investments,
for example in a BCS with a lot of equipment, so I need-
ed a bit more predictability in my economy. Therefore,
and because I think this is a very exciting and social
way of selling, I offered weekly vegetable boxes for the
locals in the area. It was very well received and it gave
stable and predictable sales, quite opposite to the sales
to the restaurants which could vary a lot. Because of the The flower garden beside the new cafe.

143
vegetable boxes, more structure, and a better feeling for
which vegetables people wanted, I doubled my turnover
the second year and have increased it with €9,400 ev-
ery year since. For such a short season the turnover this
year is satisfying, but that does not mean there is a lot
left for me when all the bills and workers are paid. But
now, when a lot of the major investments are done, my
goal is to keep the expenses down and try to give myself
a better salary. And I think these 2,500m2 can still be
optimised a lot, so there are still good possibilities to
increase the production and the turnover.

Current vision

A big part of the vision is still the same as when I start- Mixed mixuna-leaf salad is one of the things that the
ed, but of course, some things have changed. In the restaurants here are most interested in and that brings
beginning, I planned to refine a big part of the vegeta- in the most revenue.
bles and make pickles and jam etc. But after these first
years, I have to admit that you also have to give yourself
some limits; a single person can’t do everything. And
my passion for growing the vegetables is bigger. I have
not completely abandoned the idea, though, and since
Hans’ sister runs a local food shop just up the road, I
think there could be a good market for it. But it will
have to wait a few years, or perhaps until another per-
son gets involved in the business.
The focus is also changing as I learn how to do things in
a ‘leaner’ way, and the more I recognise the importance
of good planning and effective work. But all in all the
top-vision was to create a good, free and active life for
me and that is still my main focus and goal. That said,
my priorities have also changed quite a bit since having
In order to have diversity for 5 months of weekly boxes,
a child. So, from being a one-woman project, the vision
Sofia grows 30-40 different vegetables during the season.
now is turning into opening up the business and ideally
have a few workers every season, both for the free time
that can give me where I can prioritise my child, but
also for the social aspect. I love to live on a farm with a
lot of life and activity.

Challenges

We have quite a few bigger challenges up here. One of

the biggest is the climate, which is certainly why no one
else is growing vegetables for more than their house-
hold here. The farm is located in the north of a long val-
ley with mountains on each side, 600m above sea level.
The winters here are very long and very cold, and the
temperatures can drop to between -20 and -30 Celsius. Even with the risk of frost throughout the whole sum-
The winter starts in October, so most of the vegetables mer, most vegetables thrive if they are covered with
need to be out of the garden by then. I am normally row-cover in the cold periods.
144
 able to plant out at the beginning of June. That means
that we have max. 4 months where we can grow outside.
And even in these 4 months, there is a high risk that
we can get night frost a few times. I try to solve this
by choosing fast-growing, hardy vegetable varieties and
always have row-cover ready, so when I know that the
temperature is dropping, I will cover anything vulner-
able. Especially in the first few weeks, I keep almost all
the newly planted seedlings covered. Both because the
weather can be unpredictable in June and because the
seedlings are very vulnerable before they are properly
established.
Another challenge is that there can be very strong
winds here. Luckily the garden is a bit sheltered by the
surrounding trees, but we will need to plant more shel-
Preparing the weekly boxes. In 2020 Sofia delivered ter for the future. This is also an area where we have very
weekly boxes to 40 families from June to October. little rain, especially in the spring, and we are depen-
dent on irrigation. Fortunately, we have enough water
around here, but I do spend a lot of time watering dur-
ing the season.
This might seem like a very challenging place to grow
vegetables and it is, but I also want to mention that there
are many advantages. Like the very sweet, high-quality
vegetables that come out of it, the reduced disease- and
pest pressure, and the lack of competition since there
are no other vegetable growers around. And it is really
beautiful here. I use the long winters to help out on the
farm, study, travel and catch up with my friends and
family in Denmark. This is also very important to me.
The last challenge I want to mention is growing alone.
Of course, I get some help from my partner Hans or
visiting family, and I have also had some refugees and
An example of what a weekly box can contain. a trainee helping out in the season, but to be only one
person to make all the decisions, plan the season, be re-
sponsible for all the sales and so on can be lonely. Some-
times I long for someone to discuss with and someone
to share the responsibility with. I try to solve this by
prioritising networking with and seeing other vegetable
farmers, and we have built an active Facebook group for
small-scale vegetable growers in Norway. This gives me
the possibility to ask questions and learn from others.
When it’s possible I also try to make some smaller trips
to my friends’ farms, both in Norway and in Denmark,
to see how they are doing things.

The future

It was important to get a professional logo from the be- In 2020, I applied and received big funding from Inno-
ginning. It makes it easy for the customers to recognise vation Norway, I have a pretty clear picture of what at
the products when they are sold in the shop. least the next 3 years will look like.
145
 We now have the money to optimise everything and
make it a bit more professional. We will expand the gar-
den with 1,500m2, put up a 150m2 greenhouse, get a
professional sprinkler system for the fields, do more ex-
periments with perennials and focus a lot on soil-test-
ing and soil-health.
I’ve held a few ‘growing in a harsh climate’- courses this
spring, and I want to continue doing something like
that as well. I find it very rewarding to have people from
all over here on the farm, and I like to convey.
But all in all, I just hope I’m doing a lot of what I am
already doing. I love growing vegetables, and I feel that
I’ve found my role in life.

Startup advice The caterpillar tunnel makes it possible to harvest the

first crops almost a month earlier in springtime.
My first advice to people starting up would be to in-
tegrate into the local community. Especially if you are
doing something new or different. Show them your face
and what you are doing. Say yes if they ask you to come
to give talks about your project. I think you will be much
more comfortable and have a much bigger chance to
succeed if you farm in a community that supports you.

Write down everything that you do from the start!

When you seed, when you weed, when you harvest etc.
That will help you a lot with planning the next year and
give you an idea of when you can have products ready
for sale, how much you need to grow when you should
do you last seedings etc.

If you start up alone, then make sure to have someone

close by you can ask for help. You will need that many Trying to keep the tools in order, as it makes the work-
times. flow much more efficient.

Don´t underprice your product, rather take the time

and effort to inform people about the effort behind it.

Get in contact with other farmers, and don’t be afraid to

ask stupid questions.

The new café seen from above.

146
 SOFIA MARIA BANG ELM
Avdem Gardsgrønt, Norway
____________________________

MAIN ENTERPRISES:

Market Garden

MAIN SALES CHANNELS:

Wholesale / Restaurants / Farmers

markets / CSA
____________________________

AREA IN PRODUCTION: 0.25HA

STARTUP YEAR: 2017
STARTUP INVESTMENT: €9,400
REVENUE: €37,500
NET PROFIT: 50%

______

website / instagram / facebook

147
 JORGEN ANDERSSON
Fjällbete, Sweden

What Fjällbete is about

Fjällbete has been the name of our entity since 2002. Within a few years, we had 150 members sharing own-
The word translates into “Mountain Graze”. I have nev- ership and responsibility as production approached 10
er considered Fjällbete a ‘farm’. It is more of a ‘pasto- tons of lamb carcass, exclusively sold within the group
ralist community enterprise’. We own grazing animals, of owners such as restaurants and hotels etc.
but no land. Besides tending our sheep and cows we Since day one Fjällbete has been collaborating closely
are functioning as a Hub within the global Savory net- with the surviving dairy-farms of the valley. Togeth-
work. This means that we are advocating regenerative er with the ever-more organised tourism destination
agriculture and its pre-requirement, holistic manage- Åre, we set up the goal of ‘all the food produced in the
ment. valley to be consumed in the valley’. In ‘a kingdom of
Registering Fjällbete as an economic association back grass’ like ours that primarily meant milk and meat.
in 2002 marked the end of a 10-year long process that In 2012 we gained national fame when the authorities
included surveying the remains of our farming com- brought us to court for selling fresh milk and for initi-
munity as well as an inventory among the ever-more ating something we called ‘Mjölk är tjockare än vatten’
thriving tourism entrepreneurs residing the Åre valley. (‘milk is thicker than water’), a campaign where con-
During the nineties, I concluded a possible supreme sumers were enabled to allocate an additional payment
indicator for sustainable development to be ‘the dis- to local farmers when they purchased their milk in the
tance separating decision-making from its conse- supermarket.
quences’. Initiating Fjällbete was my contribution to Among the initiatives where Fjällbete has been serv-
reducing the gap between the management of land and ing as a guinea pig for ‘new’ ideas is our experiment
the people benefitting and/or suffering from the qual- with ‘crowd equity funding’. This came about because
ity of this particular management. A flock of sheep was I believe the absence of ‘local financial markets’ where
purchased to work undercover as ambassadors in this small entrepreneurs can obtain ‘own capital’ represents
quest. a major ‘log jam’. And as important as financing one’s

148
enterprise might be, I still consider the opportunity for
‘people-farmer-relationships’ to provide the supreme
benefit in such arrangements.
Fjällbete went through a debacle 5 years ago that put
us on the verge of destruction. The disturbance caused
an evolution into a more resilient community enter-
prise, as the members of the economic association
transformed Fjällbete into a modified shareholding
company.
So here is the present model as it now appears after
the initial 18 years of testing: A shareholding company
with shares deprived of profit and speculation. Our
shares simply reflect the proportion of responsibility
taken. Investments into the company are done with a
financial instrument called ‘participating debenture’,
and can be tailor-made according to the needs of the Sheep and people in Ottsjö.
entrepreneurs and the investing public. Fjällbete has
180 investors holding €235,000 in the company. When
investors want their money back, the company pays
50% of EBT (earnings before taxation). New entre-
preneurs getting into Fjällbete as custodians are not
paying for their shares just like they are not paid, as
these shares are passed on to the next in line carrying
responsibility. Shareholders are committed to main-
tain and grow the value of Fjällbetes assets. When suc-
cessful, the company builds trust along with financial
power. A pastoralist community enterprise like Fjäll-
bete needs to have a transparent vision clarifying what
kind of landscape, and what kind of society, we are
striving to maintain and create.
Our long term vision is the restoration of grasslands
like we had them in the Pleistocene era. Where oth-
ers see boring forests, we see ‘steppes to become’, and Grazing in remote areas.
where others see monoculture cropland we, again,
see ‘perennial grasslands in the making’; beautifully
diverse landscapes with plots of vegetables within
screens of trees and shrubs.

Fjällbete - Teaming with Life, Enabling Our Finest

This statement of purpose is rooted in our definition of

“regenerative agriculture” as ‘the art of satisfying hu-
man needs by enabling the highest imaginable vitality
of ecosystems’.
Our statement of purpose does not only inspire us to
run enterprises with sheep and cows. It guides how to
do it as well as on why we need to be transparent and
inviting.

Grazing in the ski resort Åre.

149
 Pastoralist community enterprises like Fjällbete may
be seen as the ‘keepers of our landscape’. The respon-
sibility for ‘keeping such keepers’ falls on everyone
preferring perennial grasslands to reside within, to
feed on, to visit, or possibly even to save mankind
with. But the responsibility for enabling the wider
community to support a pastoral community enter-
prise falls on us who are running it.
I label ‘Holistic Management’ as a language. A lan-
guage for us, the land-managing entrepreneurs, to
communicate among ourselves and, maybe even
more crucially, to communicate with our supporting
communities.
Grass and grazers are such a team that it is no longer
possible to understand one without the other. Homo Corre de faros through the village of Undersåker (1).
sapiens used to play successfully within this ‘steppe
and savannah’ team before we happened to be do-
mesticated by some powerful species of grass provid-
ing us with the grain. This event sparked the evolu-
tion of our modern civilisation.
The way we see it, Fjällbete has a role in reconnecting
ourselves and our community with nature. ‘Teaming
with life’, therefore, includes society as a whole.
People may be separated into two groups. Those who
already are ‘involved’ in the processes, putting food
on their table and those still alienated. Managers of
land/animals can be divided into those proud to be
transparent and those who will rather not show their
operations.
Referring back to our definition of regenerative ag-
riculture as ‘the art of satisfying human needs, by
enabling highest imaginable vitality of ecosystems’, Corre de faros through the village of Undersåker (2).
to us ‘teaming with life’ is rightfully categorised as a
‘human need’. Looking at it this way makes it impos-
sible to execute regenerative agriculture while main-
taining the alienation between people and ‘their’
land. Inviting people into the complexity of extract-
ing food from vitalising ecosystems simply becomes
a pre-requisite.

Meat for vegans

As we now are in the process of refreshing our holis-

tic context for the season of 2021, I can share some of
the ideas we are considering to integrate. Since Fjäll-
bete has always been about deepening relations be-
tween the end consumer and the primary producer,
we asked ourselves how to proceed along that line.
We like vegans because they care, and aiming for As local as it gets.
150
 their approval keeps us on track. We also like vegans
because they do research, and we have a lot to show
and tell. Our idea is to offer weekends for people
who care and would like to find out whether there
may be a good way of tending landscapes with ani-
mals. Success or not, this idea provides an example
of our reasoning as we are looking for ways of get-
ting more ‘teaming with life’.
Another aspect of this reasoning is the possibility
of turning negotiations of price on its head. Keep-
ing our price low is a way of supporting our local
economy, while customers may become eager to pay
more to keep our operation sustainable. Such rela-
tions need to be earned over time. Earned by actions
as well as by communication. Holistic management
Kids and sheep getting along (1). provides ‘internal clarity; Who are we? What do we
manage, where to, and why? Such clarity in com-
munication combined with clarity on how our com-
munity may support us is the difference between
a lonely battle and teaming up with society while
building it.
Eating someone you know maybe the most power-
ful way of reconnecting to the nature we are made
of. When Fukuoka suggested farming to be a way of
becoming our finest, I find the moral process deal-
ing with our right to kill to be a possible path in
such a quest.
The fact is that we, in Fjällbete, stay in control over
our animals from their birth to their death. And the
equally simple fact that participating in the slaugh-
ter of the individual one intends to eat may be seen
as a moral obligation suggests that we should start
Gotland sheep. slaughtering ourselves. This is why we are investi-
gating the opportunity to provide a ‘kill them your-
self-service’. We intend to perform some initial tests
of this enterprise during 2021. As long as the meat
from such slaughter stays within our household
there is no legislative hindrance stopping us. But
our long-term goal is to have customers teaming up
with us, our animals and our landscape in this work
to provide meat for themselves.

Yoghurt as a line of defence in our immune system

We only have a small experimental herd of 8 cows.

They are of the classic Swedish red breed. We do not
look at cows as milk- or meat-breed. We rather see
them as cows, plain and simple; excellent ecosys-
tem builders and essential team players who offer
Kids and sheep getting along (2). us meat and milk as well. Our idea is to let the cows
151
 have their calves on the grass in spring and to keep
them at foot while we harvest a surplus of milk until
the arrival of winter.
We intend to purchase a small mobile milking
parlour for the season of 2021 and to start experi-
menting with making yoghurt instantly from body
temperature. We are passionate about having cows
vitalising grasslands while also transferring some of
this vitality to people. We know the benefits of fresh
milk as well as we know the hardships required to
bring such milk beyond the guarding soldiers from
the food industry and their institutions. Yoghurt
may provide a better way to deal with the challenges
of letting cows vitalise ecosystems and public health
through dairy. Once fermented, the milk has a lon-
‘Mjölk är tjockare än vatten’; enabling consumers to pay ger shelf life, reducing the stress associated with dis-
more for the milk. tributing small amounts of fresh milk. The techni-
cal requirements for making yoghurt directly from
warm milk are relatively small.
All in all, we see a great opportunity in having cows
building our future landscapes supported by yo-
ghurt, having travelled in a straight line from the
landscape to the local store.

Holy Local

Fjällbete is an accredited hub within the global Sa-

vory network. We facilitate a Nordic network for re-
generative agriculture. As a part of that, we are par-
ticipating in the establishment of the brand ‘Holy
Local’. The label can be found on dairy products in
Stockholm and on Gotland. ‘Holy Local’ is a follow-
Graffiti spreading across the country. up on our initiative from 2012 where consumers
in the supermarket here in the valley of Åre were
enabled to allocate an additional payment to local
farmers. For every package sold, €0.10 goes back to
the landscape that made the food. The money is for
enabling the landscape to vitalise in line with regen-
erative agriculture. We are responsible for finding
the best use of this money. We intend to use it to
boost the use of EOV in the management of land
and to enable visualisations of future landscapes as
they are described in the holistic context of land-
managing entities. We see an opportunity for more
producers to use the ‘Holy Local’ brand to state their
will to collaborate with communities sharing their
vision of a particular future landscape.

Winter quarters.

152
 JORGEN ANDERSSON
Fjällbete, Sweden
____________________________

MAIN ENTERPRISES:

Sheep

MAIN SALES CHANNELS:

Direct sales

____________________________

AREA IN PRODUCTION: N/A

STARTUP YEAR: 2002
STARTUP INVESTMENT: €19,600
REVENUE: €147,000
NET PROFIT: €0 (after salaries)

______

website / facebook

153
 JESPER SANDSTROM
Kyrkbygård, Sweden

The beginning had been certified organic for 16 years. I bought the
farm empty, without animals or machinery. I had very
My farm Kyrkbygård is located in Slättåkra, 18 km north few ideas about what to do more than planting a fruit
city of Halmstad in south-west Sweden. It is 30ha and forest and grow vegetables. The farm has 21ha arable
features pastured beef, pastured hens, a no-dig market land, 8ha pasture and 3ha wetlands. I was considering
garden, fruit trees in Keyline design and 4 beehives. different options for the land when I asked a nearby
I think the beginning took place many years ago when friend, Carina if she wanted to join me in taking care
I was a teenager. At that time I was a member of a youth of the farm. She answered ‘Yes, I want to have cattle!’
organisation and we used to spend the weekends camp- A friend of Carina’s also joined and suddenly we were
ing and looking for wildlife. Since then I have had strongthree families starting up in the season of 2015. I took
feelings for biodiversity. I have a master’s degree in the financial responsibility and the intention was just
chemical engineering and studied ecology for 1.5 years. to produce food for the families. We bought 9 heifers
I had a dream of working with nature conservation and a bull, 9 pregnant ewes, 6 young pigs and 20 tur-
someday. I did what was expected and worked with ma- key chicks. Carina is a farrier and I had been growing
terial development in rubber factories for 17 years, but Ivegetables in gardens for 25 years. None of us had any
never felt comfortable in the industry. I was concerned experience in farming.
about food security for my family and read whatever
I could about permaculture. What happens if we get a The first three years
disturbance in fossil fuel production and global delivery
of food to Sweden stops? This concern and a dream of We managed to run the farm, selling vegetables in a very
planting a food forest made me purchase a cattle farm. small farm shop. Meat boxes with either pork or lamb,
and later also beef, were sold on Facebook. We kept the
Initial plans ewes and heifers to increase numbers of animals at the
farm. We also sold some hay to get rid of excess grass.
The practical beginning was in spring 2015. The farm Carina’s friend left us the first season. Carina left after

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2.5 years when new employment made it difficult for
her to continue. The second-year we sold enough to pay
variable costs and depreciation.
We learned a lot about basic farming the first years: tak-
ing care of animals and having them breed back, a lot of
weeds in a tilled market garden, taking care of a tractor
and some tractor tools, taking care of the economy, and
difficulties in direct sales to local end customers.

Contact with Regenerative Agriculture

I understood that manure is a limited resource in or-

ganic farming. Our fields have sandy soil and a lack of
potassium. The deep bedding produced in the winter
was enough for fertilising our market garden and one
3ha field per year. We could therefore apply manure on The farm with the four fields with tree lines. Two of the
a specific field every seventh year with the number of fields in a Keyline design.
animals we had. But all fields needed fertility, so I felt
something was wrong or missing.
I was searching for different ways of doing agriculture
with perennial crops and plants with bigger roots to
be able to keep the fertility and moisture in the fields
in a natural way. I was inspired by permaculture and
Mark Shepard’s Restoration Agriculture. With my back-
ground in chemistry, ecology and interest for biodiver-
sity, it was obvious to me that something like this was
the way forward.
I participated in Richard Perkins’ first online course
Making Small Farms Work (now The Regenerative Ag-
riculture Masterclass) in winter 2018. It made me un-
derstand how I and the farm could benefit from Holistic
Management, Regenerative Agriculture and Keyline de-
sign. We started the season 2018 as a regenerative farm. Cattle grazing tall, fully recovered grass.
We started planned grazing with cattle (2018), built an
egg mobile and bought 200 hens that follow the cattle
(2018), made a plan for planting fruit tree lines in four
of our fields over four years (2019-2022) and decided to
turn our vegetable production into a no-dig market gar-
den with 84 permanent beds (first planting 2019). To be
able to manage this and reduce some of the workloads, I
decided to slaughter the pigs and sell the sheep.

Start-up investments

Purchase of farm €290,000

Tractor 95 hp with a front loader, 13 years old €25,000
12 used tools for the tractor €7,000 (over the first 3
years)
9 heifers heritage breed + 1 bull €4,200
6 steers (1 year) Fleckvie €5,200 Hens grazing in new grass close to a pond.

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9 ewes €1,020 Variable costs €36,000 (including all costs for fruit or-
chard)
Start-up costs for regenerative enterprises External costs €17,000
(No labour cost in these numbers)
Total costs €53,000
Materials for planned grazing, cattle: Net (before depreciation, tax and salary) €33,600

Reels, posts, poly-wire €1,600 Beef cattle

Material for egg-mobile €2,500 Today we have 12 cows and one bull with their offspring,
which makes a total of 38 cattle. They are Rödkulla, a
200 hens, 16 weeks, organic €1,700 heritage breed. It was the most common dairy-cow in
southern Sweden before 1950. The goal is to cull 10-12
Water access all over the farm: animals per year, but so far we have not culled more
than 8 in a year. We keep the heifers until a minimum of
25mm pipe 1,600 m, 200m 8mm hose, 30 months and steers until 36 months.
16 quick couplings, fitting and valves €1,800 We have two herds when the bull is at the farm from
May to mid-August. The bull is with the cowherd first
Treelines: organic matter, material, 2m fence + 3m posts and then with the heifers. After that, we leave the bull
on a nearby farm which makes it possible to keep all
Fruit orchard 2ha (2019): including purchased grafted the cattle in one herd. This year we started to reduce the
trees €6,500 time animals are in the winter stable. We started feeding
Cider apples 3ha (2020): plants from own seeds €5,100 hay and silage on November 1 and continued with daily
Nut trees 3.5ha (2021): purchased seeds and some movement until December 28, then moved them into
plants €6,200 the stable. Calving happens from March to May. This
Cider apples 2.2ha (2022): plants from own seeds + year we took all the animals except the 12 cows out on
windbreak €5,600 pasture on April 4 and did the feeding and daily move-
ment. In this way, we reduced the stable period by one
Materials for the no-dig market garden: month in both ends of the winter compared to what is
common in this region. There was not much to graze
Homemade compost from deep bedding €0 but it saved indoor stable work, and we think the tram-
Peat and wood chips €1,800 pling and the manure left on the pasture in the winter
Excavating irrigation pond + raising ground level in months is very effective and important for soil micro-
garden €3,500 organisms. We think organic matter left on the soil in
Irrigation €600 winter creates more stable soil carbon than at other
Greenhouse from used windows for transplants (2020) times of the year.
€1,500
Washing station (2020) €1,200 Planned grazing
Hand tools (seeder, tilther, greens harvester, small
things) €2,500 Learning planned grazing has been more challenging
and more interesting than expected. Before I knew the
Revenue and net 2019 pastures as 1-6ha paddocks. I knew that some pastures
were better than others. Now I know the pastures in de-
Sales, beef €16,900 tail as 1,500m2 paddocks.
Sales, vegetables €13,000 We move the cattle once a day. Different seasons need
Sales, egg €26,700 a different kind of grazing. In May we do a fast rotation
Sales, rental farm-house €8,000 on the early grass. We do this rotation 2-3 times faster
Sales, other €3,300 than normal to leave a lot of standing grass and create
Subsidies €18,700 a pasture with grass of different ages. In the next rota-
Sales total €86,600 tion in June to July, we are aiming for grazing 50% of
156
 the grass. This results in trampled grass and some un-
touched grass producing seeds. We do the third grazing
in the fall, and with our new ideas of reducing the stable
period, we may do the fourth grazing in combination
with feeding from now on. One grazing per year per
field is replaced by a harvest of silage.
When we started planned grazing in 2018, Sweden
was hit by the worst drought in 100 years. Nothing was
growing and we could not trample as much grass as we
wanted. The soil was bare and unprotected in some of
our driest pastures. In 2019 we had rain in the spring
and the first harvest was good. We decided to take as
much as hay as possible. June was wet and we waited
until midsummer to get a week with good weather for
drying the hay. We cut all our fields just at the begin-
Cattle followed by hens in May 2020. ning of what would become 9 weeks with temperatures
around 25C and no rain. In this period the recovery of
the grass was 10cm. Again we had no grass to trample.
We learned it could be risky to cut all the grass at once
and especially at the beginning of a hot period, so for
the season of 2020 we made a new strategy. We had seen
that our best pastures were the smaller ones that had
not been harvested. We decided to harvest a field just
once in a season and not all at the same time. That will
improve the bigger fields that have been harvested the
most in the past. The goal is to reduce the harvest of
a field to once every second year in the future. Spring
2020 was very dry with winds from east and frost every
night until May 15. Again we did not have much grass
to trample. We harvested grass at different times and
avoided the hottest periods. That gave us a better age
distribution for the next grazing. Longer recovery re-
Building of a heated table for seedlings. sulted in the enormous blooming of clover and a huge
harvest of honey. All clover disappeared in the drought
2018. We think the return of the clovers is the first step
in our no-till renewal of good pastures.
Give us a spring with some rain and we will graze and
trample the first harvest on our driest fields. We want
armour on the ground and then the positive spiral of
increased grass growth will start.

Hens

We have 300 hens following our cattle in a Ridgedale-

style egg-mobile. We have built two egg-mobiles on old
hay wagons but are at the moment just using one of
them. We have the hens within two 50m electrical nets.
The nets and the egg-mobile are moved every morning
at 5:45 am. We have tried to move the nets every second
Seedlings in the greenhouse in spring. day and the egg-mobile every day within the nets, but
157
the second day our hens dig too much in our sandy soil
and destroy the pasture.
We feed in the morning and then feed and pick eggs at
10:30 am and 4:00 pm. Nests are swept every second day
and laying mats banged on the wall to get rid of dirt and
manure every day. Doing this we never clean the laying
mats with water.
We started 2019 with 500 hens and both egg-mobiles.
At the same time our neighbours at Lya Gård 101 also
started up with 200 hens, and another farm started with
200 hens in the town north from us. This was a huge in-
crease in pastured eggs in the region and we had prob-
lems selling them all.
The beauty with eggs is that it is a product that every-
body needs every week. That gives continuous sales and
contact with customers. We have experience in just sell- Hot aerobic compost is made from our cattle’s deep
ing vegetables and meat boxes. When doing this you bedding with an old manure spreader at low rpm.
have a long winter without sales and you lose the cus-
tomers. It takes a month or two to get them back when
the season starts again.
The draw-back with hens is the need for daily care. In
summer, days are long here. In June hens go into the
egg-mobile around 10:30 pm. That makes the nights
short for a farmer. It is also difficult to keep the hens
from fighting in the dark winter. We give the hens new
straw bedding, two sand baths, 10kg of carrot or beet-
root, vitamins and access to an outdoor area every day.
This has made the flock calmer in the barn.

No-Dig Market Garden

Our market garden takes most of our time and maybe

Market garden with greenhouse, irrigation pond,
we should reduce the size. But we love to have our abun-
washing station within 10m from the garden.
dance of vegetables and we have the manure, so there-
fore we do it.
We started the 84 bed (0,75mx10m) no-dig garden at
a new site in 2019. South of the barns, we have a field
that is perfectly protected from winds by hills and trees
in the west and east and by the barn in the north. This
is the hottest spot on the farm. The problem was that it
was a waterlogged wetland. I decided to dig an irriga-
tion pond just outside the market garden and to use the
material to increase the ground level 0.8m. We did not
expect that the excavation would destroy the soil aggre-
gates in the clay soil. In the first season, we had severe
problems with waterlogging in the beds. We decided to
drain the garden by digging down drainage pipes in the
walking paths at a distance of 11m. This improved the
situation in 2020 a lot, but this unexpected problem by
disturbance of the ground will take some time to heal. Our new washing station under a transparent roof.
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 When we started the beds, the soil was a construction
area. We covered the soil with 7cm peat and added lime
and rock dust. That was covered with a 7cm layer of
homemade compost. The peat was used to increase the
weed-free layer since compost was limited. The walk-
ing paths between the beds are 35cm and covered with
oakwood chips.
Compost was made from our cattle’s deep bedding
with straw. We turned the stack with the front loader
of the tractor eight times in six weeks. The compost was
50-65C in four weeks and became weed-free. But the
front loader did not break down the 20-30cm pieces
of clumsy material. We had huge problems transplant-
ing and seeding in that compost the first season. Beds
were perfectly clean with no weeds. This season 2020
Putting out horse manure in preparation for tree lines. we have had weeds in the garden coming mostly from
deeper layers. It is difficult to avoid seeds coming from
deeper layers, for example when harvesting carrots. It is
also difficult to avoid that the layers are mixed when you
sometimes have people helping you. Although everyone
knows that it is a no-dig garden, things still happen. We
have managed to take out all weeds before producing
seed. Next season we plan to add 3cm of compost to
reduce weeds.
With the water-logged season of 2019 in mind and an
inquiry to supply a festival with 500 people with veg-
etables, we decided to also open our old market garden
in 2020. We did it no-dig and just added a thin com-
post layer. For weed control, we covered the soil with
silage plastic one month before transplant/seeding. We
made 20 50m long beds. We planted crops that are easy
to weed in this garden, like cabbage, beans and garlic,
Tree lines are prepared with organic matter and cov-
but also beetroot.
ered with fabric.
Treelines

My goal with planting trees in the pastures is to increase

diversity, soil life, photosynthesis and wind protection
as well as to create some shadow and get food from
the trees. I planned four fields, in total over 10ha, to be
planted over four years. A fruit orchard with berries in
2019, cider apples in 2020, nut trees (walnut, hazelnut
and sweet chestnut) in 2021 and more cider apples in
2022.
In our area, it is necessary to put up a 2m high wildlife
fence as protection against the hare, deer and moose. It
takes two people about three days to fence a 3ha field.
We use a tractor to press the poles into the ground and
for unrolling the heavy fence. Then we transfer the lines
One-year-old apple trees from our own seed stock. from the map to the ground. It took two days to mark
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out our Keyline design this year, so be sure to save some leaves in the tree lines. The plan for the future is to fer-
time for this. We used measuring tape and measured in tilise the pastures with good compost and the trees with
many directions before we were happy with the result. compost tea.
The soil preparation is as follows: Rototill the marked
tree lines in the pasture; rip the soil to a depth of 50cm Sales
with a homemade hook from a plough; apply 40L horse
manure, 40L oakwood chips and a shovel of good com- Over the years we have learned that sales are the most
post per meter; make two small ditches with discs be- difficult part of running your own business. It takes a lot
hind a tractor; apply a 1.2m landscape fabric over the of time and you have to accept a lot of ‘no thank you’s’
row and dig down edges in the ditches. from customers. We have three sales days every week.
We plant one-year-old seedlings from our own seeds. Thursday is REKO Ring-day in the city of Halmstad
We think it is important to try to find new varieties 18km away. Food, preordered on Facebook, is delivered
adapted to our local climate. We plant apples at a dis- at the REKO Ring during one hour in the evening. We
tance of 1.2m. Roots are soaked with a fungi inoculant sell vegetable bags with a value of €20-35 depending on
when planted. The trees will become 10m in size so the the season. We also sell our eggs and sometimes meat.
plan is to keep the best tree of nine to get one tree per Friday and Saturday our farm shop ‘Slättåkra Närpro-
10m. Over some years it will be necessary to add new ducerat’ is open. It is a cooperation between four local
trees were small plants have died. For nut trees we will food producers in the village. The three farms are all
do something similar, but also include trees like willow regenerative and the micro-dairy is certified organic. In
and maple in the row as protection. the shop, you find vegetables, pastured eggs, pastured
meat, cheese, jam and pickled vegetables. Everything in
Hot composting our deep bedding the shop is made by us four producers. All sales are in-
voiced by the producer. When no money accumulates
In 2020 we changed our way of fertilising the soil. In in the shop, we do have much to fight about.
past years we have kept our cattle winter manure one
year in a pile. This was an attempt at slow composting. Coming years
We wanted to make the straw softer before spreading it
on the grass and be able to harvest hay the same year I am planning to scale up or add some enterprises. The
without contaminating the harvest with manure. We goal is to be able to be two people at the farm full-time.
now think this is a bad way of handling manure. We As it is today, I have to work every day of the year. With
get lots of rain in our area. This makes the pile wet and two people on the farm, it would be possible to have a
anaerobic and pathogenic micro-organisms may mul- day off per week.
tiply. By using this pile on pastures, we spread organic We have two egg-mobiles but are at the moment just us-
material (good), nutrient salts dissolved in manure liq- ing one of them. I am considering to start with broilers.
uid (bad) and pathogenic micro-organisms (bad). If we It is a good business and a good product for the farm
instead use good compost, we spread organic matter shop. Another interesting product could be fermented
(good), healthy aerobic micro-organisms (good) and vegetables. It adds value to a lot of vegetable waste that
the same nutrients absorbed into the micro-organism could be used.
cells (good).
This year we have made three 50m3 batches of hot Advice to people starting up
compost. The deep bedding is turned through a manure
spreader on low rpm. The spreader is moved forward in Just do it. You can prepare by reading books for years
one-meter steps as a 1.25m high pile is created. We made without learning much. Take the opportunity to work
this in a period without rain and the pile was turned 5-6 as an intern on a good farm or just start your own. It is
times in four weeks. In this way, the composting tem- by doing and observing that the learning takes off.
perature was 50-65C for at least three weeks. About five
weeks after starting composting, the temperature was
40-50C and the compost was spread on the pasture.
When we had this good compost, we also produced a
few 60L batches of compost tea and sprayed it on the
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 JESPER SANDSTROM
Kyrkbygård, Sweden
____________________________

MAIN ENTERPRISES:

Pastured beef / Pastured layers /

Market garden

MAIN SALES CHANNELS:

Farm shop / REKO

____________________________

AREA IN PRODUCTION: 30HA

STARTUP YEAR: 2015

STARTUP INVESTMENT: €374,520

(incl. farm)

REVENUE: €86,600

NET PROFIT: €33,600

(before depreciation, tax

and salary)
______

website / facebook

161
 MOLLY RYGG
Lya Gård 101, Sweden

Vision and first steps been a major influence for us. For the previous twenty
years, the farm just had a few horses grazing on it, with
We are a husband and wife, Molly and Jonas, owning the the big field being cut for hay. Our land borders a large
farm. We purchased and moved onto the farm in 2018 stream and our soil is a sandy clay loam. Our main goals
and started production in 2019. Current enterprises are for the farm were to provide an income for me, live a
vegetables, strawberries, cut flowers, pastured eggs and climate-friendly lifestyle by storing carbon in our soil,
some processed food products (pickles, jams, etc.). improve our land (in terms of soil, biodiversity, water
Jonas is from Göteborg, Sweden and is a sailor on tall retention), grow and raise a large portion of our food,
ships who would like to start a business doing sail cargo. and build something that we could leave to our son that
I, Molly, am from the USA and have been previously would provide him with food and a career if he wishes.
working as a chef. We were interested in growing a lot of perennial crops as
We had both travelled a lot and lived in a lot of dif- well as annual vegetables and flowers. Using the Ridge-
ferent countries and were looking to settle down some- dale model, we wanted to have lanes of fruit trees and
where and start a family. I wasn’t sure about farming in berries on our big field (about 1ha+) with pastured lay-
Sweden, so I spent a summer at Ridgedale. That showed ers and some grazing animal being run between the tree
me there was a path to starting a farm in Sweden, and I lanes. We wanted to plant windbreaks and hedgerows
felt like the market wasn’t as saturated as in the US and with edible trees/shrubs, as we can get a fair amount of
there was a lot of opportunity for a small farm focused wind. We have also planted a dozen or so nut trees for
on regenerative agriculture principles, so Jonas came to our future consumption. We didn’t have a place in our
Sweden and bought our farm. It’s close to the coast, a barn to keep the hens in the winter, so we constructed
twenty-minute drive from a decent-sized city (Halms- a polytunnel for them that is used for cucumbers and
tad), 6ha with 4ha of farmable land, has a house that we tomatoes in the summer.
could move into right away and a price we could afford. Since we are on a busy road and we had a good space
When planning and designing our farm, Ridgedale has in our barn, we had the idea that we should make an

162
on-site farm shop. Jonas and his dad did all the renova-
tions to make our cute and rustic shop. We discovered
that there was another farm in our little town inspired
by Ridgedale with many of the same goals and the same
vision as us. I felt that if we didn’t find a way to work
together, we would end up as competitors. I approached
this other farmer, Jesper, from Kyrkbygård about doing
the farm shop together with us. He agreed as he had a
farm shop but it was quite far from the road and dif-
ficult for visitors not from our town to find. He also
knew of two other producers who might like to also
join; Andreas, who does holistically grazed cattle and
sheep about 15 minutes away and Jesper’s sister, Linda,
who has her own cheesery. We four producers formed a
co-operative (ekonomisk förening in Swedish) and our
farm shop Slättåkra Närproducerat was born. An aerial shot of the farm.
Forming the farm shop co-operative was not specified
in our plans when we first bought the farm, but some
sort of community-building has always been a goal of
ours. In the future, when we can build accommodation,
we would like to be able to have other people, couples
or families, join our farm for one or several seasons as
a sort of incubator. We would like to have a diversity of
enterprises on our land, but do not want to manage all
of them. So if someone wanted to have a small flock of
sheep and practice holistically managed grazing for a
year before they start their project, they could do that
while putting in some work for us and knowing they
have a shop waiting to sell the result. We are open to
having more members join our shop and have a bigger
variety of products as long as they share our philoso-
phies of sustainability and quality and are within the The team behind our cooperative-run farm shop, ‘Slät-
local area. We think having to juggle all the aspects of tåkra Närproducerat’.
running a small farm alone is a daunting task and are
looking to form collaborations with other likeminded
people in our area as much as possible.
We started our pastured laying hens the first year be-
cause we were looking for a product we could sell all
year round and there seemed to be a big demand on the
local REKO Rings for pastured eggs. We also planted
1,600 strawberry plants the first year, as our region has
a lot of strawberry farms but only one other certified
organic strawberry grower. We also grew vegetables and
started planting some of the windbreaks and perennial
crops, like asparagus, our first summer.

Investments and income

The major expenses for starting up the farm were:

Products on the shelves in our on-site farm shop.

163
Barn/farm shop renovation and cool room (for materi- the shop from the get-go gave us an instant image and
als; labour was in-house): €9,650 story to sell to the customers that we wouldn’t have had
Polytunnel: €6,750 if we were just a new producer selling at a REKO Ring
Egg mobile (for materials; labour was in-house) €2,890 or the market. Selling products on the farm has allowed
Compact tractor: €4825 us to be fully open with our customers about how we
BCS walking Tractor with amendment: €5790 produce our food and has given us the chance to meet
people in our local community that, as newcomers, it
2019 was our first year of farming and our revenue was would otherwise have taken us years to meet. The other
about €32,000. If we attribute our largest start-up ex- advantage of having the farm shop from the beginning
penses to a 5-year or 10-year payment time, our net was to have a form of co-workers in our fellow co-op-
profit for our first year was about 37% of our revenue. erative members. Working on the farm all day with no
other employees can be lonely and it has been nice to
How we are faring have an instant network of people to come to with ques-
tions and bounce ideas off of.
Now that we have finished our second summer, we can Sales in the shop have been pretty good so far. We were
say that things were a lot better than the first year, but open all year our first year, but in January, February and
there is still a lot to improve. For our vegetables, we March we had few customers and little to sell, so we will
got the perennial weeds in our permanent beds under be closed this year for those months. We are still work-
control, found a good source of mushroom compost to ing on ideas to improve the customer experience at the
spread on all our beds, got the irrigation system going, store and attract new people to make the 20min drive
our washroom completed and were a little more used to out here from central Halmstad.
the climate and the seeding dates that worked here. So As we plan for our third year farming, Jonas, having
things were better in that sense, but we still had some completed most of the initial infrastructure projects,
crop failures due to slugs and wrong timing. But on the would like to work off the farm sailing. Previously we
whole, there was an improvement and we learned what had divided the work so that Jonas was doing the hens,
we needed to do for next year. book-keeping and infrastructure projects while I was
For our laying hens, sales of the eggs were great, but doing the vegetables, flowers and prepared food prod-
our production was down as it was time for our hens ucts with both of us doing the sales and marketing and
to be slaughtered. The slaughtery where we planned to jumping in to help each other as needed. We are hoping
take them went out of business, so we had to keep the to get a student intern for the summer, have recently
hens for an extra two months while we waited for space begun hosting WWOOF’ers, and are looking to get one
in another place. This will affect our profit margins, as other part-time helper.
we were feeding them the same amount with decreased
production. Now we have a new flock of 300 hens and Sales and marketing
the eggs have been selling on pace with the production.
A big improvement for our egg profits is that Jonas was We started sales for our farm in May of 2019 when we
able to construct 2 small grain silos in our barn. In 2019 opened our on-site farm shop. The shop is open every
we were buying hen food in 25kg bags, which is signifi- Friday and Saturday. We also have a drive-in egg kiosk
cantly more expensive and not as satisfying to the hens with self-serve eggs (and sometimes vegetables) open
as the bulk food we now fill our silos with. all day, every day.
In hindsight, it would not have been necessary for us We also sell at 3 local REKO Rings and occasional mar-
to start the farm shop the first year we started farming. kets and do a few wholesale customers. In 2021 we plan
We probably should have just focused on growing great to look for a few more wholesale customers and to offer
produce, but on the other hand, then we might not have home delivery together with our farm shop co-opera-
been able to sell it all. The first year we were able to sell tive members.
everything that we produced, but our production was We would like self-pick to be a part of our sales in the
not where we wanted it. This second year we have also future. In 2020 we started with some self-pick flowers
sold the majority of what we produced, and will aim to and a small amount of self-pick strawberries. For 2021
produce more next year. Even though it was chaotic to we will offer more self-pick strawberries and flowers,
be starting so many projects in the beginning, having and we plan to have self-pick fruits from about 250 fruit
164
 trees as well as raspberries, blueberries, currants, etc.
when they are ready.
We have found our customers through social media,
word-of-mouth, local tourism initiatives and a few
newspaper articles. For our farm shop, we were also for-
tunate that the other 3 producers we created the shop
with had been established for several years and brought
their customer base with them. The shop is also located
next to a fairly busy road, so some people come to the
shop or the drive-in egg kiosk simply because they saw
the signs by the road.

Taking stock

Our initial vision hasn’t changed. There hasn’t been any-

Jonas feeding our pastured laying hens. thing that we wanted to do in the beginning that we no
longer want to do. The biggest change that has come
from experience is that we have greatly adjusted the
time it will take us to reach that vision and run all of the
planned enterprises.

Challenges we have faced

Balancing life as a new family who has recently moved

here and starting our own business for the first time has
been a challenge. I have now lowered our expectations
of what we can accomplish in a year and am okay with
that. When I am feeling stressed or overwhelmed by
failures, I try to take the time to appreciate the beauty
of what we have. Those things have helped a lot. Our
son turned 2 years old in our first year of farming, and
I had a lot of internal conflict between wanting to put
Our egg-mobile in our Big Field. all my energy into building the farm and taking care of
him. One book that helped me sort out these feelings
was All the Dirt: Reflections on Organic Farming by 3
women, 2 with children, who have an organic farm co-
op in Canada together. The advice from that book that
worked for me (which might not work for every mum)
was that the time that your child is young and depen-
dent on you is very fleeting in the long run and as also
a very precious time in their life. Relax some of your
timelines, so that you have more time to spend together.
For me, this means that from the time I pick up my son
from pre-school until he goes to bed, I try to focus on
him and put the farm aside. This mostly works out.
The biggest challenge for my husband was to deal with
the change of lifestyle from nomadic sailor to a land-
locked farmer and everything that comes with that.
After 2 years of helping me start up the farm, he will
Our eggs for sale in our farm shop. eventually go back to sea in some way.
165
 Another major challenge we still struggle with is slugs.
I had never dealt with slugs before and am still learning
how to control them and prevent conditions that they
like. On a rainy day, slugs are visible everywhere on our
farm. Having the hens move through the fields has been
good for disturbing their eggs, but it is still a big prob-
lem. We tried to keep ducks this year with two batches
of 3 ducks, but both times they flew away after a few
weeks and were spotted downstream from us. Next year
we will try a larger batch of ducks in the spring and raise
them from ducklings in an enclosed space before giving
them the full run of the farm. We will also try to focus
on keeping the grass bordering the beds very short as
that is where they creep in from. The crop most affected
by the slugs was lettuce; most of our lettuce was unsel-
lable because of them. But they also damaged some of No-till vegetable beds with our polytunnel in the back-
our cauliflower, romanesco, chard and carrots. ground.

Looking ahead

For the next 3-5 years, we plan on finishing planting all

our fruit trees, berry bushes and perennial hedgerows
around all of our vegetable and flower beds.
We would like to have a small batch of pastured turkeys
in 2021 and increase that number yearly. We are also
interested in having some sort of grazing animal to run
through our fields ahead of the hens.
For the vegetables, our main focus is on improving
quality and efficiency as well as building up a healthy
soil full of organic matter using compost and cover
crops.
For our farm shop, we would like to increase the farm
experiences that will draw people to the shop as more Rainbow Chard.
of an outing than just a shopping trip. That includes
increasing the self-pick options and offering refresh-
ments/snacks in an outdoor seating area, and starting in
2021 we will have a small children’s garden where kids
can play and learn how vegetables are grown. Our 10-
year plan for the farm shop is to convert a room in the
barn into a commercial kitchen, build a deck onto the
back of the barn and make ice cream and wood-fired
pizzas.

Startup advice

My advice for people starting up is to get some work

experience with someone doing what you plan to do on
your farm before you begin. I wish I had more experi-
ence growing vegetables before I started doing it on my
own. You can read books and google things, but hands- Flower bouquets for sale in the farm shop.
166
on experience is so valuable.
I would also advise beginning farmers to get to know
the people in their area growing food. Find out where
they buy equipment, seeds, packaging products. Find
out which product niches in the local market are already
saturated and which products they are always sold out
of or see a demand for. There could be a lot of potential
for working together with the people already doing a
similar style of farming in your area.

MOLLY RYGG
Lya Gård 101, Sweden
____________________________

MAIN ENTERPRISES:

Market garden / Pastured layers

MAIN SALES CHANNELS:

Farm shop / REKO / Market

Wholesale

____________________________

AREA IN PRODUCTION: 4HA

STARTUP YEAR: 2019

STARTUP INVESTMENT: Ca. €30,000

(excl. farm)

REVENUE: €32,000

NET PROFIT: 37%

______

website / instagram / facebook

167
 CARINA VAN STEENBERGEN
Ca-Le Jonstorp Escargots, Sweden

Becoming a farmer

After a major life crisis, I decided to give my life a com- I plan to grow vegetables for preparing the snails for
pletely new direction. I met my present partner and af- sales, like parsley and garlic.
ter living in a small apartment in Stockholm we decided It’s important to me to farm in an environmental-
to move out to the Swedish countryside. friendly way. Growing snails doesn’t require a lot of
It’s easy to find a farm here with several hectares of land land, water or feed and lets you produce a high quantity
attached to it, but that was not what we wanted. I had a of healthy, nourishing slow-food.
vision of going into farming, and to be exact; to start a
snail farm. I had already been following the regenera- Initial focus
tive agriculture movement for a while and a snail farm
has a very low ecological footprint. At the same time, I still don’t call myself an experienced grower, and since
snail meat has an abundance of minerals, vitamins and the beginning in 2019 my focus has been on how to
amino-acids and is still a protein source for a lot of peo- grow as many snails at the wanted size as possible with-
ple around the world. Plus, starting to produce a niche in a short Swedish growing season. I’m also focused on
product here in Sweden was appealing to me. finding out if the varieties of snails I have, Helix Max-
So I took the necessary steps and learned as much as I ima Muller and Helix Maxima Maxima, are the right
could, then went on a course with an experienced snail ones. These varieties are known for their good taste and
grower and finally started on a small scale in the sum- tender meat. Because the variety Helix Maxima cannot
mer of 2019. But knowing that it would take at least two take any frost, Helix Muller is a good alternative.
years before I could have some return from it, I also The design of our little field was a concern; everything
started a small market garden and bought a flock of lay- needed to be planned in the best way for optimal use
ing hens. That way I had some security of income. of the available space. 3,000m2 is not much, but with a
The plan is to cut down in commercial sales of veg- good set-up, it’s all the space I need to produce 1,5tons
etables as the income of the snail farm increases. Then of snail meat.

168
Investments and income

We own the field, so there’s no rent involved, but the to-

tal investment cost was €38,000. This included a 200m2
tunnel, a multifunctional new-built shed that holds
a cold-room, a packing station, tools, a small kitchen
where I can process the snails, an outdoor irrigation
system and an irrigation system for the snails.
It’s hard to give exact numbers yet because I’m only
in my second season, but I managed to grow 240kg of
snail meat that can be sold at €60 per kilo unprocessed
(sold alive). Processed the prices are higher because it
involves a lot of manual work. I’m targeting snail sales
at both restaurants and private customers. Last season
I got a lot of demand from private people who wanted Carina delivering the first live snails to a chef.
to buy snails prepared the ‘classical’ way in garlic-butter
blended with parsley.
In the second season the market garden (315m2)
brought in €14,000 in sales, but the maximum potential
of it has not been reached yet. The last beds were made
in June this year. I had no well thought out plan and was
deciding on the spot, so next winter I will take the time
to make a good, solid plan that will allow me to get as
much as possible out of the garden. The vegetables are
mostly sold through REKO.
I have a growing demand for the eggs, so I will increase
my flock of layers (currently 155 hens) accordingly next
season. Eggs are sold at €0.4 and the flock counts 150
layers.

2020
Now you can also buy quality escargots in Sweden.
For being only in the second season, I think i’s going
very well. More and more people know who we are and
what we are doing and appreciate it. We can count on a
certain number of regular clients and quite a few people
are following us on Facebook. But I know I need help-
ing hands next season, so we are thinking about hav-
ing some young WWOOf ’ers come here to work and
learn. Working this hard and this many hours is not
something I can keep on doing year after year. But most
of the infrastructure needed is up now and what’s not
there yet will be installed this winter, so I can put all my
focus on the growing and producing next season.

Sales and marketing

Here in Sweden we are lucky to have REKO, so my part- Sweden’s first snail farm is located in a little village
ner and I started one up in a small town nearby and that called Västtorp.

169
has been going very well. 2 other REKO’s in the neigh-
bourhood and sales straight from the farm after an an-
nouncement on our Facebook page made sure all the
vegetables and eggs were sold. We have agreed with a
local business for home and garden products that let me
come there every Saturday for 2 hours to sell my eggs
and deliver the ordered vegetables. Quality is easier to
sell! For the snails, we have a small number of custom-
ers who are willing to test them on their menus, while
restaurants are contacted by us and get a free number of
snails to test the quality.

Learnings so far

My business is still so young, but I have already found

out that people appreciate quality food and that the con- Snail eggs about to hatch.
cern for the environment is much more present than I
thought.

Challenges

My biggest challenge is the snails themselves. It looks all

easy and simple, but if you don’t know what you’re do-
ing, your snail farm can quickly change into your worst
nightmare. Having a business demands good planning
and I’m not a good planner, so I have to work on that;
good thing we have long Swedish winters.
Another challenge is the ‘snail walks’ or ‘snail safaris’
that we plan to start hosting next year. We want to invite
people to our farm on a chosen day and time to learn
about snails and heliciculture in general, taste them
and, if they want, buy them. We want to do that in col-
laboration with our kommune, since attracting visitors Collecting snail eggs.
to this area will be a win-win situation.

Plans for the future

In the future, the market garden will grow fewer veg-

etables for sale while the snail farm will increase. I will
mainly grow vegetables for processing the snails so that
I have full control over the process. My goal is to grow
1,5 ton of snail meat, which is the limit this little farm
has. Hopefully eating ‘escargots’ will once again become
common in Sweden, like it was in the eighties. Locally
produced escargots, that is, not imported ones. I don’t
want to and cannot compete with snails in a can. That
product has lost a lot of its good taste and the buyer
doesn’t know what he’s buying. Those snails might have
been picked in the wild or come from low-paying coun- Snails laying their eggs; a new generation will soon be
tries. born.
170
 I also plan to produce snail caviar. The problem is the
preservation procedure; you need to be able to keep the
exclusive taste that makes snail caviar so outstanding
and at the same time get the right consistency.

Some advice

When you become a snail grower, you will find yourself

doing interesting work. At the beginning of the season,
when you hope to produce baby snails, you are a bit of a
biologist, giving them the right conditions to mate and
produce eggs so that you are certain of a new generation
for that season. Later on, when growing them in their
parks, you are a farmer who mainly needs to observe a
lot; there’s not much heavy physical work, and nothing
View of the snail pens (1). goes fast with snails, so maybe it’s not for everyone.
If you want to become a ‘heliciculturer’, make sure to
educate yourself as much as possible, because you have
to know what you’re doing. You will find a lot of infor-
mation on the internet, but make sure to also go to a
real snail farm to see how they do it because there are
different systems and different ways of setting up your
snail farm. Observe as much as possible and start small
(100,000 snails).

Snails having dinner.

View of the snail pens (2).

171
View of the snail pens (3).

Baby snails; they grow exponentially.

Cooking the first batch of snails.

172
 CARINA VAN STEENBERGEN
Ca-Le Jonstorp Escargots, Sweden
____________________________

MAIN ENTERPRISES:

Escargots / Layers / Market garden

MAIN SALES CHANNELS:

REKO / Restaurants

____________________________

AREA IN PRODUCTION: 0.3HA

STARTUP YEAR: 2019
STARTUP INVESTMENT: €38,000
REVENUE: €14,000
NET PROFIT: €0
(Still investing in scaling up)

______

website / facebook

173
 DANIEL HAGERBY
Alvas Naturbete, Sweden

Alvas Naturbete the early spring of 2018, they got the courage to start the
process of building up a business to enable both of them
Alvas Naturbete is the name of the enterprise run to quit working off-farm jobs.
by Daniel and Johanna Hägerby on the farm Södra As an integral part of the course, the participants had to
Skärshult in the south-east of Sweden, between the articulate their holistic contexts. In our case:
towns of Kalmar and Oskarshamn. Daniel and Johanna
manage 30ha of farmland of which 18 are pasture and ‘We aim to produce the best possible food and nutri-
12 are arable. The main income stream is generated by tion for our child, Alva, and to sell any surplus to others
the pastured eggs, but Daniel and Johanna also produce who are also looking for proper beyond-organic food.
pastured lamb, pastured beef and honey, and are start- We believe in letting the animals live as natural lives as
ing up a market garden. possible in a way that improves our land through car-
Naturbete is Swedish for pasture. So the idea is that all bon capture and the establishment of perennial food
the main enterprises are pasture-based. That goes for sources; for our daughter, her generation, and their de-
the eggs, the sheep and the cattle, and also for the honey scendants. We strive for practices that are future proof,
as the pastures and the trees in them are full of flowers especially with regards to a changing climate and fossil
that the bees collect their nectar from. The market gar- fuel shortages.’
den is, however, not connected to the pastures by any
stretch of the imagination. In May of 2018, the first flock of 250 layers at point of
We started their journey to establishing the enterprise lay were picked up and put in the repurposed hay wag-
in 2012 when they moved to Daniels childhood farm, on that had been made into an egg-mobile. It cost about
Södra Skärshult. The first years were focused on home- €1,000 to build and they used an old tractor to move it.
steading, with some heritage sheep, beehives, a small Apart from the egg-mobile, they bought fencing, an en-
garden, some layers and a family cow. After participat- ergiser, an adapter to be able to receive the feed in bulk,
ing in the online training Making Small Farms Work and a pallet of egg trays. Also, of course, the point of lay
(now The Regenerative Agriculture Masterclass, ed.) in hens. All in all, they spent approximately €4,700. On top

174
of that the couple invested in a larger herd of herbivores;
five heritage cows, each with heifer calves. Many lessons
were made the first year, but the eggs sold out and there
were no big mishaps. Then came the drought. All adult
sheep and half of the cows had to be slaughtered, and
customers had to be found for the meat! Naturally, that
was a major setback – but also a strong reminder of
WHY they are doing this. The need to rapidly improve
drought resistance and boost pasture resilience was ob-
vious.
With a heavily reduced ‘flerd’ of herbivores they just
made it through the winter, having to work for silage
at a neighbouring farm during the spring and planting
monoculture spruce in the kind of hell-scape that is left
after clear-cutting and ‘ploughing’ what used to be the
forest floor. That helped drive the lesson home; do not One of the egg-mobiles in front of the small polytunnel
get more animals than you can feed, and improve your at an Open Farm-day.
pastures so that the number of heads you can support is
predictable, even with ever-increasing climate anoma-
lies.
Still, as the pastured eggs part of the business was going
well, they decided to expand to two egg-mobiles. Us-
ing the same design, they were able to use a second hay
wagon as a mobile feeder for the herbivores during the
winter and then, after fitting walls, perches, and nest-
ing boxes, use it as an egg-mobile during the summer.
By now REKO had started in the two closest towns and
though selling all the eggs in the start of the season was
challenging, come October the were sold out and Dan-
iel and Johanna began considering a third egg-mobile.
In mid-October, they bought a polytunnel to house the
chickens through the winter. The first winter an indoor
space in the barn had been used but was found unsat- Nesting boxes facing outward for ease of picking.
isfactory.
After the culling of some of the cattle due to the drought
the first year, the herd has grown back, and then some.
The couple has further invested in an electric ATV
(expensive), another polytunnel, way more fencing,
installed water infrastructure in the pasture, bought a
second-hand feed silo, market garden tools etc. All non-
essential investments that have enabled streamlining of
the daily chores and set the base for further expansion.
Come spring 2020 a total of 850 new layers were
brought in to fill the egg-mobiles, including a third one
built in April. Last year’s flocks were slaughtered and
sold as stewing birds, barely covering the cost of slaugh-
ter and transport.
At the time of writing, Alvas Naturbete is closing up
the third season and are at present turning over ap- Engaging the customers’ kids can be a good way of es-
proximately €90,000 annually. After deducting costs, tablishing relations.
175
that yields a net of around €40,000. Most of that is from
the layers, but the pastured meat, honey and vegetable
enterprises are all growing, both in absolute and relative
terms.
However, because they keep expanding and are using
the business to invest in the farm and development of
possible new ventures, most of what would be available
to take out as salary is not withdrawn. But now they are
at a level where they could quit all other work off-farm.
It is only for the sake of resilience in income streams
that they have not. Yet.
A normal workday at Alvas Naturbete (365 days a year)
starts at around 5 o’clock and ends at 3-4 in the after-
noon, apart from on delivery days (three of them every
two weeks) when the deliveries go on until later in the
evening. That is fine for a few years, but with small chil- Daily moves of cows and sheep.
dren it is tough. That is why they would like to get to a
situation where they have someone who can stand in
from time to time and be paid well.
They have made a lot of mistakes, naturally, but keep
learning from them and get better every day. Now they
know how to minimise the risk of animals getting out
of their paddocks, how to make sure the eggs end up in
the nesting boxes and nowhere else etc. They are still
improving in day-to-day operations, always striving to
get more efficient and better at adapting to the seasons
and the grass growth.
In the winter things are different. The layers are in the
polytunnels, the herbivores are not moved as often, the
beehives are dormant, and the market garden is asleep.
This means it is a good time for rest or rather to catch up
with things that they cannot find the time to do during
the summer. Like forestry, building projects, and this Many customers like to bring their kids to see the lambs.
year raising layers from day-old chicks instead of buy-
ing in point of lay birds.
The toughest part of starting the business has been to
establish a customer base. The first year they charged
only €9 per tray, delivered to the customer’s door! That
amounted to a lot of driving per delivery but was a sure
way of getting very faithful customers. They did this
knowing that they would be ramping up pastured meat,
honey, vegetables and perhaps a micro-dairy. So the
door-to-door deliveries were a conscious choice to es-
tablish a reliable customer base that they could expand
sales to in the future. With the customers addicted to
pastured eggs delivered to the doorstep, Daniel and Jo-
hanna have been able to raise prices to €12 without los-
ing more than a few customers.
Each year they have expanded their pastured egg-busi-
ness with another egg-mobile. This has been an easy Milking by hand in the pasture.
176
 choice as the demand for the eggs has been high. Still,
every spring/early summer eggs have been piling up
and Daniel and Johanna have been worried that they
will not be able to sell them all at full price. But sales
have always caught up and stock levels have never got-
ten critically high. Now they have learned that having a
healthy stock going into autumn and winter is a good
thing, as that enables you to keep the deliveries going all
through winter and not having to cancel customers only
to try to get them back a few months later!
Now REKO has come along, which makes things a lot
easier. But REKO can also bring about more competi-
tion and can be riskier in case of pandemic shut-downs.
So a combination of different types of customers and
delivery modes is a more resilient strategy, compared to
Checking the experimental top bar hive. putting all pastured eggs in one basket.
Joel Salatin, one of their main sources of inspiration,
says ‘it is easier to find 100 customers to spend $1,000
than finding 1000 customers to spend $100’. That has
been their strategy – to get a smaller number of custom-
ers spending more, rather than trying to reach a wider
range of customers.
Now they are looking to expand to a level where they
can employ someone so that they can take a weekend
off occasionally. Also being more people is more so-
cially enjoyable and makes the development of working
routines easier. As they already have the customer base
and a lot of on-farm resources as well as plenty of land
and investment capital, they are sure they will find like-
minded folks to partner up with.
During the next few years, Daniel and Johanna aim to
slow their growth in pastured eggs and get more people
Pouring distilled summer blossom honey. in to diversify the business. Ideally, every new partner/
employee comes with his or her expertise and ideas to
supplement the offering to the existing customers base.
The most obvious thing is to expand the market garden.
But micro-dairy, apple juice and pastured chicken are
other ventures that they are considering. The point is
to match each business to their resource base and their
customer base and find things that level out the work-
load throughout the year. That way everyone gets some
time off and have a sustainable situation with regards to
family time etc.
One change that is already in the works is reducing the
number of sheep to a minimum. The reasons for this
are several. First of all, sheep are a lot more work than
cattle; they are more difficult to fence, they need shear-
ing and they often reject their lambs. If only one ewe
rejects one lamb, that is enough to have to bottle-feed
Alva and a jar of liquid honey. for weeks. That is especially annoying when you think
177
of the second and more important reason, profitability.
The slaughter costs way more per kilo of marketable
meat compared to cattle. And because the customers
are not willing to pay more for lamb than for beef, that
makes margins much smaller. When calculating the fi-
nancials of the different enterprises during the online
course, sheep seemed good enough. But the reason they
fall short of the planned profit is due to the difficulty
in selling the fleeces. Daniel and Johanna assumed that
every lamb would, apart from the income from selling
the meat, generate another €70 net for the fleece. That
would have been the case if the fleeces were as easy to
sell as the pastured eggs. But, alas, they are not.
Another plan for the future is to plant tree lanes in the
pastures to provide shade, reduce wind speeds, and get
a second crop from the same acreage. Because of the An overhead view of the old garden beds and the root
constant expansion of both the number of egg mobiles cellar.
and heads in the ‘flerd’, the optimal width of the tree
lanes has changed over time. If the idea is to run the lay-
ers a few days after the herbivores, and the egg-mobiles
each need their paddock, then it is easiest to run the
egg-mobiles side by side. As it is a waste of fencing to
make the layer paddocks too narrow (that would yield
very little fresh pasture per move), three egg-mobiles
result in rather wide tree lanes. So this is a lesson in why
it is a good idea not to run too quickly into all of the
infrastructure investments because you do not know
from day 1 how big you want to be or how to run things
smoothly with minimal effort. As things stand, a rea-
sonable way forwards seams to be to start with really
wide lanes and then, perhaps, in the future introduce
more lanes. So 50m wide lanes could turn into 25m
wide lanes in the future. 75cm wide no-dig market garden beds.
Our main advice to someone starting up is to start
small and scale up with a growing customer base. Even
a small flock of a few dozen hens or a hand full of bee-
hives will give you a taste of what it means to handle that
kind of work and sell the product, what kind of setbacks
to look out for, etc. Also, producing things that you like
to eat is a good idea. First off, sales get a lot easier when
you know how to prepare food from your produce, and
secondly, you can eat much of the ‘waste’.

A sample of our produce in the summer of 2020.

178
 DANIEL HAGERBY
Alvas Naturbete, Sweden
____________________________

MAIN ENTERPRISES:

Pastured layers / Pasture-raised

cattle / Pasture-raised sheep /
Honey

MAIN SALES CHANNELS:

Subscriptions / REKO

____________________________

AREA IN PRODUCTION: 30HA

(out of 360HA)
STARTUP YEAR: 2018
STARTUP INVESTMENT: €4,700
REVENUE: €90,000
NET PROFIT: €40,000

(currently still reinvesting)

______

website / facebook

179
 Tycho Holcomb
Myrrhis Permaculture Agroforestry Project, Denmark

About our project soil and biodiversity. We also do some plant breeding
and selection, in conjunction with our nursery, on fruit
Myrrhis Permaculture Agroforestry Project is owned by and nuts and perennial vegetables for our local climate.
Tycho Holcomb and Karoline Nolsø Aaen. Our primary
production is of fruit (apples, pears, plums, quince, cor- Debt-free from the beginning
nelian cherries, mulberries), nuts (chestnuts, walnuts,
heartnut, hazelnuts) and berries (Aronia, wineberry, Since our land is rented with a 30-year lease, starting
tayberry, honeyberry, black currant, gooseberry, saska- in 2017, we were not pressured with starting with high
toon, silverberry) in an alley cropping system together production and revenue from the first year. This gave
with annual and perennial vegetables and an edible pe- us a couple of years to plant trees and shrubs, both fruit
rennial nursery with potted plants. Also, we run a small and nuts as well as nurse trees (alder) and windbreaks.
seed business of primarily edible perennials. Pastured We started the market garden in 4 stages (4 alleys), pre-
rabbits, geese and ducks graze the grass between some paring the ground one alley at a time with landscape
of the tree rows. We use the farm for education in the fabric for one year followed by establishing deep com-
form of courses, workshops, and farm tours. Secondary post mulch no-dig beds. The establishment is mostly
production (important for the whole but not bringing finished now after 4 years. We are also trialling different
revenue) includes laying hens and sheep. animals to find out which species fit us and the land and
how many to have of each.
Our vision It was important for us to keep investment low and
spread it over a few years so we wouldn’t need to borrow
The initial Agroforestry project vision is both a produc- money. The tree planting was very inexpensive for us as
tion, trial and demonstration site for different forms of we wanted to focus on breeding new varieties, and so
agroforestry, regenerative agriculture and farm-based we started with 90% seedling-produced trees. The trees
permaculture. We practice as well as educate about in- and shrubs have also mainly been from our nursery.
tegrated small farming while at the same time building The costs are a bit difficult to calculate as we don’t sepa-

180
rate the hours for our nursery plants from the nursery
production for sale. Due to our trees being primarily
seedling trees we count on having to top-work graft or
replace some of them through the years. We spent ap-
proximately €800 on nurse trees and windbreaks, and
about €540 on other production trees. The trees are cur-
rently planted primarily on one hectare but we will be
expanding in the fall of 2020.
Due to the small size of the market garden (approxi-
mately 1,000m2), we have avoided having any machin-
ery, and we work with normal garden hand tools that we
had already had. The main investment costs have been
landscape fabric, insect nets and row covers costing ap-
proximately €940, and then some extra hand tools like
a bed rake, extra wheelbarrows etc. for approximately
€270. Our house in the forest garden.
The investment in the animals is primarily in the in-
frastructure consisting of mobile housing and electric
fencing. We have 5-6 does (female rabbits) and each has
her own grazing house on wheels of 6m2. Also, we have
2 bucks (male breeding rabbits). Each grazing house
(‘Rabbitat’) costs approximately €135 to make with new
fencing materials and wood construction and used bike
wheels. That’s €800 in housing plus a bit more for get-
ting new breeding animals. Most of the rabbits, except
for the bucks, we can replace with our stock. The geese
and chickens also have mobile housing, a modified ver-
sion of the rabbit grazing houses. These houses are also
6m2 and on wheels, used mostly for night housing and
shade. They cost €135 to make as well. Then there is the
electro-netting fence we use for the geese and chickens
and sheep, which we have spent approximately €1,200
on. Myrrhis agroforestry project.
Additional later investments are grass and clover seed
to renovate our pastures at approximately €400, and re-
placement and expansion of windbreaks and additional
fruit alleys at approximately €400.

Revenue

Current revenue is primarily from the nursery and the

market garden, as well as a small amount from meat.
We expect some revenue from berries within the next
year, and fruit and nuts in the following years.

The nursery is our biggest revenue driver currently at

about €6,050 of which approx. 80% is net after water
costs and pots and potting soil are subtracted.

The second-most important revenue driver is the mar- Tycho and Karoline.

181
ket garden at about €5,375. About €4,030 is from a self-
harvest subscription, and €1,345 from sales to a local
restaurant and some other local sales. About 90% is net
after water and seeds.

We also sell seeds from mostly herbs and perennial

vegetables for approximately €2,685 revenue on online
sales in the winter. 95% of that is net after packing costs.

The rabbits generate approximately 60 animals for

slaughter per year which generates approximately €670.
The revenue is all net as we don’t have feed costs with
the rabbits. The breeding animals which overwinter live
entirely on waste vegetables like root crops and waste
apples and a bit of hay.
Sheep and geese rotationally grazing together.
Geese and ducks are variable, as some years we have
geese bought as day-old goslings, others not, and the
ducks hatch out between 10-60 ducklings a year. Geese
and ducks on average are €535 in revenue per year, net-
ting 50% or so.

In addition to the land-based production, education re-

lated to the farm (courses, farm tours) generates about
an equal amount.

Dynamic farming

For us, farming has been a dynamic process and we

are having a lot of fun. Working with plants and ani-
mals and living ecosystems is a dream come true. We
can support 2 people from farming and related activi-
ties, which we love. However, it isn’t without challenges. Chicken silvopasture hazel grove.
It has been a steep learning curve turning what was a
hobby for us for many years into a business. We are
learning what markets we want to work with and are
making decisions accordingly. We have had a hard time
with weather and are having to constantly adapt to the
challenges of drought (3 years in a row). We also have
a difficult site which is open and windy and with low
organic matter (1-2%).
Finding markets has been one of our challenges, not
necessarily in finding them, but in deciding what fits
into our quality of life-assessment. We live close enough
to a larger city (35km) to market there, but we don’t
enjoy driving around much. Instead, we have opted for
taking a lower price and selling locally with custom-
ers coming to the farm to harvest and a restaurant in
our village within bike distance. As we don’t expect or
need our product range to expand much, we can sell Rabbits in mobile grazing house.
182
 exclusively within 10km or so. Some of our vegetables
are sold as a prepaid subscription running from June to
December to which people subscribe before the grow-
ing season begins in early spring. Our customers come
as they please and harvest the crops themselves. Despite
only being able to take a relatively low price for the mar-
ket garden products, we enjoy this model as we have no
transport, packing or washing of produce. The custom-
ers get a connection to real food and get it fresh as they
pick it themselves. They also have the choice to harvest
when they want to. We are considering a separate but
similar model when our berry bushes and fruit trees be-
gin to bear in the future. We estimate we could probably
double our revenue from our market garden by market-
ing boxes and adding more restaurants, but we would
Plant nursery and demonstration beds. also have increased working hours that would be spent
washing, packing and delivering, which for us is less fun
than the growing.
Our nursery is also only on-farm sales as we don’t
send plants by mail to avoid unnecessary regulations
and packaging. Meat is also sold directly to the con-
sumer. According to current regulations we don’t need
an approved slaughterhouse as long as the customer is
participating in the slaughtering and processing of the
animal. With the limited amount of meat we produce,
we can find enough local people who want this kind of
arrangement. We have mostly found our customers by
word-of-mouth and social media.

Adjustments

While our vision has remained the same, we have had

Drone image of part of the alley-cropping area. some challenges that have required that we adapt. Due
to the combination of our sandy soil’s lack of ability to
hold moisture and several drought years in a row we
have had to add more organic matter in the form of
compost than we initially intended. We aim to close the
nutrient cycles on the farm and limiting imports by in-
tegrating animals. Due to our conditions, however, we
have come to accept that importing more material is
necessary to jump-start the regeneration of our soils.
In addition, we are making more investments on drip
irrigation for all our trees, including our windbreaks
which have not grown in 4 years. We have had trou-
ble having sufficient food for our grazing animals and
drought has forced us to keep the number of animals
low, as we can only graze each paddock twice per year
(once in the spring and once in the fall). The low num-
Alley-cropping annual vegetables between rows of fruit ber of animals on the other hand means that we have
trees and perennial vegetables. way too much grass when there aren’t drought condi-
183
tions. We hope that as organic matter increases we can
have green grass for more of the year but have had to
accept the reality that we don’t yet.
We have had to invest more on tree protection from
voles, which we have learned the hard way are a big
problem. All new trees are now planted with a mesh net
around the roots. Part of our vision was to limit estab-
lishment costs, and we have had to accept we need to
invest more. It would have been better to invest in drip
irrigation and tree protection from the start.

Near future

In the next few years, we want to get our pastures pro-

ducing better and our trees growing faster. Since we
have a source of free horse manure which gets delivered Self-harvest market garden beds.
on-site, we intend to use more of that resource to spread
on our gardens and tree rows than we already have. We
are even considering spreading a thin layer of horse ma-
nure on some of our pastures to jump-start them!
Starting fall 2020, we are planting more trees in our
pastures including an area of chestnut silvopasture sa-
vanna and more fruit tree and leaf fodder rows which
will be grazed between.
We want to establish more and better restaurant con-
nections. As of now, we are selling some ‘little-known’
vegetables like tomatillos and yacon to one restaurant,
and we would like to sell to others. Our fruit tree rows,
which divide the market garden into alleys, are planted
with perennial vegetables like hosta, daylilies, sweet cic-
ely, Turkish rocket, patience dock, rhubarb, perennial
kale, perennial onions and asparagus. We would like to
explore the market a bit more for these perennial veg- Intercropping in the market garden.
etables, particularly with restaurants but also with our
self-harvesting subscribers. For us, it makes a lot of
sense when having tree rows with fruit and berries that
the ‘understory’ is also productive with products we can
sell. Most perennial vegetables thrive in the semi-shade
that the fruit tree canopy creates. We are also increasing
the number of tree rows underplanted with perennial
vegetables, to trial which may be successful and market-
able products.
We are currently several years into a perennial kale
breeding project to create several new varieties which
have different shapes, colours and tastes compared to
what is currently available. We hope some of these new
varieties can be useful not only to home gardeners but
also to market gardeners who wish to incorporate more
perennial vegetables into their production. We have
some really promising individuals! Inspection of the perennial kale breeding project.

184
 We want to explore the different possibilities of using
cover crops in no-dig systems so that over time we can
reduce the amount of compost we import to the market
garden. We are experimenting with both late vegetable
crops planted out mid-late June that follow an overwin-
tered rye cover which gets either mowed or laid down
in place, as well as early vegetables are sown or planted
into a winter-killed cover crop, such as barley-radish-
buckwheat, leaving a nice early spring mulch. We like
the idea of growing our organic matter on the spot in
the form of cover crops instead of having to wheelbar-
row organic matter around, but it takes almost double
Tycho Holcomb
the space to commit to cover crops as either an early or
a late crop of vegetables is missed where the cover crop Myrrhis Permaculture Agroforestry
has to grow. Project, Denmark
____________________________
Recommendations

Overall, we are happy with our establishment. However, MAIN ENTERPRISES:

it would have been best to invest a bit more in estab-
lishing the trees from the beginning, and this is what Nursery / Market garden /
we now recommend to others. Fruit and nut trees are Education
an investment for the future and they will be there for
many years, so it makes the most sense to give them MAIN SALES CHANNELS:
really good protection from animals like voles, as well
as establishing an easy way to keep them watered for at CSA / Pick-your-own / Farm shop
least the first 5 years or so. We also highly recommend Restaurant
planting trees generally, as many other products can
be integrated with trees, be it vegetables, mushrooms, ____________________________
grazing animals, or even grain. Trees add structure, cre-
ate a better microclimate if well designed, and give a
yield into the future. We are hoping and counting on
the tree element to be giving yields later in our lives. It AREA IN PRODUCTION: 4HA
could be that we reduce the annual vegetable growing
STARTUP YEAR: 2017
with time as our farm landscape changes and succeeds
into something more perennial. It gives us options as STARTUP INVESTMENT: €5,620
our bodies get older and we perhaps don’t have the en-
REVENUE: €30,000
ergy for growing annual vegetables anymore. Investing
in the trees from the start of a project is smart so they NET PROFIT: 90%
can have the possibility to give yields later, while in the
short-term bringing revenue from vegetables and ani- ______
mals.
We have also learned that it’s best to expect the ex-
treme when it comes to weather, rather than expecting
the normal and adapting last minute when there are
extremes. In our experience, we have had to deal with Website / facebook
drought, and in hindsight, it would be good to expect it
by having the necessary irrigation, rather than having to
get it when the need arises.

185
 KATRINE BACH HANSEN
Øhave, Denmark

The vision behind Øhave room for new dreams to appear and so on. I think this
movement is important. And along the way, you realise
In the spring of 2018, my former partner Anders that you learn a hell of a lot and you get more and more
Højlund and I started Øhave together. In the fall of resilient and you become more capable of executing
2019, we parted as a couple, and after a few months of your ideas.
careful deliberation, I decided to take over the project I want to take part in a positive regenerative change in
on my own. agriculture, and I believe reaching far and wide socially
So my story and this presentation of Øhave will have is of critical importance. Therefore I talk to my custom-
that new beginning as its starting point. I acknowledge ers about soil health and nutrients. I give almost-weekly
and appreciate all the hard work, vision development farm tours and interviews to articles, and I do it with
and infrastructure that Anders and I built together, and enthusiasm and will-power even though I rarely have
will bring it all with me into the future of Øhave. the time for it. But I want to participate in the real world
My main goal in the spring was to keep Øhave run- and influence the current views of agriculture, and I can
ning. I knew it would be a tough year, being responsible use Øhave as a platform for this. And people listen be-
for and doing everything myself. During the season I cause I’m doing it.
realised that my bigger visions also could happen; one
where Øhave became a platform for more than vege- My initial focus
tables. A platform to learn from and a platform from
where I could have a voice and develop the things I Øhave consists of 1ha rented land on which I have 140
found important. I wanted to show that it is possible beds of 25m x 0.75m, a 560m² tunnel and a 150m² nurs-
to achieve your goals and that it is important to try out ery. In the beginning, my focus was on making it hap-
your dreams. Not only in agriculture, but in all aspects pen, on getting the business running around. I had to
of life. I think it makes us more resilient in life to move learn all the things I didn’t know, such as economics,
toward our dreams. As soon as you start living them, regulations, controls and a lot more. And at the same
they will change and take new forms and there will be time try to make as simple a season as possible. My main

186
focus was simply to succeed this first year on my own.
My bigger goals for the company were on hold initially.
I dived into the practical stuff and operating the day-to-
day work on the ground. I did this with awareness. Nor-
mally I think it is important that the leader can switch
between the day-to-day work and the bigger visions. If
the person in charge only moves around in the field, the
company will never move and develop. But at that time
I had so much to learn that I had to focus on all the
small details and kind of put the vision aside for a while.
So what were the main things I focused on to make
the year as sustainable as possible? I hired a very good
friend of mine for the summer. She was super capable
of the work and at the same time, it was reassuring for
me that she knew me well and knew the business. She
was a key component for some stability and security for Øhave from above.
me, both personally and professionally. Then I tried to
have a few volunteers, only one at the time. With the
thought of keeping the focus on as few things as pos-
sible, I reached out to customers who had simple or-
ders, who only bought salad mix, to make the harvest
easier and faster. I also decided to stop my market sale
on Saturdays to have more time at the weekends to get
on track with workloads and have fewer harvest days
and more field days.
Simplifying things went well, but of course, it was still a
super crazy year all in all.

Investments, costs and revenue

The majority of our startup phase was funded with a

€40,000 loan and some savings we had. This covered
both living costs, running cost and investments. Me cultivating the pathways.

Material we invested in from the beginning (2018):

€10,000 on our box van

€10,000+ on road, washing shed, tunnels
€1,000 on delivery boxes
€1,500 on a cold room
€500 on seed trays
€1,500 on tools

Running costs in 2020:

€6,000 on seeds, potting mix, compost

€3,000 on water, electricity, miscellaneous
€1,000 on rent of land
€1,500 on insurance
€4,640 on employee salaries Salad Mix is a crop that sells well at Øhave.

187
Of course, there have also been more investments since
2018; a paperpot transplanter, a new tunnel and a BCS
tractor. I plan to pay back my loan after five seasons. We
tried to start simple and develop our business before in-
vesting too heavily. I have not had any side income since
starting Øhave in 2018.
My company is a sole proprietorship. This means that
I’m personally liable for everything; also if I go bank-
rupt. And I pay taxes of all profits in the company.
My revenue this year is approximately €87,200. This
is excluding VAT, which is 25% in Denmark. I pay ap-
proximately 15% of 87.200 in taxes.

2020

I tried to plan as well as I could before high season. Even Sowing seeds manually in Paperpot trays.
so, during this season it did not take me long before I
couldn’t keep up with my production plan. The spring
was too busy on my own. I thought I could do much
more than what I could in reality. I worked super hard
and crossed my fingers that I had enough vegetables to
meet my targets, and surprisingly I did.
I do a weekly round in the garden where I plan all the
tasks for the upcoming week. Then the team and I have
a weekly meeting organising the tasks at hand and the
week ahead. We have a simple agenda facilitating the
meeting. I have a monthly meeting with my employees
where we are just listening to each other talk about ex-
pectations and how things are going overall. We nor-
mally make a weekly outline a quarter ahead, making
sure we have enough time to implement and plan every-
thing. This is also done at monthly meetings.
In the field, we work very efficiently. We have breaks at The golf cart has been a game changer.
the same time every day, and we follow a fixed structure
that I plan to avoid unnecessary planning and discus-
sions in the team during the day. I try to implement sys-
tems when solving problems, with awareness on imple-
menting solutions which can be managed and taught
by others than myself. When the structure is working, I
find it important to think about workflow and engage-
ment in the work. This is the difficult part. Of course,
this is partly about how experienced the team is, but I
find it essential that they enjoy coming to work, so I do
my very best to make sure that my employees feel seen
and recognised for their work.

Sales and marketing

When Anders and I started, we made cold calls to set

up meetings with potential customers and people of in- The golf cart transports everythingwithin the garden.
188
 terest. We were new to the area, so we had to learn the
ropes and get to know as many as possible. We always
tried to give our customers a high level of understand-
ing of our values and methods, so that the relationship
could be based on willingness and cooperation.
Now I have a good and permanent foundation with a
handful of customers who are ready to buy every week
and some customers who only buy sometimes. I do all
my deliveries myself and I’m aware that it is very im-
portant to have a good social connection with each of
my customers. The close relationship to them makes my
business more secure and resilient.
My main customers are education institutions/board-
ing schools, catering businesses, restaurants and special
events during the summer vacation. I am very much
Planting out tomatoes in the big greenhouse. aware that I still haven’t spread my season enough, so
finding good outlets for the peak of tomatoes and baby
leaves has made a huge difference for me.
Right now I’m also working on starting a small private
sale revenue stream in the form of vegetable boxes, but
for now, it’s a work in progress.

Current vision

Right now I have the crazy learning season behind me

and a new season to come where I will have more time
to plan and more time to step out of the day-to-day
work and look around and reflect. In a lot of ways I find
myself going in the right direction.
There is still a lot that needs attention. The last couple
of years my work-life balance has been a bit out of bal-
ance. I have worked most of my waking hours while at
I’m always surprised by fast growth is in the greenhouse. the same time feeling behind most of the time. This is
stressful and not a sustainable way to live. So I’m trying
to get my head around how to live out the goal of mak-
ing the business run regeneratively and be financially
stable and at the same time live a balanced life where
there is time for friends, loved ones and other activities.
I think this is a very important focus for me, for the
future of Øhave and for new farmers who are inspired
by Øhave. I have many small ideas for making a more
sustainable business. One of the tools that I see can help
me on the way is working with a holistic context.
In the last year, I have worked without a context written
down and this is something that I truly want to change.
I think it is important for both me and my employees
to have so that everybody knows the bigger picture and
the values of Øhave.

I love the imperfect beef tomatoes, and so does the chef.

189
Challenges

It has been a big challenge to run Øhave on my own.

There have been many late working days after the team
went home. When something broke or the organic con-
trol came by I was the only one with the responsibil-
ity and had no one to share both the good and the bad
things with on an equal responsibility level. It can be
hard and lonely to be the only one in charge.
A solution could be to find a new partner for the busi-
ness or to find a very dedicated employee who is willing
to take responsibility and stay longer than one season.
It has to be the right person. That is not easy to find
and I do not want to make an unnecessarily hasty deci-
sion. For now, I’m inviting people to work and during
the season I will delegate more tasks and give more re- Super cold harvest day; my fingers were freezing.
sponsibility to those interested. This could be a way to
make my employees feel more as a part of Øhave and
maybe a partner will appear. Of course, this is not an
easy process. There will be disappointments and diffi-
cult processes on the way. But I’m willing to open up the
business and take some risks.
Meanwhile, I’m in the process of starting a group
around Øhave. A group of people that have no inter-
est of their own to push Øhave in any direction, but
are only there to support Øhave and discuss problems
and ideas with me to help find solutions that can ben-
efit Øhave as a business. This will be a group of people
with different competencies, as an advisory board. I’m
very excited about this and I’m sure this will help me in
my work with Øhave. It’s essential to have more brains
involved in a project like this to make it more diverse
and vibrant. Snack carrots. Love them small and without carrot fly.
Most importantly of all, I need to twist my brain to find
ideas that will make this journey much more fun and to
structure a life where I control the business rather than
everything being so tight that the business controls me.

Looking ahead

I have many ideas and the concrete future could look in

many ways. But I want to bring my home, social life and
work closer together. I’m currently living 12 km away
from the farmland. It has pros and cons, but when we
started we prioritised starting our business rather than
finding the perfect context in the first attempt. Now I
have a working business and a well-known name in the
local community. When I find the right and more per-
manent place, I can pretty easily move the infrastruc- This was in September, still in the middle of a crazy
ture. season; we just wanted a new greenhouse.
190
 Up until last fall, I was dreaming of a future Øhave to-
gether with Anders, and of course, the dreams look very
different now. I haven’t had the time to explore my new
context. I’m starting working on a holistic context this
winter and in this process, I will get more in-depth with
my plans and ideas.

Startup advice

Start as small as possible while still doing it 100 %.

Try to be humble and curious about the work. Working

KATRINE BACH HANSEN
with soil and living things takes time and patience.
Øhave, Denmark
Always have a good relationship with your customers ____________________________
and always visibly express that you are in a good mood
and that you trust in yourself and your business.
MAIN ENTERPRISES:
Network. Be sure to have a good network with like-
minded farmers. Market garden

Make sure to recharge yourself during the week in any MAIN SALES CHANNELS:
way possible; be alone, read, go for a swim, listen to
podcasts or socialise with people who are not involved Wholesale
with the farm.
____________________________
Be sure to have people around you who will support
you, also in difficult times. In really difficult times, seek
help from people whom you trust in or find some sort
of life coach. AREA IN PRODUCTION: 0.33HA
STARTUP YEAR: 2018
Most importantly; it is your business, so run it in a way
that you find inspirational and rewarding to work in STARTUP INVESTMENT: €36,000
and with.
REVENUE: €90,000 (ex. VAT)
NET PROFIT: €33,600
(before Katrine’s wages)

______

website / instagram / facebook

191
 CLAUS ILSØE
Ilsøegaard, Denmark

Ilsøegaard how you start up a business, we were ready to give it

a go. We started up last season (2019). Before that, we
Ilsøegaard is based in southern Jutland in Denmark and had grown our own vegetables for many years. Our vi-
owned by Claus (me) and Janne Ilsøe. Starting up full sion and goals were to produce mainly vegetables but
time in 2019, we wanted to produce fresh organic veg- also eggs and meat from chickens, ducks, quails and pi-
etables for restaurants and the farmers market. geons. Mainly our focus was on restaurants in the area,
Ilsøegaard only has limited space available. The total but also on private sales at e.g. the farmers market. We
space available is 0.45ha and that includes the house and wanted to make a difference in the local community re-
the stable. In 2019 we grew vegetables on only 250m2. garding food. When we started up, we had a dream that
This year we have/are in process of adding/preparing food would not have to travel 100km or 1000km before
1500m2 extra; 1,000m2 for vegetables and 500m2 for ending up on your table. We still hold this thought very
berries like Raspberry, Gooseberry and Red Currant. dear, and although potential buyers (both restaurants
and private people) ask if we can deliver to or be at a
Vision farmers market 150km away, we refuse to do so. We be-
lieve that if we start to make compromises we will be-
During 2017 and 2018 I felt more and more dissatis- come unaligned with what we believe in and might end
fied with my job. Even though I had a job as Munici- up losing our drive and credibility. It is worth noting
pal Leader and a decent salary, an unease and a longing that we had no customers before starting up.
for ‘something better’ was increasing. I had become the
perfect citizen, but in reality, I was not happy about my Initial focus
job situation. I knew I wanted something different, so
I started a long process of finding out what this would Our initial focus was on learning a lot. We read numer-
be. After much thinking and seeking a lot of informa- ous books on different aspects of growing vegetables and
tion, both on how to grow vegetables but also about watched a ton of YouTube videos. One can only marvel

192
at how much information is available on the internet. It
was particularly important for us to get as much infor-
mation as possible, also on different aspects of growing
vegetables, including different ways to grow them. All of
this information was sometimes written down, or docu-
ments were saved. From watching all of the videos, vis-
iting different websites and reading books, we decided
to mainly go with the no-dig approach. I say mainly be-
cause instead of just putting compost on (which we had
very limited amounts available of), we dug the ground
and got rid of a lot of rocks and gravel. After around
3 containers, we first put down manure from chickens,
quails and ducks and then a small amount of compost
on top of that. We also focused on getting our very first
greenhouse ready for the growing season, so that we
could produce tomatoes, cucumbers and sweet pep- Establishment of no dig beds.
pers. This resulted in a 50m2 greenhouse, which ended
up being far too small. We – like many others, I guess
– have a way of putting too many plants into a limited
space, and this rarely gives the best result.

Investments and revenue

We probably invested around €15,000 the first year.

This was for the greenhouse, seeds, garden tools, or-
ganic soil, pigeons, quails, ducks, geese, chickens and a
lot more. The investment could have been way higher,
and if we had invested more we would have been able
to have all the greenhouses ready at once. On the oth-
er hand, though, building up as you earn money is a
huge motivation factor that one should not forget. It is
hard to give an exact number for the revenue this year
because of COVID. We have some investments to do, First productions in the new beds.
so we will probably not make a lot of money this year.
However, we have learned a lot this year which will ben-
efit us greatly next year.

Current situation

Here in the middle of November, we are still busy out-

side. We have a lot of new space to get ready for next sea-
son. This includes weeding and getting rid of rocks and
gravel. We are also making more space for compost. The
situation right now is hard. COVID is still going strong
and restaurants do not use a lot of money on expensive
local vegetables, meat etc.; they are busy just trying to
survive. In Denmark, restaurants have been completely
shut down for a long period, and even though they are
now open again, the number of guests allowed is lower.
No Christmas arrangements are allowed, so the restau- New homemade greenhouse.

193
rants are losing money and therefore so are we. From you have to be patient.
November to May our main income is microgreens and
our main customers are restaurants. We still sell micro- Challenges
greens at farmers markets, but the amount we sell is a
lot smaller than what we would normally sell to restau- Dealing with restaurants can be hard. One should never
rants. We use the extra time to prepare the existing beds be too optimistic. You realise extremely fast that you do
as well as new ones for next year; a lot of new beds. Now not deal with a restaurant, you deal with the head chef.
is also the time where we decide what to grow next year This means that if the head chef changes, you have to
and look at what has been good for us and what has start up all over with this restaurant. This means new
not. Did something sell very well or did something sell meetings, and you have to invest a lot of time in this.
unbelievably bad? This is, therefore, the time when we We have tried this several times. We probably thought
decide what we should grow more of, what we should that we would spend most of our time in the garden
grow less of, and whether we should grow something doing what we love the most, but a lot of our time is
new. This spring, we also sold tomato plants, cucumber spent in meetings or making sure that the restaurants
plants and sweet pepper plants. We will do this again actually pay on time and so on. Just a lot of noise. Also,
next year, so we try to grow some plants that might be it has been challenging that you never quite know what
interesting, both for us but also our customers. to grow in your beds. A restaurant can seem extremely
We still focus on meat production, but not in the same interested in beetroots one year and the next they might
way as we did before. However, we still keep pigeons have zero interest. So you probably have to think a lot
and we will focus on getting more pigeons in the future. about what you produce and who you think you will be
We will also have quails for egg production. able to sell it to. An example of this from last year was
when we produced a lot of lettuce only to find out that
Sales and marketing most of the restaurants we sell to do not use lettuce at
all, and that the ones that do can buy this at an excep-
When we first started, we had zero customers. We tionally low price.
would call restaurants, and often they would ask us to Another challenge can be to deal with people both in
drop off a few vegetables so that they could taste them. the farmers market, but also just people in general. Or-
Usually, this resulted in no deal. We did this several ganic vegetables can be unbelievably cheap in stores, but
times before realising that we had to be a lot more ag- you have to command a much higher price than that.
gressive in our way of dealing with them. Usually, if you Your vegetables are also completely fresh and local, but
just leave them vegetables, chances are they will prob- a lot of people will prefer to buy the cheaper vegetables
ably not even try them; they will simply forget about from the store. It gets better when you have built up a
them and about who you are. So we started asking for a customer base that values what you produce.
business meeting with the restaurants instead. We also Concerning meat production, we had a huge setback
quickly realised that our focus was on restaurants with in 2019 when the COVID hit the world and restaurants
an expensive menu. These are the restaurants that are shut down. We had just started delivering quails to a
most likely to pay a decent price for quality vegetables. restaurant at this point. During this period that particu-
We started up with farmers markets last year. We at- lar restaurant got rid of their head chef, and since the
tended a farmers market once a week and had decent new head chef did not want to focus on quails, we had
sales the first year, but they could have been better. We no customers for that kind of meat. We ended up selling
realised that people have habits. If they buy from one the livestock and at this point do not keep quails. This
seller, chances are they will likely buy from that seller gave us a valuable lesson. If you produce livestock, you
next time also. So we started to offer tastings, especially must consider what you produce. Quails are not in high
of our microgreens, which boosted our sales. This year demand by anyone else than restaurants. It probably
we have sold very well at the farmers market, but be- would have been easier to produce chickens that people
cause of COVID, it has been troublesome. For periods are more familiar with. The competition, however, will
the farmers market has been shut down completely. also be harder if you produce more normal livestock.
Farmers markets are great; you get to talk to a lot of peo- During this time, we realised that vegetables you can
ple and you slowly get ‘your own’ customers. Do keep always sell, but niche production of meat will be tricky.
in mind, however, that you are ‘the new guy in town’, so We do however plan to start up with quails again this
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 very year, and the focus will be more on egg production
rather than meat. If a restaurant wants us to produce
quails for meat, it will require that the owner also signs
up for it, rather than just the head chef. We believe we
can sell a fair amount of eggs at the farmers market and
also to restaurants.
The main challenges are probably what to grow and
dealing with restaurants that can/will change the head
chef. I guess we found out that if you want to sell on
the market day, you have to grow a lot of different veg-
etables and you also have to make sure you have veg-
etables almost all year. People will expect that you have
enough vegetables, so even if they show up 5 minutes
before closing time, they will still expect you to have
a certain vegetable. This is challenging because, on the
Golden beets. one hand, you want to bring enough vegetables, but on
the other hand you don’t want to have to throw a lot out
at the end of the day. And keeping vegetables that are
3 days old or more is not an option. People will most
likely be disappointed and probably not buy from you
again if they don’t receive fresh vegetables. Remember,
you can only get a high price from vegetables if they are
fresh and of good quality. Dealing with restaurants is
challenging and you must decide how far you are will-
ing to go. Things change and are never stationary. You
must be able to change focus very quickly.

Plans for the future

We will continue to sell both to restaurants and at farm-

ers markets. We will have 2-3 days at farmers markets.
We will produce way more compost and be self-suf-
Pink chard. ficient with this. We also plan to harvest more of our
seeds, especially from tomatoes and sweet peppers. The
short-term focus this year will be on getting the new
beds ready for vegetables. We will also start producing
some berries, and we have tried growing a few buckets
of mushrooms which sold very well, so we will prob-
ably do more of this as well. We will most like start to
sell quails (again) and pigeons and quail eggs to restau-
rants. We will build 2 more greenhouses; one will be
150m2 and one will be 50m2. That will give us a total of
3 greenhouses. The 150m2 greenhouse will be for toma-
toes and be heated. This will mean that we can start up
earlier than we do now. We will be able to produce more
vegetables in this greenhouse all year. The two 50m2
greenhouses will be for cucumbers and sweet peppers.
We look forward to having all our greenhouses ready.
We started selling at another farmers market this year,
Watermelon radish. so our focus will be to sell well at that place to. We are
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the only organic seller.
One of the things we look most forward to is having
everything ‘ready’. It takes a lot of time to make new
beds. We must make sure that these will be ready so that
we don’t have to start new ones all the time. We look
forward to having all our greenhouses ready. It takes a
lot of time, energy and money to invest in these things.
We will produce eggs from quails and pigeons for
meat. Pigeons are a very inexpensive bird to keep, and
although they only produce 1-2 chicks at a time, they
breed 6-8 times a year. They do not require a lot of space
and they make an exceptionally good fertiliser.

Startup advice

Know your area. Who do you want to sell to? Go to the Artichoke tubers.
market fair and be smart. Look around. What are peo-
ple selling? If there is already an organic seller of car-
rots, grow something else. Look at what the sellers are
selling and consider what you think is missing. If no one
is producing and selling strawberries, then you should.
If no one is producing lettuce or radishes, then go for
it. People have habits. If they have bought carrots from
the same seller for the last 2 years, 5 years or perhaps 15
years, chances are, that they will continue to do so. So be
smart and look at your surroundings.
Dealing with restaurants can be tricky. Decide what
your focus is. Do not ever show up at a restaurant with-
out a sample of what you want to sell. You can claim
that your beets are the best in the world, but you have
to let the restaurant decide. Take them by storm and
show them what you are made of. Do not ever sell a
vegetable that is not high quality – not even at a reduced Celeriac.
price. As soon as people have paid for it, they will forget
that it was at a reduced price, and chances are that they
will not buy from you again or perhaps even talk badly
about your product. You do not need this. If you want
to be associated with high quality, then sell high quality.
You can also choose to sell to bigger companies and sell
a lot at a time. Find out what your main drive is. Only
you have the answer but stick to this. Your reputation
can easily improve, but it can deteriorate even faster.
Decide if you want to make a living from farming or
just create a second income. If you want to make a living
from it, chances are that you will work many hours each
day and that the payment will not be great. Can you live
with this?
Also, it is way better to produce a lot of 3-5 kinds of
vegetables than to produce everything. This goes for
both the restaurants and for the farmer’s markets. If you Carrots.
196
want to sell to the restaurants, one of the questions we
receive a lot is if we can deliver a certain vegetable all
summer and autumn. If the restaurant is to put your
product on the menu card, they will want to make sure
you can deliver this every week. They wish to have no
yellow beetroot one week because you cannot deliver. If
you cannot deliver, chances are you will lose this cus-
tomer. The same thing goes for the farmers market; if
people think your carrots are the best in the world, but
you have no carrots left in September, then they will buy
from others. You do not want this. You want them to CLAUS ILSØE
buy from you. Chances are they will not take you seri-
ously and start buying from others instead. So focus on Ilsøegaard, Denmark
growing a lot of a few vegetables rather than growing a ____________________________
few of every vegetable you can think of. You can always
expand once you have a few years of experience.
Good advice concerning selling at the farmers market MAIN ENTERPRISES:
is to be active. Do not just sit on a chair and complain
about the lack of customers. We do not sit down at all. Market garden
Stand at your table and smile. Be someone that custom-
ers want to meet. Call them over and say hi. Talk to them
about how you grow your vegetables. Never claim that MAIN SALES CHANNELS:
your product is better than the others’; let the custom-
ers decide. Realise that a lot of your new customers have Wholesale to restaurants
bought vegetables from another seller for many years,
so be respectful to the other sellers. Farmer’s market
Remember to have fun. You should grow vegetables,
have bees that produce honey, grow mushrooms or ____________________________
whatever it is you dream of because you think this is the
best life for you in the whole world. Write things down,
AREA IN PRODUCTION: 0.175HA
so that you can go over your notes and learn from them.
This will give you a huge advantage the following year, STARTUP YEAR: 2019
and you will become better and better. Do not listen to
STARTUP INVESTMENT: €15,000
people who put your idea down. A lot of people will
not believe that you can make a business out of growing REVENUE: €30,000
vegetables in a small space. Spend less time with these
people. Chances are they will be someone close to you; NET PROFIT: €0
your parents, your sister or brother, your friends. Neg- (everything still being reinvested)
ativity is not good for anyone. Spend more time with ______
people who are positive and can give you valuable criti-
cism and not just tell you that your dream is impossible.
Listen to valuable criticism, but do not listen to the neg-
ative people. They are everywhere and it is extremely
draining for everyone. And remember – have fun.

instagram / facebook

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 Astrid Nielsen, Hannes Höhne and Alba Cardenas
Gut Haidehof, Germany

Gut Haidehof market garden, ruminants under holistic planned graz-

ing and pastured poultry.
Gut Haidehof is located on 20ha outside the city of The garden constitutes the heart of the farm and was
Hamburg in northern Germany. The main enterprises also the first enterprise to be established in early 2019.
are pastured poultry (dual-purpose), mother cows (du- 130 varieties are grown in 8 sections supplied with au-
al-purpose and Galloways) and a no-dig biointensive tomated irrigation. Each section consists of 20 beds of
market garden. The farm is also the Savory Institute’s 20m length and 75cm width, which sums up to a total
German Hub for Holistic Management. net-growing area of 2,400m². The sections are separated
In early 2019 the team at Gut Haidehof established a by perennial beds of 1.5m width where agroforestry el-
small, diversified, regenerative farm with the mission to ements are being developed. All plants are grown from
produce the highest quality foods for the neighbouring seed on the farm in a dedicated caterpillar tunnel. Most
communities and the city of Hamburg while regenerat- of the growing area is outdoor, while currently two cat-
ing the ecosystems. In the first year, the team consisted erpillar tunnels extend the season for early and late crop
of Alba from Spain, Astrid from Denmark, and Stephan production and allow for a season that runs from April
from Germany. With Bork and Hannes from Germany to early November. Cultivation has been a major chal-
joining this year (2020), the farm is now managed by lenge the first year, as there was not adequate time for
five people with a common vision to rethink how we bed preparation and smothering out perennial weeds by
produce our food, demonstrate what a small-scale re- occultation and mulching. Primarily compost is used as
generative local food supply could look like and con- a mulch. Certified organic compost was bought in 2019
nect producers and consumers on the farm to strength- and 2020, though there are ongoing trials and attempts
en the understanding and importance of our everyday to increase the compost production on-site to lower the
purchasing decisions. required amounts of bought-in compost. This is impor-
Currently, the farm operates within three major produc- tant both to be able to close the nutrient cycle on the
tion enterprises: A biointensive, no-dig, compost mulch farm and because there are regulatory restrictions on

198
the amounts of compost that you are allowed to import
and apply. Besides a traditional composting system, the
team is also doing trials with a scaled-up version of the
Johnson-Su bioreactors with passive ventilation and au-
tomated irrigation to allow for successional batch-com-
posting of organic waste and garden scraps. Over the
next four years, the garden is planned to expand to 16
sections, which will give a net growing area of 4,800m2.
It is expected that this size of the garden will require 4
full-time growers and two seasonal interns.
On the pastures of the farm, the team runs a small
mother cow herd operation, which is composed of old
heritage dual-purpose cattle (black-spotted German
lowland cattle), galloway cows and a few heritage sheep.
The team initially started with the dual-purpose cattle
with the plan to allow for the future establishment of a Drone view of market garden and chicken hoops.
micro-dairy enterprise. However, experience has shown
that the meat quality is not up to the expected standard.
With the dairy not yet being a relevant and prioritised
business, it was decided within the holistic decision-
making framework to move the herd towards more
desirable meat traits by the introduction of galloway
cattle. The cattle are managed in an adaptive multi-pad-
dock grazing scheme. In this holistic planned grazing
pattern, cows are moved frequently to new paddocks,
which comes with the challenge of facilitating watering
spots and fencing infrastructure for all grazing cells. In
November 2019 the farm was accredited as the German
Hub for Holistic Management under the Savory Insti-
tute. Thus, the cattle are not only part of the farming
business but also serve regenerative grazing teaching
and demonstration purposes.
The pastured poultry enterprise was started in Octo- The farm shop in action.
ber 2019 with the french dual-purpose breed Le Bres-
se known for its high-quality meat and decent laying
rate. In 2020 it was expended with a hybrid laying flock
to minimise risks until sufficient experience with the
dual-purpose breed has been gained. The whole pas-
tured poultry enterprise is structured under the con-
cept of ultra-mobility, though a final stable design that
accommodates regulatory requirements, as well as the
requirements of the team, is still on the drawing board.
It is envisaged to implement a lead-follow grazing ap-
proach within the coming season, where the chickens
follow the cowherd, making use of the sanitising effects
of poultry. It is the plan to grow this enterprise over the
coming years, aiming for approximately 1,800 layers
with an integrated breeding enterprise, raising the male
birds of the dual-purpose breed as broilers.
Hannes hosting a farm tour.

199
Sales estate, which in itself requires a lot of additional energy
and effort, adding to the general challenge of building
Without major investments in marketing, the customer up a working farm. There is no doubt that the first years
base has mainly grown thanks to convinced custom- of starting up a new farm requires a lot of communica-
ers spreading the word and sharing their experiences. tion with authorities and legal clarifications.
Weekly farm tours during the opening hours of the Legal restraints were a major challenge for the farm-
farm shop have done a great deal to raise understanding ing business, as many regenerative farming methods are
of the regenerative approaches applied at Gut Haidehof, not yet fully understood by authorities, nor adequately
and many of the gastronomy customers have joined af- reflected in rules and regulations. For example, it has
ter having attended these. The farm tours have attracted been a very lengthy and difficult process to get layers
visitors from places near and far, and have become an out on the pastures. It has always been the plan to have
integral part of the communication strategy. them follow the cows, but up until late 2020, the author-
All the products of the above-mentioned enterpris- ities neither granted permission for the intended design
es are directly marketed from the farm within one of of a fully mobile hen house nor to move the developed
three sales channels: box subscribers, farm shop and interim solution of chicken stables onto the pasture. In
gastronomy. Now being in the second season, the farm addition to the struggle with regulations, the team was
supports 70 veg-box subscribers, sells over 1,500 eggs a starting up on poorly managed sandy soils. The origi-
week, operates a weekly farm shop with an average of nal soil conditions at the start of the season 2019 were
100 transactions per Saturday, and delivers to over 10 extremely bad and it took some major efforts to turn
top restaurants and high-class canteens in and around the ‘arable’ land into a productive market garden. Also,
Hamburg. Building a close relation to the customers is extremely high weed pressure – especially couch-grass
an important aim, and the team makes great effort to – made the first season very tough. However, the second
communicate what it means to eat seasonally, regionally season is already showing significant improvements in
and regeneratively produced food. soil fertility, harvest quality and quantities!

Team Start-up costs and revenue

The farm team is a diverse, international group of peo- Market Garden

ple with different backgrounds united by shared values
and ethics in farming. They live and work together, and The start-up costs of the market garden were around
bring a multitude of complementary skills. The team €28,000, out of which approximately half was attributed
works with well-defined responsibilities based on their to the bigger investments of a deer-proof fence, cater-
core competencies and interests under a flat structure pillar tunnels, compost for mulch, an irrigation system
without hierarchy in a community-oriented approach. and a cool room.
Currently, the farm pays 4 full-time salaries and the
garden holds one intern position in return for learn- Chickens
ing opportunities, food and accommodation. As in all
start-ups, the initial workload is high, but the first fruits The mobile chicken stables are built on a very low bud-
of the efforts are already being harvested and signs of get to reduce risks until there is more clarification re-
regeneration becoming visible on the land, positively garding the regulatory struggles. The start-up costs of
influencing the production enterprises. this enterprise were around €15,000, whereof ⅓ are the
initial investments in stables, fencing, incubator, egg
Challenges packery, etc. and the remaining ⅔ have gone into pur-
chasing additional ready-to-lay birds, feed, egg trays etc.
While the first year was focused on growing a customer
base and setting up initial infrastructure, the second year Cows
gave room to work on the optimisation of processes and
building up the gastronomical customer base and rela- Until now, 10 heads of cattle have been purchased and
tions to top-class chefs in Hamburg. The farming busi- either bred or slaughtered for meat. A total of €13,900
ness is embedded within a broader context of the vast has been invested into establishing the herd and an ad-
200
 ditional €2,200 in fencing, drinkers etc. On top of this,
the team calculates with a cost of roughly €250 per ani-
mal for hay to get through the winter.

General farm development

Some basic infrastructure had to be put in place in the

early start-up. The most significant investments were an
electric UTV and pipelines supplying the animals with
water in the fields. Another cost that should not be un-
derestimated is inspection fees. There have already been
6 inspections of animals, garden and egg packery since
the beginning of the project, and it is certainly not for
free. The total costs for the general development add up
to around €28,000 in the first year.
Establishing the garden.
Salaries

By far the biggest cost for the project is the salaries, but
it is a central topic for the credibility of the business.
You cannot sustainably run a farm if people are not paid
for their huge effort and dedication. The income of the
first few years of a project will not be able to cover these
costs, so it is important to have a reserve to take from
until the business becomes profitable. The pressure that
this puts on the overall balance of the business is often
highly underestimated. The project paid 3.1 full-time
salaries in the first year; a total of €85,000. On top of
this, the team was provided with full accommodation.
With the expansion of the team in the second year, the
business has paid 4 full-time salaries plus the food and
accommodation expenses for a seasonal intern.
Alba in the garden.
Revenue

The majority of the revenue in 2019 came from vege-

table sales, which amounted to approximately €22,000
net. In addition to this, another €4,000 income came
from sales of beef and the first few eggs. This year, with a
doubling of the vegetable sales and the addition of eggs,
meat, and processed produce, the prediction of the in-
come lands just under €100,000, which is around 15%
more than expected.

The future of the farm

While the farm is currently still building the opera-

tional business, the next years will allow for the estab-
lishment of agroforestry systems on our pastures and
Astrid and Alba at the washing station. fruit-and-nut orchard. It is planned to facilitate diverse,
201
successional silvopastoral tree systems in the pastures
while the fruit and nut trees will be located around the
garden. The long-term plans also reserve the room for
including further developments on synergetic busi-
nesses like a café, a butchery, a bakery, a processing
kitchen etc. as well as facilities for workshops, seminars
and events. This creates unique opportunities for small
entrepreneurs who share similar ecological, social, and
economical values.

Words of advice

Choosing your people

When embarking on any farm project, the most impor-

tant aspect, and where things can go the most sour, is the
careful selection of which people to include, be it family Stephan feeding the hens.
or friends. It cannot be stressed enough how crucial it is
to be aligned in a shared vision and holistic context and
above all to feel good around each other. These people
will not just be your colleagues with whom you share
professional standards but will also be who you choose
to share most of your everyday life. You need to feel that
you are in an unconditional safe space with your team,
where you can express your thoughts without fearing
judgement and where there is space and understanding
for your personal needs.

Thorough research

Despite months of planning before start-up, almost ev-

ery conceivable - and unconceivable - the challenge has
come up during the past two years; unkind neighbours, Stephan and Astrid collecting eggs.
old tenants that occupy much-needed living space, in-
sufficient housing for the team, leaky sewage pits that
pull in groundwater, leaking roofs, an alley full of dying
trees that are a liability for cars, an access road full of
holes, well water that is not of drinking quality, illegal
and insufficient electrical installations…

Investors

When you do not have the funds to facilitate your start-

up, teaming up with investors is a valid consideration
and might present the only chance to acquire the neces-
sary funds. Especially when it comes to enterprises that
have higher entry barriers or require longer amortisa-
tion times, strong financial partners can be extremely
valuable. Also, when you consider your immediate and
future resource base, you might want to find people to Astrid with a heritage calf.
202
team up with to realise your visions. If you share owner-
ship of the farm there are some considerations: At Gut
Haidehof, financiers and operational team are bound by
a jointly developed context that allows for a common
vision for the place and is strongly interlinked with the
overall farm values. Make sure that potential investors
understand what you are doing and get them on board
with the long-term development plans. Keep sharehold-
ers in the loop of what you are doing, and share success-
es and failures. Find clear means to retain or gain eq-
uity and jointly elaborate security mechanisms that suit Astrid Nielsen, Hannes Höhne
your personal needs. A solid business plan is essential
to framing monetary potential. Plan conservatively! It and Alba Cardenas
is always better to exceed communicated goals. In gen-
eral, regenerative farming must not follow classical in- Gut Haidehof, Germany
vestment approaches where immense dividends are not ____________________________
reflecting the true value creation, and potential financial
partners must be aware of the risks and potentials. Re-
generative farming can be a profitable business case, but MAIN ENTERPRISES:
it is a long-term endeavour to build healthy agroecolog-
ical ecosystems that will improve over time. In addition Market garden / Pastured layers /
to direct monetary profits, also keep in mind, and make Dual-purpose heritage chicken /
it clear to the people involved, that there is a lot of addi- Pasture-raised cattle
tional benefits to be gained. There is money to be made,
but it will not come quickly and easily. In return you MAIN SALES CHANNELS:
will generate other forms of profit, such as increasing
ecological health and resilience, building community Subscriptions / Farm shop /
and working towards a more liveable future, following a Gastronomy
meaningful and fulfilling work that rewards you with an
amazing quality of food, nutrition and outdoor work. ____________________________

AREA IN PRODUCTION: 20HA

STARTUP YEAR: 2019

STARTUP INVESTMENT: €90,000

REVENUE: €30,000 (2019)

NET PROFIT: €-60,000 (2019)

(Still investing in business)

______

website / instagram / facebook

203
 HENDRIK HENK AND JUDITH OELTZE
Gärtnerhof Wanderup, Germany

Gärtnerhof Wanderup plants (especially trees), animals and habitats.

Our idea is to at any one time cultivate half of the
When we started our CSA, we rented a small shop in market garden and leave half of it covered with cover
the centre of Flensburg. It’s 30m2, with a cellar of the crops, hence letting the soil rest for one year at a time.
same size where we store our onions and pumpkins in 1.4ha shall be cultivated using two draft horses, leaving
the autumn. Most of our CSA members pick up their 7,000m2 for the vegetable production. Soil conserva-
share there. We found this room together with some of tion techniques will be and are already applied. Fruit
our members and it turns out to be a place for ‘tran- trees, herbs and shrubs are planted in between the rows
sition projects’ at the moment. It hosts a food coop as of vegetables. Grain, hay and straw are also produced on
well as a distribution point for food savers, and groups the farm for our use. Carbon emissions are significantly
working with environmental issues can come together reduced by cultivating the land with horses as well as
there. The shop has helped us a lot in terms of acquiring transporting the produce from the farm to the distribu-
new members and making our farm visible in the city tion point with a cargo bike.
of Flensburg.
Initial focus
Vision
We started in 2016 as a more or less classic market gar-
Our vision is a permaculture micro-farm with an eco- den inspired by Eliot Coleman and Jean-Martin For-
logically enhanced 2,500m2 market garden and an ad- tier, with 35 CSA members and an area of 5,000m2.
ditional 7,000m2 vegetable production cultivated with One year later we acquired another 7,000 m2 for win-
the use of draft horses. Our mission is to nourish 150 ter crops, likewise cultivated using a market gardening
CSA members with fresh, nutritious vegetables, fruits, system. Today our farm is an individual enterprise with
nuts and grain while simultaneously creating a healthy 140 CSA members. At the moment we run the farm to-
and resilient farm organism with a wide diversity in gether as a couple, with 2 permanent employees who

204
work 30 hours per week and two additional aids work-
ing 15 hours per week. We produce a high variety of
vegetables, with a very good harvest. One of our focal
points is the production of vegetables with low carbon
emissions. Therefore we deliver our vegetables to Flens-
burg twice a week with a cargo bike and trailer. We can
highly recommend the bike trailer Carla Cargo for a
market garden. On our farm, it is used for several jobs,
such as transporting crops and bringing out nettle swill
or other liquid substances.
The near-term future aims are to transform our mar-
ket garden into a permaculture micro-farm. We have
ecologically enhanced the market gardening with inter-
cropping, mulching, cover cropping, compost tea and
agroforestry. 28 fruit trees, herbs, perennial flowers and This is our market garden for summer crops. We have
shrubs were planted in between the rows of vegetables. another plot (approx. same size) 200m away from our
We plan to plant another 50 fruit trees as well as some farm centre, where all the winter crops grow.
nut trees on the sheep pasture. We already have five
dairy sheep and chickens for self-sufficiency, which are
holistically managed. We realise that this level of diver-
sity brings fun, joy and beauty as well as some addition-
al work. At the beginning of 2020, we made a substan-
tial investment in a compost turner and a small tractor
to pull this machine. For us, this was a logical step, as
compost is of high importance in market gardening. We
were not satisfied with the quality of the compost avail-
able for free, and high-quality compost was too expen-
sive. We get cow manure from an organic farmer 3km
away from our farm and mix it with loam, green waste,
vegetable residues from our farm, straw and shredded
branches. Collecting the organic material is quite la-
bour-intensive; however, this way we can ensure that no Our house, which we bought two years ago, is situated
toxic materials will be transferred onto our farm. right next to the market garden.
In Germany, there is a law that regulates the amount of
nitrogen you are allowed to spread on your land. The
cooperation with the nearby organic farmer who sup-
plies us with manure is a win-win situation, as he has
an overproduction and is otherwise forced to give the
excess away. The temperature and the CO2 level has to
be measured once the compost is piled. When making
quality compost, the CO2 level and the temperature
have to be measured constantly. When the CO2 level
rises above 14% and the temperature exceed 60°C, the
compost pile has to be turned. The compost turner
was invented specifically for the so-called ‘Controlled
Aerobic Composting’, as it can turn and simultaneously
water the pile. The watering is essential for the micro-
bic organisms. We are very content with the quality of The market garden with two 250m2 polytunnels and
compost we are producing; however, it does take a lot of a smaller one of 195m2, plus one 77m2 tunnel for our
nursery.
205
work to manage the piles and collect material. us a lot. We also tried to improve our workflows on the
The amount of compost and the problem regarding the farm. We gained some time by dividing our fields into
collection of material was also part of the reason why winter and summer fields because the summer crops
we decided not to go no-till. You cannot apply increased are closer to our home and farming base. We are very
quantities of quality compost on the beds because it’s so satisfied with having mulched most of our crops with
high in nutrients. The compost that is communally pro- silage this year. We covered all the beds which are not
duced and available for free is mainly made of hedges occupied with vegetables with cover crops. Last year we
that are close to roads, parking places and convention- often had problems with carrot flies on carrots, celery
ally managed fields. It is certain that this compost is and parsnips. This year all crops look wonderful and it
not only highly contaminated with plastic (as we were looks as if we are very well prepared for the winter.
experiencing) but also with chemicals from conven- We have the impression that where work was a strug-
tional farming and pollutants from traffic. We did not gle in the first years, it is gradually becoming easier to
want to transfer that toxic material onto our farm. The manage. We have achieved a lot of things that make the
contamination with plastic was so severe that we were production go more smoothly. Everyday farming life is
afraid that our farm would look like a dump after only not so chaotic and constantly challenging anymore, and
a few years. Having no alternatives, we applied this low- it feels like things are beginning to flow more naturally.
quality compost in the first year and are still finding and Nevertheless, we still have a lot of projects on our way
removing plastic in our beds from this period. towards a living micro-farm.
Since we are focused on establishing a micro-farm, we
are very happy and excited to see things grow and de- Sales and customers
velop. Farming, for us, feels like an adventure and an
amazing interaction with nature. The cargo bike Radkutsche, with which we transport
around 300kg of vegetables twice a week from the farm
Startup investment: €60,000 for infrastructure (tools, to Flensburg for distribution among our members, has
polytunnels, irrigation, etc.) our logo printed prominently on its canvas. It is a great
eye-catcher and a good way to get new customers. There
Other large investments: compost turner and compact are also several magazine articles and newspaper ar-
tractor, €50,000 for both ticles about our approach to gardening, one being the
cover story of a major food magazine in North Ger-
Our yearly revenue is €150,000, almost all of which is many. Also, a portrait of us aired on television, which
reinvested into the farm, especially in the creation of helped to acquire new customers as well. In our third
necessary infrastructure and improved processes, which year, we printed a 14-page illustrated brochure describ-
makes money for living expenses quite limited. We ex- ing our philosophy and explaining the CSA model and
pect to get an appropriate salary for the farm managers our farming techniques. We had the impression that
and employees in 2021. this also helped to acquire new members, with rather
low investment costs.
How things are going
Changes
We have a positive feeling about the progress we have
made so far. We are also very satisfied with the quality As already mentioned, we find it more fun to develop
of produce we are achieving. Since the beginning of this a resilient and sustainable farm organism than to focus
year, reasonable working hours (8 am-5 pm) for employ- solely on vegetable production. We also want to apply
ees were established with the help of CSA members and more and more permaculture principles on our farm,
two interns. In prior years we were working at least 10 especially when it comes to infrastructures, such as rain-
hours a day. In September 2018 our little daughter was water saving, solar panels and compost toilets. We think
born. This new curious being changed so many things that a tiny market garden is great; however, we can have
for us, which means the farm is not our only objective a bigger positive impact on the environment by manag-
anymore. Because of the COVID pandemic, we had ing a larger area. That is why we want to work with draft
several volunteers at the farm, as people had more time horses, as our aspiration is a high grade of self-sufficien-
to spare and wanted to work outdoors. This has helped cy with low to zero carbon emissions. Draft horses are
206
 our approach to cultivating grain and making hay. At
the moment we do not have a solution for carbon-free
compost production, as the amount we need makes the
compost turner and small tractor necessary.

Challenges

One of the major challenges we face is a weed problem

on our winter crop field. In the future, starting in 2022,
we want to cultivate the area with draft horses to reduce
manual labour. Managing 1.2ha in the market garden
system without any machinery is very labour-intensive.
We only achieved reasonable working hours this year
because there are a high number of CSA members help-
Our daughter Rosi in front of the fruit tree-, shrub-, and ing regularly because of the COVID pandemic. None-
perennial flower rows we planted between the vegetable theless, we cannot rely permanently on the voluntary
plots. help of our members, which makes a change in concept
necessary. People sometimes think we are crazy because
of our plans for the future. Ever since the beginning,
we have had big aspirations for our farm. We want to
achieve our plan in a very short time, which is why we
always have a lot to do, but that is also how we realise a
lot of things within a short period. It is very empower-
ing to see things develop in a brief time.

The future

Within the next 3 years, we want to reduce the market

garden area to one-third of the current size. Our veg-
etable production area is divided into two fields; one for
summer vegetables and one for winter vegetables. The
area for summer vegetables will remain to be cultivated
We use our bike trailers for many purposes. in the market garden system, however only for greens
and fruit, giving the other half of the area a rest with
cover crops each year. All other vegetables will be culti-
vated on the winter field (1.4 ha) with the help of draft
horses. For this area, we also plan an agroforestry and
intensive cover- and intercropping system. This means
we will need to double the size of the field, as half of the
area will be covered with cover crops. Our main focus
here is the soil protection and composition, wherefore
we will only work with shallow tillage and extensive
cultivation. 5 years from now we hope to be a big step
closer to our zero-emission farm producing vegetables,
herbs, fruits and grains for a community of around 150
CSA members.

Advice
We use our two trailers to transport our vegetables to
the washing station and chiller. In the beginning, we were working 80 hours a week
207
because we were simultaneously building up our infra-
structure (a well, an irrigation system, a washing sta-
tion, a cooling station, sheds etc.). Therefore, we highly
recommend building up the infrastructure before you
start producing vegetables if monetary means allow it.

We started with a low price for the vegetable share (€75)

and also offered half-shares. As we did not have the
number of members we were hoping to have, people
with a half-share were getting as much as we calcu-
lated for a full share, to not let anything go to waste.
That meant our members were getting a large number
of vegetables each week for a, for us, unsustainably low
amount of money. That is why we recommend starting
with the number of members you are calculating with.
If you do not have enough members, do your best to Our compact tractor with the compost turner was a
get more! In the second year, after we had the number game-changer for producing high quality compost..
of members we calculated with, we had to change the
price for the share to €85, which was still not enough to
cover living expenses reasonably. So the quantity and
quality of the products were not reflected in the price.
Because of the increase in prices, we lost 30 members
at the beginning of the season. That was a big setback
and we had to balance by paying ourselves a very low
salary. This probably sounds quite deterring, but after
4 years the situation has drastically improved. We have
a constant number of members (despite COVID) and
our members’ appreciation of our products is very high.
Everyone who now cancels the membership does it be-
cause of more substantial reasons, such as moving to
another city, and regrets not being able to get our veg-
etables anymore.
Hendrik working with a draft horse.
The first 3 years we were working with a typical mar-
ket garden system, wherefore the focus was simply on
production. We invested a lot of time in the beauty and
design of the farm. Since we planted trees, shrubs and
perennial flowers it has become much more fun to work
in the garden. The beauty of a place tells you something
about the coherence of it. It indicates if your work is in
harmony with nature and the cosmos. We also miss ani-
mals in the concept of market gardening. In the concept
of biodynamic agriculture, it says that animals inspire
and enliven a place. We think that is very true. A farm
without animals is not a farm, which is why we decided
to have sheep and chickens, and hopefully in the future
horses as well.

Our distribution point in Flensburg. We share this

room/shop with other projects.
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 HENDRIK HENK AND JUDITH OELTZE
Gärtnerhof Wanderup, Germany
____________________________

MAIN ENTERPRISES:

Market garden

MAIN SALES CHANNELS:

CSA

____________________________

AREA IN PRODUCTION: 3.5HA

STARTUP YEAR: 2016

STARTUP INVESTMENT: Ca. €60,000

(excl. farm)

REVENUE: €170,000

NET PROFIT: €20,000

______

website / instagram / facebook

209
 JASPER DE WIT
Helle Bauer, Germany

Helle Bauer the property and focus on restoring the buildings as a

retirement project and we could use the land as well as
The Helle Bauer farm, run by Jasper de Wit and Anna help with restoration work.
Lammert, is situated on a 2.4ha plot of land in the valley We immediately set out by designing a fitting plan for
along the Weser river in Höxter, Germany. The project the property. It was too big for just a market garden,
commenced in October 2017 after Jasper returned from and besides, part of the deal of buying the house was to
an Internship program at Ridgedale. The farm is based lease seven hectares of organic asparagus which would
around three main enterprises; a no-dig market garden, have otherwise been ploughed under. The final plan was
pastured layers and agroforestry. The first two years we a no-dig market garden starting on 2,500m2 with an-
also leased 7ha of white asparagus. other 2,500m2 to expand into in the following season,
After spending the summer of 2017 at Ridgedale, Jas- a pastured layer enterprise coupled with agroforestry
per planned and gathered ideas for his initial vision, a systems in the orchard, and a two-year lease of the as-
market garden. However, we did not yet have any land, paragus farm, including machinery. The latter included
so when he returned from Sweden that was priority a farm shop on the main street a few hundred meters
number one. Together with Anna’s father Karl-Heinz, from the property, which was equipped with a walk-in
the first step was to search for a suitable place to realise cooler and already had an established customer base.
our vision. Soon we came across the perfect property. A During the asparagus season, we would also have 20-25
beautiful old timber-framed farmhouse with outbuild- employees helping with the harvest, post-harvest and
ings dating back to the mid-1800s, coupled with an or- sales.
chard and a small piece of land suitable for a market Our initial focus was on getting financing from the
garden. That it was located in the village where we lived bank with the help of a detailed business plan, and
made it extremely convenient. The land was perfectly then to set up the infrastructure needed for the coming
suited to what we had planned. The house and outbuild- season (2018). The first thing we set up was the layers.
ings, however, were in desperate need of renovation. We Whilst at Ridgedale, Jasper had spent a lot of time work-
came up with a plan of action; Karl-Heinz would buy ing with the hens and thoroughly enjoyed it. The new

210
farm seemed perfect for a flock of laying hens, as the
pasture had only been mowed for the past few years and
needed some animals. The egg-mobile was designed by
a good friend, Albert Beisel, whom Jasper met during
his Ridgedale internship, and we finished constructing
it in just over 2 weeks. The design is a hybrid between
Richard’s model and the Australian Chicken Caravan
with the roll-away nest boxes. It has a maximum capac-
ity for 350 hens and cost just under €3,000 to construct.
Other set-up costs included nets and a solar energiser
for €500 and a second-hand feed silo costing €150. In
2019 we had to make a few changes to comply with Ger-
man regulations, costing an extra €250. To move the
egg-mobile, we have the use of a small tractor bought
by Karl-Heinz for farm renovations. The egg-mobile is The old timber-framed farmhouse next to the newly
moved every 2-3 days depending on the animal impact renovated farm shop and event room.
and rate of growth. As the hens weren’t eating much
grass as a large herbivore would, we used them as a
proxy for trampling. They were scratching the pasture
into a thick mulch mixed with high nitrogen chicken
manure.
Next up was the market garden. For the first season,
the set-up was fifty 20m beds and a polytunnel with
heated propagation tables and seven 23m beds (870m2
total beds pace). Our initial plan was to offer 40-50 CSA
memberships and sell the rest through the farm shop
which would be open twice a week to the general public.
The setup cost of the market garden was around €12,000
broken down into €6,000 for the polytunnel, heated
propagation tables and laying electricity from the farm
to the garden; around €1,500 for irrigation, including
sprinklers for outdoor crops, drip line in the polytun- Top view of the market garden in autumn 2020; each
nel, a pump and water lines from an existing well on block of 10 beds is divided by a row of fruit trees.
the farm which had to be bored under a road; around
€2,000 allocated to purchasing tools, which included a
4-row seeder, a greens harvester, hoes, knives, seeding
flats, harvest containers, scales etc.; around €1,000 for
crop protection, fleeces, insect nets and pegs to hold
them in place; around €1,500 for seed, potting mix and
compost. Jasper created a detailed crop plan that in-
cluded 32 different types of vegetables of many different
varieties. In the second season, we grew the CSA to 70
members and added 30 more beds to the garden.
Overall, the first two seasons we met our targets and
managed to set up our farm as well as run the asparagus
enterprise that we leased. However, taking on all these
different tasks, nearly all of them new to us, was men-
tally and physically exhausting. In winter 2019, after the
second season, we decided to no longer lease the aspar- The hens enjoy the cover of the already established and
agus enterprise which didn’t fit our context and values. newly planted trees and shrubs.

211
We chose to focus fully on the market garden, the hens ing our land base. Over time the social aspects of food
and the organisation and structure of the farm. production became increasingly important. Through
The winter break gave us a chance to plan. We worked organising events, giving presentations on Regenerative
out daily and weekly routines and set up structures that Agriculture in the local towns and setting up coopera-
would help volunteers coming to the farm. We also re- tions with kindergartens and schools, we try to create a
flected on our own needs and boundaries, which seemed space for education and exchange of ideas.
to be a key aspect of living and working together with Based on the feedback we received from our customers,
people as well as dealing with customer relations. we shifted our initial focus from the main season in the
After restructuring in the winter, the third season went a high production months to extending the season and
lot smoother than the previous two years. We increased offering our products for as long as possible. To provide
the CSA to 90 members and built a new polytunnel and customers with food not only in the summer months
two caterpillar tunnels, growing the garden to a total of and to show that this model of farming works all year
1,500 m2 bed space. The layer flock grew to 250 birds. round, but we also built a second polytunnel and two
We met all our financial targets whilst keeping a healthy caterpillar tunnels.
balance between work and free time. Having the time to Our major challenge in the first two years was taking
meet our friends and family, having a daily yoga routine on too many different tasks that were all new to us. We
and getting time away from the farm hiking in the forest started without having time to set up routines, yet we
gave us a chance to recharge regularly. had to juggle the asparagus, the market garden and the
We sell our vegetables in weekly CSA boxes and our hens all at the same time. The asparagus season had us
farm shop. For the boxes, we offer two sizes: a big box on our feet 12 to 16 hours a day, seven days a week. We
which costs €27 per week and a small box at €17. The had to manage 25 employees, run the shop, organise the
customers have the option of including eggs in their asparagus harvest and at the same time prepare beds,
CSA. They sign a contract before the season, pay in plant out the market garden and look after the hens.
advance for 26 weeks, and pick up their boxes either Especially in the beginning, we also had to deal with
from the farm or from pick-up points in the two near- the bureaucratic side of setting up a company and hav-
est towns. Our farm shop is open twice a week. We of- ing employees. The asparagus season went on for three
fer a broad range of vegetables, pastured eggs as well as months and when it came to an end in late June, the
honey and other products we buy-in. We also have an main workload in the market garden was just getting
honesty stand for eggs in the village. started. In the first two years, everyday life was chal-
By taking over the asparagus business we also took on lenging. After the second year, we decided to give up the
an established customer base. This gave us a platform asparagus lease and took time to organise and structure
for selling our vegetables and eggs in the first season. time and workload.
We acquired new customers by advertising the shop Another challenge that we faced was creating a frame
opening in the local newspaper, in flyers and on social for living and working together with people. We have
media. Our most successful strategy has been to host been lucky to receive a lot of help, both from volunteers
open days and invite the local community to farm tours, and employees who have lived on the farm with us. As
talks and presentations and to serve farm-fresh, home- much as we appreciated everyone that came and put
cooked food. These events helped us make a name for their energy in this project, living in close quarters and
ourselves and share our story, which then spread in the also sharing our free time made it hard for us to find a
local area through word-of-mouth. balance.
Once we had managed to establish a customer base of Again, these major challenges were addressed only af-
our own that didn’t depend on the sales of asparagus, it ter the second season. We worked out our boundaries
was important for us to keep a close relationship with as well as our own needs, both personal and as a family.
our customers. By selling only directly to customers Out of this reflection, we developed policies for work
and taking the time to exchange ideas as well as creat- and in the house. These policies, clear communication
ing channels for feedback, we can offer the customers and weekly check-ins with everyone were set in place
the products and service they require. to make everybody feel welcome and comfortable and
When we first started, our main focus was on the eco- meet our own needs during the hectic seasons.
logical side of farming. We wanted to build up an ex- The third challenge that we faced was dealing with
ample of how food can be produced whilst regenerat- strict regulations. Many of the practices we use on the
212
 farm clash with the regulations put in place for industri-
al farming. One example is our egg mobile; German law
states that hens must have an enclosed scratching space
to which they have 24-hour access. This law makes it
very difficult to have a highly mobile and easy to build
egg-mobile. Through constant communication with
regulators and creative thinking, we managed to retrofit
the design to comply with the German laws. However,
this is a challenge that affects not only us but many oth-
er people and changes in the regulations are necessary
to support this way of farming.
The first three years have been very intense with the
farm developing and changing every week. For us, the
next 3 to 5 years are about settling into rhythm and rou-
tine after the initial hectic start.
Jasper de Wit and Albert Beisel standing in front of the The first big change for us will be moving into the new-
egg-mobile they built in the winter of 2017. ly built farm shop. This season we sold our products di-
rectly in the garden as a temporary solution while Karl-
Heinz and his team renovated one of the old barns. In
this beautiful old sandstone building, there is space for
the shop as well as an egg packery, cool room, toilets
and a big event room on the first floor.
This infrastructure also allows us to host different
events, such as education, farm-to-table dinners or
events for the local community. On the second floor of
the farm building, there is lots of space, in which we
would like to put in a yoga studio to offer yoga courses
in the winter.
We would also like to focus on developing different
techniques to extend our season and offer our produce
year-round. The new farm shop allows us to create a
nice sales environment even in winter and continue to
Diversity is key to a healthy market garden. attract customers to our farm after the CSA season.
Another addition to the farm soon will be a few jersey
cows. The cows will be homestead scale and not for pro-
duction but to diversify the farm, increase biodiversity
and offer valuable learning experiences.
Starting a farm or garden is not easy; farming is hard
graft and you have to work smart and effectively to
make a living from it. However, there are so many re-
sources available to help you do just that. Some advice
that we would give anyone looking to start a farm is to
start small and not take on too much in the beginning.
Give yourself a chance to grow. Make sure you plan well
before the season starts, keep records and take time in
the winter months to reflect on how the season went. It
is important to assess if what you are doing aligns with
your core principles and to see what changes need to
be done to run the farm successfully while keeping a
Jasper is happy with the kohlrabi harvest. healthy work-life balance. For us, it was a huge help to
213
set up routines and make a weekly schedule with daily
tasks to break the workload into smaller, manageable
chunks.
It is very helpful to have a great network of people
around you in which everyone is willing to help one an-
other. Friends, family, people from the local communi-
ty, close customers and other farmers are usually willing
to help out and give advice on various aspects of farm-
ing and food distribution. Everyone has their expertise
and most people are happy to support your project. Do
not be shy to ask for help.
For us starting a farm has undoubtedly been the best
decision of our lives. We enjoy working hard, overcom-
ing challenges, being creative and spending lots of time
outdoors. Now we get to do that pretty much every day
and all that while regenerating the land and ecosystems
that we manage. Furthermore, we get to impact our local Anna Lammert harvesting spinach.
community positively, teaching people how to be more
connected to the land and their food. We have had so
many amazing experiences along the way; happy cus-
tomers, packed out open days, and lots of visitors from
all over the world, some of which got inspired to start
their projects. Influential to the success of Helle Bauer
has been all the support we have received from family,
friends and customers without whom it all would not
have been possible.
With good planning, dedication and the right attitude,
Regenerative Agriculture is an awesome and very ful-
filling way to spend your time on this earth!

Shopping baskets from happy customers who really

enjoy buying their produce directly from the garden.

The makeshift farm shop in our washing station whilst

we renovated the old barn.
214
 JASPER DE WIT
Helle Bauer, Germany
____________________________

MAIN ENTERPRISES:

Market garden / Pastured layers /

Agroforestry

MAIN SALES CHANNELS:

CSA / Farm shop / Honesty stand

____________________________

AREA IN PRODUCTION: 2.4HA

STARTUP YEAR: 2018

STARTUP INVESTMENT: Ca. €15,900

(excl. farm)

REVENUE: €90,000

NET PROFIT: €62,000

______

website / instagram / facebook

215
 Sebastian Girmann
Biotop Oberland, Germany

Vision

Biotop Oberland is a vegetable CSA organised as a co- the price for a vegetable-share to a reasonable amount
operative. It features 1.7ha outdoors and 1,500m2 in that the average household in our region would be will-
greenhouses. ing to pay. The alternative would have been to ask for re-
Our goal was and is to build up an independently or- ally high prices for the veg-shares to cover all the busi-
ganised supply chain in our region. The first step was ness costs including fair wages from the beginning. We
to establish community-supported agriculture (CSA) decided against that option, as in our opinion it would
that produces fair organic vegetables. Fair in our under- keep the number of potential cooperative-members to a
standing includes all parts of the supply chain. In our limited and small group and leave out people with low
case, that’s our employees, our cooperative-members, or average incomes.
society as a whole and of course the soil and ground that By deciding on the low-entry-barrier solution, it was
we grow on. As a consequence, our main goals when we clear to all the founding team members that we would
set out where: being able to pay fair wages to our team- have to put the fair wages-plan on hold for the first 1-3
members while retaining reasonable “prices” for our years until we reached the optimum number of house-
cooperative members, reducing food waste and plastic holds. As all financial investments in our cooperative
packaging to an absolute minimum and using regenera- are financed by the cooperative members, it seemed
tive agricultural techniques to build up soil and an eco- like a fair deal that in the beginning - instead of invest-
logically rich environment. ing financially – we, the founding team, put in our free
workforce as our investment. For us, this turned out to
Initial focus be a lucky and rewarding decision, as we acquired new
members fast and by doing so we’re able to pay above-
The first milestone was to attain enough cooperative- average wages and cover all other business costs after
members to be able to run an economic enterprise. To around 3 years.
be able to reach that goal quickly, we decided to limit

216
Startup investments and revenue

The build-up of our farm was divided into two phases:

Phase one was a test phase of around one year, with no
real financial investment. During that time, we were
able to rent 0.5ha from an existing befriended farm. We
could also use their machinery and tools on an hourly
rate. This was a great opportunity for us to try out and
improve our concept without taking on bigger financial
risks. Having gained that experience, confidence and
our first members, we set out to start the second phase:
the foundation of our farm with everything that goes
with it, like greenhouses, a washing station, machin-
ery and tools. We were able to find around 2ha of land
which we could rent for at least 13 years for a reason- Panorama of the farm.
able price, with the prospect of an extension after the
13 years. It was pasture, so there was no infrastructure
at all and we had to build up everything from scratch.
After doing the math we ended up with two numbers: a
minimum amount of money (around €60,000) that we
needed to get things running on a low-budget level and
an optimum amount (around €160,000) which would
enable us to build up an ideally equipped farm. With
those numbers, we went into our annual general assem-
bly and presented the plans to our cooperative mem-
bers. The community decided to accept those plans and
also to finance everything with cooperative shares to
keep the cooperative independent from bank loans. It
took around 6 months for the money to come in from
the members and it was even a bit more than our op-
timum scenario required. It was a huge success and a
strong confirmation that - for us - the legal form of a Aerial view of the production.
cooperative was and still is the ideal solution.
Our total revenue with 450 households is approximately
€270,000/year. With this amount, we can cover all of our
business costs. Our main costs are personnel expenses
that add up to around €150,000/year and include the
wages for our gardeners and our board members. Other
cost blocks are our operating resources, like seedlings,
fertilisers, compost and also vegetables that we get from
other farms during the winter months totalling around
€60,000/year and all others costs, like rent for the wash-
ing hall, electricity, water, depreciation totalling another
€60,000/year.

Current situation

We reached our initial goal of 450 households (around

1,000+ people) 4.5 years after starting up. This exceeded
our expectations as we are in a pretty rural area with no Young plants.
217
bigger city in the vicinity. The two main towns to which In the beginning, the fact that we often went home at
we deliver the majority of our vegetable shares have 3 pm in the height of the season seemed strange and
around 9,000 and 17,000 residents, so we expected our somehow ‘wrong, especially when you see some of your
growth to be slower. With 450 households we feel that neighbouring farms going the ‘burnout-farmers’ way.
we have reached the ideal size for our vegetable growing But the long-term results encourage us and show us that
operation regarding economics, efficiency, community for us this is the way to go.
feeling, team size and land use. Of course, we could grow
bigger in terms of households, which would enable us to Sales and marketing
be even more efficient in the vegetable growing, but at
the same time, we could lose the ‘family-feeling’ that we The vast majority of our ‘sales’ goes to our cooperative
get by working in a small team and knowing many of members in the form of vegetable shares. We market
our members personally. a small number of leftovers to local organic stores and
Our vegetable growing is going very well and we are gastronomy. The decision to do that was made at one
totally happy with the yields that we can achieve in our of our annual meetings and agreed to by our members.
pretty cold and rainy climate 670m above sea level. The They also decided on the following principles for the
last few seasons we have harvested around 50 to 60 tons external marketing: Members always get served first,
of vegetables a year on 1.85ha of land (including the which means that vegetables are only offered to stores
greenhouses). We could intensify this a lot more, but and gastronomy after all members have received their
we also see the benefit of not overdoing it and having full weekly share; quality standards are the same for
longer time-slots for cover crop-growing. We are still member-veggies and external sales, meaning no B-
learning what the optimal level of intensification looks quality for members and A-quality for sales; and prof-
like for us. its made by external sales go back into the cooperative
In terms of fair wages, we are already pretty happy and can be used for wages, investments or distributed
with the status quo which allows us to pay above-av- among the cooperative members as part of a dividend.
erage wages for a farmer/gardener. But as we believe We always make sure that external sales stay easy and
that a farmer’s work is essential and as important (if not uncomplicated with small logistics and efficient pro-
more) than many other jobs, we aim for a wage level cesses. An example of that is that we only offer pick-up
that matches the average income in our living area. If directly from the farm or at an existing delivery point
everything goes well, we should be able to reach that that we already use for our cooperative members. This
goal in about 2-3 years. way we have no extra rides for external customers. An-
Something that works very well for us is the fact that other example is that we send out a weekly offer on
every team member can have at least two weeks of holi- Monday and customers must report back by Tuesday
day plus a couple of days off during the main season. evening, which enables us to do all the harvesting for
We also make sure that our workdays do not exceed 8 the cooperative members and external customers in
hours, which seldom happens. We rarely work on week- one go. Orders that come in late are not served any-
ends and official holidays are usually rest time, except more. This is not the most customer-friendly way, but
when weather conditions do not permit it. In our opin- as we are not dependent on those sales and our focus is
ion, this works so well because we have always made on the member-shares, it’s the most efficient way for us.
sure that all the tasks on the farm are equally distributed We never had trouble getting members. Before we even
between team members, and also that every team mem- started our test-phase, we had one public event where
ber can be replaced by another team member at least we informed about our plans. People seemed interested
for a few weeks. We strongly believe that a sustainable in our concept as there where already almost 100 people
farm should not only focus on producing natural food at the event. Since then we have had about one pub-
and caring for the soil, but also on the people who work lic information event plus 2-4 farm tours and one big
on it. For us, a sustainable work environment means an farm-fest every year to attract new members. We always
environment that enables employees to get enough rest try to accompany this with an article in the local news-
and conserve energy for many years to come. We also paper 1-2 weeks before the event. This works pretty well
observe that on short workdays and often not a full- as they are usually interested in having some alternative
time workweek we get things done much quicker and content and is read by a lot of people.
more efficiently than if we ‘worked’ 50 hours a week. Other than that we make sure that our website contains
218
 all the relevant info and is up to date, and we put quite
a lot of effort into our social media channels. Especially
Instagram is becoming more and more relevant to us,
as it is a relatively easy way to get attention and connect
with likeminded people and projects.
We also send out a newsletter around four times a year,
which can also be subscribed to by non-members, and
last but not least we deposit flyers on strategic spots, like
organic shops and supermarkets or local gastronomy.
Our most important tool, though, is word-of-mouth
in the form of our members talking to family, friends,
colleagues and neighbours. We encourage this regularly
with a friendly reminder to spread the word.

Learnings
Transplanting.
Our vision hasn’t changed much, as we have been con-
firmed in what we set as priorities from the beginning.
There were a few points that were important to all the
founding members: everybody, also team members
with a leading role should be able to have max. 8 hours
workdays, enough rest and holidays also during the
main season, and we wanted to pay fair wages (meaning
above every farmworker) to every employee.
To be able to attain this, we have had to make sure that
all our daily tasks can be executed with maximum ef-
ficiency. In our opinion this only works if everybody in
the operation agrees on the same high standards, thus
creating an atmosphere where a hint to do something
better is not seen as negative criticism but as a sugges-
tion on how to improve. We are very lucky to have a
team where this seems to work out perfectly. The or-
In the field. ganisation of our daily operations and use of tools is
inspired by Ben Hartman’s lean farm concept that we
adapted in a way that better fits our context.
The fact that we can (now) pay our employees well, en-
sures that we can hire highly qualified workers and keep
them long-term, which is something that seems more
and more important in team-based organisations like
ours. In our experience you need skilled and respon-
sible team-members to be able to run a non-hierarchic
structure where decision-making daily is not depen-
dant of a leader.

Challenges

We haven’t had to overcome one major challenge, it has

been more like much smaller or bigger steps that have
needed special attention at a given time. A huge advan-
Greenhouse planting. tage for us was that our founding team consisted of only
219
one gardener. All the others came from completely dif-
ferent backgrounds and brought in their qualifications,
which all turned out to be useful in some way. Some
examples are accounting and bookkeeping skills, crafts-
manship, event management and planning, communi-
cation skills and IT-knowledge.
Finding land was probably what seemed like the biggest
challenge at first, but we were lucky to find the perfect
location in about 3 months. What helped a lot was the
fact that we never looked for land to buy – which is un-
affordable for a low-budget start-up in our area anyways
– but we’re clear that a long-term rental was an option
for us. We now have a 13-year contract with our land-
lord and are confident that we can stay there for much
longer.

Plans for the future Inside one of the greenhouses.

We do not see our operation growing bigger and bigger

in terms of the number of households, even though the
demand is remarkably high. Because we believe that we
have found the perfect size for our farm, we are instead
considering creating offspring or subsidiaries. For ex-
ample, we as the Biotop Oberland e.G., or somebody
else that we could share our experience with, could
found farms after our example with the same concept
in towns nearby.
There are also other ideas for the future that range from
a cooperatively run local shop to a farm school and ev-
erything that goes in the direction of a community-sup-
ported economy. There are so many options and poten-
tial new business areas that we see the biggest potential
in letting our cooperative decide what projects will be Community tomato sauce making.
next, as this is a group of likeminded people willing to
support our next steps actively and financially.

Words of advice

Plan well and plan realistically. It is worth taking the

time to do so, as it is so much cheaper and less frustrat-
ing to figure out what might not work beforehand.

In our experience, for an operation like ours, it is crucial

to forming a good team from the beginning, ideally one
that brings in people with different skills, as mentioned
above.

Define your goals before you start planning anything

else. Goals can be anything, from a certain number of
households to an income that you want to achieve or a The Biotop team.
220
particular ecological or social impact that you want to
have. It doesn’t matter what the goal is, but it is impor-
tant to know what you are working towards. Of course,
goals can change over time, but having clear short-term
goals (1-3 years) makes planning the details so much
easier.

Be clear and honest about the fact that you are going to
start a full business with everything that comes with it.
The actual gardening or farming work is only one part
of it. Others parts are financials, employee management, SEBASTIAN GIRMANN
craftsmanship, legal questions, taxes, and many more.
So you should be willing to deal with these things, as it Biotop Oberland, Germany
is not possible to avoid them in a highly regulated envi- ____________________________
ronment like the EU.

That does not mean that you must be a professional in MAIN ENTERPRISES:
all of those fields. Instead, our take on this was and is
the classical ‘make or buy’-approach: Take your time to Market garden
consider what your main skills and therefore tasks in
your business are, and outsource the rest. We have often MAIN SALES CHANNELS:
seen that especially farmers tend to do everything them-
selves. While this might be a good skill in some cases, CSA / Wholesale
especially when quick or cheap solutions are required, it
can also lead to a lack of focus. In other words: put your ____________________________
energy in what you are good at and make money with it
to be able to pay (external) people for the work that you
are not good at or would need a long time to acquire the AREA IN PRODUCTION: 1.85HA
skills for.
STARTUP YEAR: 2015

STARTUP INVESTMENT: Ca. €160,000

REVENUE: €300,000

NET PROFIT: All surplus reinvested

into the cooperative

______

website / instagram / facebook

221
 ANNA AND PAVEL MESKA
Kveteto, Czech Republic

Vision What we focused on initially

Kveteto is run by Anna and Pavel Meska. It is 2.7ha, From the beginning, we focused on growing many dif-
whereof 1ha is production beds and tunnels, 0.4ha is an ferent types of annual cut flowers. We gradually added
orchard and 1.3ha is garden and meadow. We mainly more and more flower beds each year. We were very in-
produce cut flowers and are expanding into vegetables spired by Jean-Martin Fortier’s book The Market Gar-
and fruit (all organic). dener, and we tried to apply his approach to cut flow-
We had wanted to move to the countryside for a long ers. Our plot was mainly pasture before we changed
time, for many reasons. The city life was not for us. it into production beds. Initially, we tried raised beds,
While working in New Zealand for a year we came which turned out not to be the best option for cut flow-
across conventional horticulture and organic farming. er growing in our climate. Our climate is temperate
After experiencing conventional farming (working oceanic, with warm summers, and we found that the
with herbicides, pesticides), we knew our path would beds were drying out too much during the summer.
be organic farming. Now we have a different approach to annual flower
Within one year of our return, we found our organic beds; we use a power harrow and landscape fabrics
farm. Finding our spot for farming (close to Prague) with holes. Our stony soil has been an issue, as stones
wasn’t easy. We were lucky and found a farmstead with are quite difficult for the small BCS tractor to operate,
fields around the property and water on the site that was and extracting stones has become our periodic work
only a one-hour drive from Prague, fulfilling our ex- almost every time we have used mechanisation. From
pectations for an ideal place. We chose cut flower pro- the beginning, we have been applying manure (horse,
duction because of the gap in the market in the Czech sheep, cow; all locally sourced within 1km) to the beds
Republic. It’s similar to other European countries, as and we can see the difference now. We planned to sell
local cut flower production is almost non-existent. We our flowers seasonally through a weekly market and
are gradually adding other enterprises such as fruit arranging wedding flowers (bouquets, decorations.
orchards and market garden-style vegetable growing.

222
Startup investments

Our biggest investment was the farmstead with the

fields. It cost approximately €120,000. The farm also
has a nice-sized dwelling for our family. For half of the
price we needed to get a mortgage, the rest we could
cover with our savings and support from our families.
We invested €13,000 in a BCS uniaxial small tractor
and some tools for it. We built three tunnels, which
are all second-hand. The total investment into tunnels
was around €3,000. We then invested around €3,000 in
irrigation, fencing, landscape fabric, black tarps, hand
tools, aluminium/steel supports, trays, heating cables
etc.
For the first two years, we used our family car for de-
livering the cut flowers, but then we invested €4,700 in Flower beds in spring time.
a small second-hand van. From the beginning, we did
not need to invest in a cooler, as we have a quite cold
cellar which was sufficient for our early years. This
year we bought two new walk-in coolers as the cellar
was not sufficient anymore.

Revenue

Our income can be divided into four main segments.

We do flower setups for weddings, supply florist, at-
tend a farmers market and sell flower bouquets in a
local café. Our season starts in April and ends in Octo-
ber (occasionally we do some weddings in November
or March). Our approximate revenue during the sea-
sonal months is around €4,000 per month from which
almost 50% is net profit. This is also applicable for this
year, where the spring was quieter but then August Wholesale flower delivery.
and September were very busy. This year we made a
tiny portion of our revenue by selling vegetables at the
farmers market. At the moment almost all of our profit
is reinvested back into the business (new tools, repairs
of farmstead buildings, expanding the beds etc.). We
are trying to get to a level where we have sorted out all
the main infrastructure projects.

Current situation

At the moment our main production area is divided

into 4 standardised blocks of 12 beds each. Next year
we are adding another 6 blocks. Our approach is to also
grow green manure on 1/3 of our block at any time.
Our beds are 1m wide and 15m long. This year we have
1 block of perennial cut flowers, 2 blocks of annual cut
flowers and one block of vegetable production with Farmers market stand.

223
 some experimental beds. Beds with flowers have two
irrigation options (from above and drip under the
landscape fabric). Annual cut flowers are grown in
landscape fabric with steel/aluminium supports and
horizontal netting if needed. For perennial cut flow-
ers, we use wood chip mulch, which we source from
the nearest sawmill. Additionally, we have several
smaller blocks of beds which are not standardised, in
which we also grow perennials. During the years we
have set up 3 tunnels out of which one is used only
for seedlings and two for season extension.
We also have around 70 fruit trees in the orchard,
which we are gradually expanding. In the future, we
would like to sell some fruits. This autumn we plant-
ed 50 new fruit trees. Mainly we grow old varieties of
apples, pears, cherries and plums, sourced from a lo- Our family in the new orchard.
cal tree nursery. We also have one apricot and peach
tree, but this is only a trial as our climate and eleva-
tion (480m above sea level) is probably too harsh for
these trees.
We are happy with the setup for the cut flowers, but
for next season we are considering changing our veg-
etable block by adding more compost, using more
chip mulch and changing the bed size. We are not
sure if we will find a good compost source nearby.

Sales and marketing

As mentioned before, our income is divided into four

segments. Weddings are an important part of our rev-
enue. In the beginning, we did weddings for a couple
of our friends with the help of our more experienced
friend. Over the years Anna gradually learned to Bed prep with BCS.
work with flowers for wedding setups. We mainly use
social media for our marketing. This year during the
summer and autumn we reached our maximum ca-
pacity when it comes to preparing wedding flowers
and had to reject some orders.
We have a couple of florists to whom we deliver
cut flowers material regularly, and we would like to
expand this part of the sales next year. We are also
planning to deliver twice a week instead of only once.
On the farmers market, we are still building our cus-
tomer base, as we changed to a new farmers market
earlier this year. We see a demand for local organic
vegetables, which is why we want to diversify our
business.

Vegetable trial beds.

224
 Learnings

From the start, we were heavily influenced by Jean-

Martin Fortier’s book. Over the years we have found
out that operating BCS tractor can be quite challeng-
ing and that some equipment is quite heavy to use
(especially the power harrow). This piece of equip-
ment creates a great outcome but is hard to operate
in uneven terrain, which is why we are now look-
ing at more ways to use a classic small tractor with
similar equipment (power harrow). We have also
rejected raised beds, as they are not good in our cli-
mate (they tend to dry too quickly in our hot sum-
mer). We are also using bigger spaces between our
beds, as cut flowers (according to our experience)
Flower harvest. need that. We would still like to keep our enterprise
a family business, but in the future, we are planning
to get more people involved with the farm (at the
moment we have one part-time employee during
the season). We still follow the plan from the begin-
ning, slowly expanding and adding new ventures.
Weddings are great for income, but actually, it’s not
easy. There is long and demanding communication
with the couple before the wedding. We use only
our flowers for all of our orders, so we need to have
a big variety of flowers all the time.
It was an advantage for us that I (Pavel) had an off-
farm office job, meaning we were not stressed by
income and had time to think about the best sales
channels. The disadvantage to that, though, was
having no free time with nearly two full-time jobs.

Bouquets for the farmers market. Challenges

Our fields are quite weedy with horseradish. When

you view it as a weed, horseradish is almost impos-
sible to get rid of, as its roots go quite deep. Black
tarps do not help, even when they are applied for
the whole hot season. But we have found out that
wild horseradish sells very well at the farmers mar-
ket. We do battle this weed where it is necessary, but
where it is not we instead see it as a new product for
the farmers market.
As all our fields are quite stony, we are still removing
quite big amounts of stones every season. We think
this will never end (although low tillage helps).
Sometimes it’s quite tricky to combine caring for
children and running a farm, and proper planning
is necessary to be efficient at work. But at the same
Wedding bouquets and decorations. time raising children on a farm makes sense to us.
225
 One of our other challenges is windy weather and
our tunnels. We always struggle with keeping them
in a good shape.
We want to mention our experience with develop-
ment subsidies. It involves heaps of paperwork and
you’re never sure if you’re going to get it. Mistakes
aren’t acceptable, not even minor once.
In terms of long-term challenges, we foresee that a
water crisis could be a problem in our region. For-
tunately, this year was quite wet, but the previous
years were dry and the drought in the lower layer of
the earth is constant. We have built a new reservoir
for water into which we will drain water from all the
roofs of our farmstead.

Wild flower bouquet. Looking ahead

Our vision for the coming years is to diversify our

business. We want to expand our organic vegetable
growing. We would like to explore more ways of de-
livering our products directly to our customers. We
would also like to better explain to our customers
why it is important to produce flowers and vegeta-
bles in an ecological/ regenerative way. From a pri-
vate perspective, we would like to establish the busi-
ness to a point where we can afford to go on holiday
for two weeks during the summer.

Startup advice

Start the business and learn along the way. We

believe there has never been a better time to be a
Bridal bouquet. full-time farmer. There is a steady decline of farm-
ers across all of Europe, but increasing demand for
high-quality local agricultural products. It is better
to start on your property as infrastructure like tun-
nels are expensive to move and some things cannot
be moved at all (fruit trees, wells).

Harvested vegetables.

226
 ANNA AND PAVEL MESKA
Kveteto, Czech Republic
____________________________

MAIN ENTERPRISES:

Cut flowers / Vegetables

MAIN SALES CHANNELS:

Direct sales / Farmers markets /

Wholesale
____________________________

AREA IN PRODUCTION: 1.4HA

(out of 2.7HA)
STARTUP YEAR: 2016
STARTUP INVESTMENT: €19,000
(excl. farm)
REVENUE: €28,000
NET PROFIT: €14,000

______

website / instagram / facebook

227
 TOMASZ JAKIEL
Lubuskie Angusowo, Poland

Here is the story of our farm called Lubuskie Angusowo. my future farm. As it was difficult to buy a ready-to-use
I am a city boy, who decided to become a farmer. I was existing farm, we decided to buy land in the middle of
born in a city family with no connection to agriculture nowhere and build the farm from scratch.
and farming. At the age of 25, I graduated from Techni- We designed everything ourselves in the family - my
cal University with a master’s degree in telecommuni- daughters and wife played a huge part in it. We decided
cation, got a nice job and started working in the tele- to have 3 main pillars on our farm as the revenue-gen-
com industry. After 20 years, with a bag of experience, erating enterprises: a cow/calf operation with pedigree
knowledge and money, I decided to start to search for Red Angus breed, goats for milk and cheese and poul-
other options for my future life. try with layers and broilers. We keep broilers in Joel
Here began the story of my way to becoming a regen- Salatin-style chicken tractors that we have improved to
erative farmer. I had noticed that the world around me be women-proof, as very often they are managed and
had changed and that it was, and is, much more diffi- operated by my daughters and wife. We have layers in 2
cult to buy good quality, healthy food than it used to egg mobiles, designed and built based on Richards Per-
be. Farmers in my country spend their time in a race kins’ book but adapted to Polish conditions. We have a
focused on the quantity of a product which very often goat barn for keeping and milking the goats.
we cannot call food. While looking for options to invest To make our dreams come true we have had to invest
my money, more and more I started to look at the farm- approximately €250,000, which includes buying 14ha of
ing industry and I developed a vision of producing the land, building infrastructure, and buying animals and
healthiest food in our local area. Unfortunately, no one I equipment. So far we do not have a tractor, but we use
knew in my country, Poland, had a similar a vision, and a Yamaha quad bike and a Nissan Nava to transport
therefore no one could help me explore it further. Luck- goods around the farm. We have built a polycarbonate
ily there was a lot of material available in English, and tunnel to produce tomatoes for our family and we also
this is how I started to study the visions of Alan Savory, have a small garden that supplies the family table with
Gabe Brown, Joel Salatin and Richard Perkins. In early the best and healthiest veg available. Also for our family
2014 I made the decision and started to look for land for supply, we decided to keep a small herd of Mangalica,

228
a heritage breed of pasture-raised pigs. Our profit after We have had to build double fences for our pigs and in-
5 years is around €50,000, but at the moment we are vest in mats to protect them. The government now also
not concentrating on improving profits, but mainly on require that we fill in and keep a lot of documentation.
building a respected brand, educating customers and All of these things make farming harder.
developing our farm. The farm is located about 20km
from our current house, and we are now building a sec-
ond house very close to the farm to avoid travels back
and forth between the current house and the farm,
which will limit the cost of running the farm. To be able
to build the house I still work in the Telecom industry,
hence our farm work and profit is mainly limited by the
‘force’ of my wife and daughters. I can truly say that this
farm is women’s proof and fully operated and managed
by my girls, something we don’t see often in Europe.
At some stage in our project, I decided to create a You-
Tube channel to present who we are and what we want
to do. I had noticed that in our country such knowledge
is very limited and I wanted to be a pioneer in present-
ing this way of thinking. This is also a great opportu-
nity to build the brand and be recognised in such a hard The Lubuskie Angusowo headquarters.
market. We sell all poultry products to the local market
- family, friends and local customers. Our farm is lo-
cated very close to two big cities, hence we do not have
any problem with selling our products. Our calves from
the cow/calf operation we sell countrywide. We have
bought a dedicated trailer for delivering the calf to the
client, which is very convenient for the buyer as it saves
them money on transportation.
Our goal is to improve the soil, and we use different
techniques to this end. During the season we use rota-
tional managed grazing with our herd of cattle to allow
the grass to grow in a controlled manner while supply-
ing the highest quality pasture to our herds. We also use
rotational moves for our layers in the egg mobiles and
our broilers in chicken tractors. During winter we use a Hens in polycarbonate tunnel.
bale grazing system to improve our pasture. This helps
to evenly distribute carbon and manure from our herd
and we have noticed a rapid improvement of the pasture
after just one season. Our main goal is to use animals in
rotation to improve soil and to create a carbon sponge
to keep water in our soil. This has increased pasture
production, which we can see year to year as I collect
all data in a grazing chart. Looking at that data, we have
doubled production in just 3 years.
The major challenge for us is weather and regulations.
We had a drought two years in a row, which of course
caused lower production and a lot of effort to maintain
the animals in good condition. Laws change very often,
especially in regards to demands around bird flu and
African Swine Fever, which is present in Poland now. Hens and egg-mobile.

229
African Swine Fever, which is present in Poland now.
We have had to build double fences for our pigs and in-
vest in mats to protect them. The government now also
require that we fill in and keep a lot of documentation.
All of these things make farming harder.

Young Mangalica. Angus cattle on pasture.

Mangalica sow and piglets. Angus calf.

Mangalica. Bale-grazing.
230
 TOMASZ JAKIEL
Lubuskie Angusowo, Poland
____________________________
Kitchen calf!

MAIN ENTERPRISES:

Pastured cattle / Pastured poultry

/ Goats

MAIN SALES CHANNELS:

Direct sales

____________________________

AREA IN PRODUCTION: 18HA

STARTUP YEAR: 2015
Our goats.
STARTUP INVESTMENT: €250,000
(incl. farm)
REVENUE: €50,000
NET PROFIT: €37,000

______

youtube / instagram / facebook

Bruno the Border Collie and our goats.

231
 DAVID PEJIC
Zrno Organic Farm, Croatia

The original vision of Zrno Organics the first and only certified organic restaurant in Croatia.
We then focused on strengthening our processing unit
The core idea of the vision of our family business was with a range of naturally fermented products, as well
the notion that a healthy individual is a precondition for as a plethora of ‘half-products’ intended solely for our
a healthy society. Throughout the years, we have devel- internal use, within the different production facilities.
oped a web of activities and enterprises to bring this no- In 2017 we began work on redesigning the systems of
tion to fruition or, at the very least, provide the means our crop production that culminated in 2019 with the
for individuals to improve the quality of their lives. finalisation of our biointensive garden and its 200 no-
Starting with activism and education programs, our dig beds.
business has developed into book publishing, wholesale
and retail of organic foods and products, as we recog- Our startup investments
nised the necessity of providing the content of the theo-
retical knowledge we taught. This development peaked Our context here is a little different, as the beginning of
with the acquisition of Croatia’s oldest organic farm in our farming enterprise came through the acquisition of
2010, as it allowed us to complete our vertical integra- the Zrno Organic Farm and its operations at the time.
tion and control the entire supply chain from start to What is noteworthy is that the entire business ecosys-
end, guaranteeing the highest quality. tem developed over 30 years, generally pulling itself by
its bootstraps throughout that time.
Our initial focus
Our revenue
In developing the farm, our initial focus was on setting
up the bakery production and the range of its products In 2019, our combined net sales throughout all enter-
including sourdough bread, pastry and ready-to-eat prises were €1,000,000 which was also the first time we
products such as sandwiches and salads. In 2013, we hit that milestone. A strong tourist season facilitated the
opened our restaurant in Zagreb, Croatia’s capital, as growth of the restaurant’s revenue, while new products

232
such as organic gluten-free sourdough bread opened up
new channels for the baked goods segment. Likewise,
our crop production continued to gain momentum and
relative strength thanks to the investment in the setup
of the biointensive garden. As of 2020, Bio-zrno d.o.o
employs 38 people across its farm and restaurant enter-
prises.

Our current situation

It’s always hard to determine the present situation, but I

would say we are doing ok given the circumstances and
the ambitious nature of the project. We have managed
to build a brand, create a customer base, network with
other relevant actors in our context, innovate through
new projects, educate based on old ones and, finally, es- Farm stand.
tablish ourselves as a leading organic producer in Croa-
tia. One continuous metric that I measure our success
against is the depth and complexity of our vertical inte-
gration. It represents an almost infinite pool of oppor-
tunity for various types of synergies that we often lack
resources and time to fully capitalise upon. It makes me
particularly happy to see us make progress in this area
continuously, no matter how much there is still left to
do.

Our sales

We sell our products exclusively through our restau-

rant and our parent company’s chain of 16 organic
food stores – bio&bio. The fact that we are integrated
in this manner allows us to have a very clear perception
of what the market and the customers demand. It also Preserved products.
allows for more leniency in testing new products or ac-
commodating overproduction if and when it happens.
Our strategy is to develop products that have no direct
competition in terms of perceived quality and composi-
tion. This fact, combined with the exclusivity of their
distribution, gives our products a special status on the
market that is appreciated by our customer base. We try
to build relationships of trust and understanding with
our customers, based on the appreciation of the fact
that the way we make food is unique.

Our vision for the farm

The vision of Zrno Organic farm is encompassed by

three main insights:

A farm as a representation of a living cell Bread.

233
A farm is part of an ecosystem as well as an ecosystem
in and of itself

A farm is a platform for showcasing the interaction be-

tween man and nature under the paradigms of sustain-
ability and ecology

What changed over time is the approach and the time-

line towards achieving the full scope of the vision.
Namely, it became clear that there is a point at which
we can be too diverse in our activities and that we need
to develop what we already have to a greater degree of
efficiency and volume before we move into other envi-
sioned enterprises. Secondly, the initial pace of devel-
opment in terms of infrastructure turned out to be too
ambitious, making it clear that a more incremental and No-Dig Garden (1).
pragmatic approach is required.
Finally, the role of the Zrno Organic Farm as a com-
petitive advantage within the context of our wider busi-
ness ecosystem has become more prominent with fur-
ther significance given to activities that capitalise upon
this notion.

Our challenges

The ambition of the Zrno Organic Farm is matched by

the challenges facing it. Due to the poor rural infra-
structure, the costs of the bakery and processing pro-
duction units are higher than they would have been in a
more developed environment. The poor infrastructure
also imposes a strong limitation on the development
of certain production units, undercutting the speed at
which new products can be placed on the market. The No-Dig Garden (2).
complexity of our production cycles is another signifi-
cant challenge that often generates increased costs. For
instance, the soybeans that we grow in our field produc-
tion are processed on the farm into tofu which is then
used in our sandwiches and by the restaurant. Any os-
cillation in quality or cost of the production in the early
segments of this production chain compounds and has
long-term effects throughout the later segments. And
since we have many of these types of multilayered pro-
duction cycles, we also have a daunting quantity of po-
tential points of failure jeopardising the entire supply
chain. Another challenge is managing the sheer number
and diversity of products that come out of the farm. In
total, across all enterprises, we have over 150 organic,
local and vegan products – all made in relatively small
batches. This puts us close to the point of being over-
diversified and stretched out too thin. I mention these No-Dig Garden (3).
234
 points as they are simultaneously the very essence of
what our customers love about us, namely the fact that
our products are farm-made using the ingredients from
our fields. Hence, one of the ways we manage these
challenges is precisely by making a significant effort
to communicate and market these values and criteria
through our brand. The unique efforts that we put into
the making of our products are only valuable insofar as
they are perceived, hence the importance of continuous
storytelling.

Our short-term plans

In the given timeframe we have to build new production

facilities for our enterprises that will allow us to scale
Mechanised cabbage. up the production in terms of quantity and add new
products that we know there is the demand for. In more
ways than one, the success of the farm truly depends
on how well we utilise the financing available to us and
how quickly and pragmatically we push the develop-
ment forward. Beyond facilities, however, we will need
excellent and passionate employees who can realise the
potential of the farm and develop it autonomously to-
wards the shared vision. If we succeed in bringing such
people together on the farm, that in and of itself will be
the greatest testament of our success.

Our startup advice

Don’t put too much value on diversification. You don’t

need to do everything, and chances are that what you
have in mind as you’re starting is already way too much.
Shiitake logs fruiting. Find something that works for your context and make
it efficient to the point where you have free time and
feel comfortable. Add new enterprises from that point
of comfort. Count your hours properly. Include hours
that you spend thinking about farming, reading about
farming, researching on the web, figuring out the finan-
cials etc. All of these might seem ludicrous to count in
the beginning, but if you don’t they will come back to af-
fect your mental health later and could lead to burnout.
Don’t let who you are become reduced to the process of
farming. Figure out in advance whether you want your
enterprise to be a lifestyle business or a growth business.
If you do it, later on, you will have to delegate to out-
side people which changes many things and introduces
new layers of complexity. Visualise both positive and
negative outcomes. The former will help you reach your
goals; the latter will ensure you keep moving forward
Hosting a workshop. when things go wrong.
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Prepared salads.

Our farm-made Tofu.

Muffins from our bakery.

236
 DAVID PEJIC
Zrno Organic Farm, Croatia
____________________________

MAIN ENTERPRISES:

Vegetables / grains / Processing

Bakery / Restaurant

MAIN SALES CHANNELS:

Own restaurant and stores

____________________________

AREA IN PRODUCTION: 23HA

STARTUP YEAR: 2010
STARTUP INVESTMENT: N/A
REVENUE: €1,000,000+
NET PROFIT: N/A

______

website / instagram / facebook

237
 TILEN PRAPROTNIK
Kmetija Vegerila, Slovenia

Our farm is situated in the northwestern part of Slove- were added a year later as a reaction to demand from
nia and it currently has about 3 hectares of land alto- some local restaurants and as a low-work-input and
gether. The primary enterprises on the farm are a mar- relatively profitable operation.
ket garden, microgreens and pastured layers. We also One of our most important early steps was standardis-
have the beginnings of a pastured broiler enterprise and ing operation procedures and setting up good work-
we are establishing a small heritage-variety mixed-spe- flows. By being very pragmatic, we aimed to keep our
cies orchard. operation as lean as possible and generate enough profit
For several years before establishing our farm, my fam- to justify the labour input. Investing in only the basic
ily and I were operating a large family no-dig vegetable tools and movable infrastructure, we tried to keep fu-
garden, constantly on the lookout for beyond-organic ture options as open as possible.
practices. We started thinking about starting a commer- We worked on getting to know our customer base,
cial farm after I had been researching some of the work whilst keeping numbers manageable and in accordance
of Eliot Coleman and Jean-Martin Fortier in early 2016. with the size of our production and the fact that we both
This set us a challenge to establish an economically vi- have off-farm jobs. We were already dealing with a lot
able small-scale farm and to be a good example and an of time spent farming on multiple locations, so to avoid
inspiration in a time of despair for farmers in our coun- losing extra time on deliveries we decided to keep sales
try. Given our existing experience in vegetable growing, ultra-local for as long as possible.
market gardening was a logical first step, but we realised One of our early aims was to establish good relation-
soon enough that a holistic farming approach requires ships with other organic farmers in the area to share
the integration of animal enterprises as well. ideas and experience and get some economic benefits
Since we started with very limited land resources, we from collaborations.
initially focused on establishing a no-dig market gar- Starting with investments into our market garden in-
den. From the beginning, we focused on standardising frastructure, our 2x2m walk-in chiller cost €3,500 and
beds and making a good seasonal plan. Microgreens the five 25x3.6m movable field caterpillar tunnels with

238
a 4x6m nursery greenhouse we managed to put up for
the bargain sum of about €1,700. We made both of these
investments in the middle of the second year of our
market garden production. Over the first few years, we
slowly enlarged our essential hand tools collection – two
basic seeders, a broad fork, a bed roller and some other
small tools, adding up to approximately €1,000. Our
second-hand nursery greenhouse heater cost us €200
and tarps, fleeces, insect and deer protection amount to
about €1,000.
In early 2020 we were able to get a used, roofed and
rainproof transport car-trailer free of charge. With min-
imal adjustments, we started using it as an egg-mobile.
It can accommodate a small flock of up to 70-80 layers.
The nests were made from a plywood sheet from what
used to be the inside floor of the trailer. This left us only Farming is one of the few professions that allows bring-
with the investment of about €1,000 towards electric ing children to work - Tilen, Nace, Mateja and Vito.
netting, an energiser and other equipment to establish
a pastured laying hen operation. We will have to build a
bigger egg-mobile when we will be increasing our bird
number in the future.
Up until now, we have already put in about €1,500 to
start a broiler enterprise that for the moment serves only
the family needs. This year we raised two batches of 50
birds in a Salatin-style chicken tractor. So far we have
invested into some essential slaughtery equipment. Our
county’s two-tier regulation system gives us hope that
the overall investment into a future small-scale on-farm
poultry slaughter facility will not have to be too big.
The single biggest investment to date on our farm was
the purchasing of our current base land plot at €20,000.
We bought it at the end of our first production year. We Standardised garden beds arranged in blocks had to fit
could not avoid this cost because the market for rental around natural features.
land in our country is almost non-existent. Since then
we were able to add on plots by leasing them. It is dif-
ficult, but once we establish a relationship with a land-
owner, we will usually get a rent-free arrangement as
long as we release them from major liabilities associated
with owning farming land.
In the context of talking about investments, we perhaps
have to mention our small 4x4 car and a light cargo
trailer. We have bought the trailer a few years before
starting for our private use, but it is now essential for
transporting things between our home and the multiple
locations we farm on. We also use the 4x4, among other
things, to move our egg-mobile every two days. Since
the car also doubles as a secondary family vehicle, we
should not count it as a farm asset exclusively.
We have a free usage agreement for a walk-behind trac- Patchy landscapes are a drawback for modern agricul-
ture, but they provide shady pastures and windbreaks.
239
tor owned by a colleague farmer of ours. Nowadays we For purely pragmatic reasons, we do get some grants
use it mostly for keeping the grass low in places we can- from the local and the national governments, but this
not reach with animals and for some other odd jobs on has represented only a very small amount of our in-
the farm. As we are transitioning slowly to a compost come.
mulch gardening system, we do not find much use for it Slovenia is a country of very diverse climatic condi-
in our vegetable plots any more. tions. Our farm is located at the foot of the Alps at an
The largest part of the income on the farm comes from elevation of 500m above sea level. The specific climatic
the market garden. Sales of vegetables at the moment conditions we face are determined by the proximity
add up to approximately €8,500. It is the most work- of high mountains. Our vegetation cycle is about two
intensive operation we run, we spend about 1,400 hours weeks behind compared to the central part of Slovenia.
throughout the year. Running costs for the market gar- The frost-free period starts around May 15 and we can
den amount to about 20%. Our garden area seems to be expect the first light autumn frosts between mid-Sep-
big, but we are far from using the entire intensive pro- tember and mid-October.
duction potential. We think a future shift to a compost In our country, the scattering of land and small land-
mulch system will increase our work and running cost, parcel sizes has not so much to do with the former
but also largely increase our production. communist regime but with topography and historic
Our microgreens operation followed in our second circumstances that go even further back in time. Al-
year, and we could carry it on the back of some of the though land prices in our area are among the highest
infrastructure we were already using for our market in our country and the land policy favours bigger estab-
garden production. At an income of €6,000 and a run- lished farmers, in the autumn of 2016 we were able to
ning cost of about 15%, it is one of our most profitable buy close to 1ha of marginal land at a favourable price.
enterprises. We estimate the labour input to be about We consider it our ‘base plot’. We use about a quarter
200 hours. We sell the majority of the microgreens to of this land for intensive vegetable production. The rest
restaurants, and we think it has the lowest market ex- is partially a very shady pasture and partially a newly
pansion potential of all our operations. planted orchard. We get to lease a neighbouring plot
At the current scale, our pastured layer enterprise will about a third of a hectare in size. This makes the de-
bring us an estimated income of €4,800-5,200, depend- scribed location the only one suitable for keeping any
ing on what we do with the spent hens. We put in about kind of animals.
450 hours with our birds and we have a running cost We run the farm as a family with Mateja taking care
projection of about 40%. Egg sales seem to have a great of marketing and costumers, me being in charge of
expansion potential and scaling up the production will the planning, organising and every-day running of the
certainly make it more profitable. farm, and my mother dealing like a ‘force of nature’
We get some running cost savings on our farm by buy- with repetitive tasks. All of us have to be able to take on
ing things like seed, animal feed, packaging, potting soil different jobs from time to time and certain aspects of
and other materials in bulk in collaboration with other farm work require multi-person workflows.
organic farmers in our area. We have divided the market garden at our base plot
It is important to note that at this size our farm does into 60 permanent beds 25x0.75m in size. There are 10
not have some of the major running costs some bigger additional beds at this site still in preparation. An auxil-
farmers face. In Slovenia farms below a certain size are iary plot at another location has 40 permanent beds, on
exempt from paying VAT; they only pay a land area- which we grow vegetables that require less attention. In
based cadastral tax, which for our farm is a few hun- both locations, we did the initial ploughing before mak-
dred euros per year. The other thing is that my wife and ing beds. From that time onwards, we keep them weed-
I both pay our health and pension insurance from our free using careful management and occultation tarps.
off-farm jobs. In case our farm gets bigger in the future, We use a broad fork, a rake and a roller to prepare them
these costs will have to be taken into consideration. before planting or sowing.
For now, farming is not my only source of income. I With our soil conditioning, growing and harvesting
earn about 20-30% of my money with my non-farming techniques, we try to stick as close as possible to the
projects. My wife Mateja has a full-time job and my methodology developed by Jean-Martin Fortier. It had
mother, who also works on the farm, is receiving a pen- to be adapted slightly to fit our circumstances. The plan
sion. is to convert fully to a deep-compost and wood chip
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 path system within the next couple of seasons. We make
our wood chips from clearing our land, but the compost
issue is a different matter.
We have no way of processing the vegetables on-site.
After harvesting, we take the produce to our farm’s
headquarters at our house located in a semi-urban set-
ting 2km away from our base plot. We have a simple
post-harvest station there, a chiller and some other
storage facilities as well.
Our small nursery greenhouse is also situated at our
house. We do the majority of our transplant produc-
tion there and it serves for our microgreens production
as well. We used to grow a large range of microgreens,
but have since narrowed the selection down to just pea
shoots and two kinds of radishes.
Running the hens right next to the garden is keeping the We try to integrate all the tasks connected to the broil-
invasive slug population down. ers and the layers into the time spent in the market gar-
den. All the equipment, feeding regimes and techniques
we are using in our pastured poultry enterprises we
have based on the methodology developed by Richard
Perkins at Ridgedale. Thus far, they seem to be working
perfectly in our particular context.
We also have a couple of small arable fields at yet an-
other location. There we alternate between growing dif-
ferent grains and fodder peas in addition to some small
amounts of potatoes and a heritage variety of maize. We
do this to satisfy our country’s legal requirements which
state that a farm paying only cadastral tax has to grow
a minimum of half of its animal fodder consumption.
We have to hire outside farm services for that because
we do not have a tractor or any equipment. Having no
previous experience in this, I view this part of our farm-
Green manures and cover crops help to keep the beds ing as a learning ground. In time and with the advent of
covered until a good compost supply arrives. suitable equipment, we are hoping to convert our arable
field fodder production to regenerative practices.
One of our side projects, that also generates some of
our income, is growing heritage-variety bean seeds for
a local seed saving initiative. The organisation in charge
of this project provides the initial seeds, gives us techni-
cal support and buys the newly grown seeds at the end
of the season. We took on this enterprise because seed
saving of beans is relatively straight-forward, we don’t
have to market them on our own, we can usually in-
corporate the growing into our market garden and the
surplus from this operation, that is still very good qual-
ity, we can sell at a favourable price to our customers as
dry beans.
All of our land, plant production and the feed we buy
in are organically certified, but we opted to exclude our
Late-October crops under season extension. animal enterprises products from certification.
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 The location of our farm headquarters gives us good
access to private costumers. Within a 20km circuit, we
can reach a population of around 50,000 people. In ad-
dition to that, our region has a high influx of tourists
in both the summer and the winter season, so we have
quite a few hotels nearby and a vibrant restaurant scene.
To keep things simple to plan and run during the main
growing season (June-October), we opted for a model
of subscription box sales for our private costumers. We
organise a five-hour pick-up window once a week at our
doorstep. We treat our box scheme similar to a CSA,
but we do not demand payment in advance. Some of
the costumers choose to pay ahead for a month or the
whole season because they find it more convenient. Off-
season we take biweekly individual orders of vegetables
from the same costumers, joined by some additional In CSA, or other vegetable box schemes, variety is es-
costumers. Delivering to our capital Ljubljana about sential.
50 km away would expose us to a potential market of
300,000 people and increase our prices. At home, we
can get around €10 for our box, whereas in the capital
we could demand at least €15. For now, we are happy
with a local clientele, because taking our crops to Lju-
bljana would take a lot of our time.
To restaurants, we are selling mostly microgreens,
herbs and edible flowers. Some take vegetables as well.
We have a very good retention rate with them, only the
spectrum of demand changes a bit over time. Because
of this year’s pandemic and temporary closing of res-
taurants, this part of our sales was the only one to see
a reduction. Deliveries were smaller, but we managed
to keep the income more or less the same because we
obtained some new restaurants.
For the time being, we can only sell eggs to private On harvest day crops have to be transported by car to be
costumers. When we were establishing our laying hen washed and packed.
enterprise earlier this year, we gave our regular costum-
ers an option to buy 20 or 30 weeks worth of eggs in
advance. This gave us some funds to finance the pas-
ture equipment we needed to start the operation. In our
area’s farmers markets, a certified organic egg can go for
about €0.35. We have set our regular price at €0.30 and
we offer discounts for pre-buying and regular clients re-
spectively. We sell eggs in boxes of ten.
We detect a very high demand for pastured chicken
meat among the costumers. Whole certified organic
chickens can sell for up to €8/kg, but we think a more
realistic price for ours would be €6.50/kg. Although the
chicken feed is quite expensive for us, we would get a
relatively high-profit margin from this enterprise. The
selling-potential to restaurants also looks promising, Microgreens and edible flowers destined for the restau-
but with more demanding regulations in place for those rants.
242
sales, this would mean a whole other ‘ball game’ for us. ise your farm, it is still hard work. There are universal
This is the first year we have been selling a part of our solutions, but there is no complete recipe. You have to
vegetable production through a local organic farmer co- find your way of adjusting to your particular climatic,
operative to kindergartens and schools in the surround- geographic and socio-economic contexts. I find ways to
ing area. This sales channel came about because of the solving challenges more interesting than arriving at the
recently increased willingness of public institutions to end-goal. The future seems to be interesting.
buy local and organic produce. For us, it is convenient
because all the delivery dates are known well in advance
and we can shift relatively large quantities in one sale.
Collaborating with other growers in a cooperative gives
us security in case of crop delay or failure and we are
guaranteed a good price with long-term contracts.
Our part of the Alps has a very high likelihood of sum-
mer hail events. Last year our July crops were decimated
during one such major storm with ice particles up to
3cm in size. This attributed to a couple of thousand eu-
ros overall income loss in that season. We are address-
ing this hazard by buying a few hail protection nets
each year and mounting them on our caterpillar tunnel
frames. Furthermore, the variety and different timings
of the crops proved to be an asset in this case.
Access to good compost seems to be a challenge all over
Europe. We have a good compost producer in our area.
They started supplying certified organic compost just
recently. We have to test it to see whether it meets our
standards and then we can use it.
As mentioned, one of our major issues is access to land.
We addressed this by initially only establishing the op-
erations that require less land and then adding on other
operations as our land grew bigger. We have found that
with time people see what we are doing and will offer
their land to us. We have to work around the fact that
these plots are scattered all around the place. The final
goal is to add close-by land to our main production site
and we plan to do this using the same tactics of show-
ing that we take good care of the land. Ironically, since
we do not live on our main production site, this also
gives us the option to relatively easily change the site
altogether and go elsewhere if we find a more favour-
able location.
We try to keep our future options as open as possible.
The long-term vision is to establish a functioning, holis-
tic regenerative farm that serves us, the community and
society in general. The way forward is going to be de-
termined by our capability to get more production out
of the existing resources, the accessibility of additional
land and various other factors. In the next few years,
we will try to determine the path we take around those
challenges and towards the described vision.
You have to know that no matter how well you organ-

243
Traditional Slovenian hayracks lost their function in the
era of tractors and hay bales. We can use one at one of
our plots to dry bean plants for our seed production.

The beginnings of a pastured broiler enterprise.

Bringing people to farms is vital for spreading the mes-

sage of regenerative agriculture. © Robert Špiler.
244
 TILEN PRAPROTNIK
Kmetija Vegerila, Slovenia
____________________________

MAIN ENTERPRISES:

Market garden / Microgreens

Pastured layers

MAIN SALES CHANNELS:

Box scheme

Wholesale to restaurants

____________________________

AREA IN PRODUCTION: 2.2HA

STARTUP YEAR: 2016

STARTUP INVESTMENT: €29,900

(incl. land)

REVENUE: €20,000

NET PROFIT: €14,000

______

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245
 DANIELE BUCCI
Podere Cimbalona, Italy

Podere Cimbalona without a profound personal idea about this job. At 26,
when I finally graduated with a Master’s in horticultural
At Podere Cimbalona we produce many different types science, I slowly gathered all of my study, experience,
of temperate fruit such as white and yellow peaches, knowledge, and ambition to set up a deeper and more
nectarines, plums, cherries, apricots, apples and pome- personal vision about farming. I started to be more
granates. We also have a 1ha vineyard that produces interested in and study organic farming, biodynamic
white grapes suited to make wine, 2000m2 of perma- farming, afro-ecology - all of the types of farming that
nent market garden beds, small egg production and had been marginally considered so far. I recall that mo-
small berry production. ment as a turning point in both my personal and pro-
fessional growth. My vision changed many times, as I
How it all started had been dealing with farming since I was very young.
I never reject my background or the way I farmed back
It’s hard for me to define the exact moment I set out. in those years. I believe the journey built up the type of
It’s even harder to recall various visions I went through farmer and person I am now. However, I’m sure the vi-
since they changed as I changed. Initially, as a teenag- sion I have now is quite distant and different from the
er, it was my grandfather’s inspiration that guided me many I’ve had in the past.
towards farming. He was farming the land I grew up
on and I was spending a lot of time working with him. My initial focus
Then I went to agricultural high school and universi-
ty, where I gathered a lot of knowledge about biology, I grew up in a very intensively farmed area, where all of
plant physiology, chemistry, plant disease etc. I was in my neighbours were farmers and mainly conventional
my twenties, and my professors’ words sounded like the fruit producers. At the beginning of my farming career,
only truth about agriculture. At that time I was farming the decision-making process was highly influenced by
the way it was taught in the academic environment but emulating the surrounding operations and what I was

246
taught at the university. During the initial period, I made
the mistake of reinvesting most of the money, finding
myself broke after a few years. This might be a situation
that someone could avoid by starting on someone else’s
farm. I learnt a lot from this big mistake. I was about
to find an off-farm job to help pay the investment. The
farm I was running had very old tree orchards, obso-
lete machinery and equipment that did not fulfil safety
regulations.
After many years of farming, I can see my mistakes very
clearly. First of all, I underestimated the return time of
some of the investments. Buying a new tractor is an ex-
pensive investment that won’t bring in any money in the
short run. Second, I desired to see and have the farm
fully productive and conforming to regulations (like the
ones of my neighbours) within a few years. I was im- Our little family.
patient to see things done and I compared my farm to
some that I viewed as role models, forgetting that I had
just started. The third mistake was that I was not con-
sidering cash flow. When I realised that something was
wrong in the farm management, I immediately changed
direction and focused more on essential targets. Dur-
ing those years, the price of fresh fruit on big markets
was highly fluctuating and in some cases, the revenue
could not cover production costs. During that period I
realised that part of the solution was not to reduce the
cost of production, but rather increase the value of the
crops.
So the first action I took was to convert the farm into
certified organic. Certified organic fruit in Italy is a
rising market and commands a substantially different
price than conventional products. Connected to this
aspect, I also started to reduce production inputs and Cherries are a key product to attract customers.
costs by changing my farming practices. This led to less
expensive fertilisers and pesticides, no herbicides, and
less fuel.
The second action I took was to differentiate produc-
tion and start enterprises that could create cash-flow. I
planted new trees and berries and also built an egg-mo-
bile for small-scale egg production. In that period, I was
spending a lot of time reading books about market gar-
dening, so I started a vegetable production on 2000m2
of no-dig permanent beds.
A third very important aspect in my context was to dif-
ferentiate revenue. By that, I mean having many chan-
nels to sell my products to. In other words, building a
pool of buyers (final consumers or economic activities)
that buy my products, thus owe me money. In doing so,
I went from receiving down payment in September and
The team enjoying a break.

247
balance in December to cashing in money every month this case, they are very motivated to advertise my farm,
for 10 months. To achieve this goal, I also considered because the more I sell, the more they sell. This type of
collaborations with other companies which were offer- collaboration spreads the name of my farm, and many
ing services to consumers. I was willing to share part of customers get to know who I am and what I do on. I’m
the revenue as long as the price per unit of fruit or veg- not sure how long this collaboration will last, but surely
gies was reasonably high and constant in time. it is worth it.
A fourth action was to open a social media account to I must also confess that ‘behind every farmer, there is a
share the farm life, to communicate with people and to very patient woman’. In my case, besides being very pa-
be transparent in what we do and how we do it. tient, my wife Sara is also very good at marketing, public
relations and social media management. She is the who
Startup investments and revenue opened and is managing, my Facebook and Instagram
pages. Once I discovered her skills, I simply delegated
During the first years of farming, I invested a lot in everything related to showing people how we farm to
terms of money, energy and time. Time was something her. She also wanted to create a WhatsApp broadcast, to
I did not consider at the beginning, but it was a mistake; be closer to our customers: ‘Emails are old-fashioned!’
now I always value my time. In terms of money, due to she said. We use this broadcast to communicate with
the situation of the farm I took over, I invested approxi- our customers, inform them about our products, collect
mately €100,000 over 3 years. That money was divided orders etc. Year after year we’ve been building up rela-
into new orchards, new machinery and new farming tions, trust and loyalty, so much so that now our cus-
equipment, mainly to meet safety guidelines. tomers are willing to taste and purchase every product
we offer. Technology is a good tool, but behind smart-
In 2019 the gross revenue of the core enterprises was phones there are people. Sara is very kind, talkative and
around €75,000, 45% of which was net. up for spending a little time chatting with every person
who passes by our farm shop. Now more than ever, we
My current situation believe customer care does make the difference. I’m not
specifically speaking about customer money care, but
Farming can sometimes be daunting and at other times also about customers as persons. We live in a highly ag-
very satisfying. I have refused many interesting and ricultural area, where many farms have started a direct
well-paid jobs to chase the dream of being a farmer, but sale, and where there are farmers’ markets around the
during the first years, I had moments when I was about city every day. What makes us different from others?
to quit farming. The wrong management at the begin- We want our customers to feel part of the production by
ning was leading me to failure. I was aware of the high keeping them informed on social media. We also want
investment; thus, I was stressing the production to raise them to feel welcome by dedicating time, smiles and a
income. Stressing soil and trees brought the opposite ef- chat to each of them.
fect. Luckily enough, I was able to get out of this situ-
ation. I approached a different type of agriculture and Learnings
farming management that saved me from bankruptcy.
After many years of economic problems, things have My idea of farming has changed a lot. After years of aca-
been going very well for the last couple of years. demic studies, listening to my professors’ advice and be-
ing influenced by my neighbours, I’ve now built up my
Sales and marketing vision about the farm. Experience and mistakes have
been the best and strictest teachers I could have. Being
Only a few years ago, I was still conferring the entire free to make decisions was a gift and I’m thankful for
fruit production to a big farmers’ cooperative. Year by that. I consider it a gift because most young farmers that
year I’m now constantly selling a higher and higher por- come from a farming background have no or low influ-
tion of fruit and also vegetables to final consumers or ence in the decision-making process. My background,
economic partners. I have followed two main roads to my experience and the example of good farmers around
manage sales and build up customers. the world brought me toward a highly different idea of
As I mentioned before, I like to build synergy with oth- agriculture compared to the one I had after I got out
er new activities that share the same spirit and vision. In of university. I took that on as a strong challenge for
248
 myself. I wanted to prove to myself that change is pos-
sible. I wanted to prove that 6.5ha with four crops and
the economic problems of a conventional farm could be
turned into an organic mixed-product profitable farm.
The most important changes I can mention are the fol-
lowing:
Reduce inputs. Farming can be the easiest way to spend
money. Many investments I made and material I pur-
chased I now see as useless, and I won’t buy them any-
more.
Care for the soil, increase OM. I went through a huge
change in perspective about soil. It is no more about
plant nutrition, but rather about soil fertility. Many
years of applying chemical fertilisers and using machin-
ery had caused the soil to be depleted and compacted.
Apples. Now I use only cover crops and good quality compost.
We aim to increase soil organic matter, and we often test
it to monitor soil health. We use chromatography analy-
sis, which is simple and cheap.
Diversify production. Diversity means resilience. When
I understood the idea of a farm as a complex organism
where everything is in relation, I had to add actors in
this relation. Different species, different varieties, dif-
ferent enterprises, different workers that bring in new
ideas every time.

Challenges

In farming, we deal with many complex aspects such as

soil, weather, plants, animals, markets, customers. Sev-
eral problems or unforeseen issues arise regularly. De-
spite that, the major challenges I had to face were time
Overhead view of the no-dig market garden. and relations. Practical problems can be fixed, relations
are way harder and time will never come back. Person-
ally speaking, as a farmer entrepreneur I often tend to
work a lot, at the expense of personal interests, friends,
family. I used to work 10-12 hours a day on average, 6
days a week, sometimes also on Sunday mornings. Win-
tertime is usually a more relaxed, slower season, but it’s
short, and at this latitude, we don’t get much snow or
extremely cold weather, so I feel there’s always some-
thing to do in the fields too, and what’s more, I have
to manage every aspect of the production. Taking note
of that, I forced some constraints upon myself. My wife
Sara helped me through this process; she is essential in
keeping a balance between farming and family. At the
beginning of the year, I usually define what I’m going to
do to work a little less. It must be something affordable,
not just a good intention. I make that decision about
Cover crop mix in between fruit orchard rows. time constraint and I sincerely commit to it during
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that year. Yet, I’m not so good at managing my time, by
which I mean that I’m not so good at estimating how
long a task could take to be completed and I hate leaving
a job half-done. I would rather choose 2 days, Thurs-
day and Saturday, on which I’m going to keep the after-
noon off. This year I’ve accomplished my goal. I’ve spent
every Thursday afternoon with my wife and daughter,
playing, bike-riding, walking, swimming in the pool
and so on. I’ve also managed not to work during the
weekend after 1 pm on Saturdays. I feel proud of that.
I’ve realised that to get the free time I wanted, I’ve been
able to organise the team and tasks in the proper way.
Time constraint has turned out to be a good incentive to
increase efficiency. Above all, I’m very aware that all the
time I’ve spent with my family was worth it. However, I
don’t know yet how I’m going to improve my free time Egg-mobile designed to fit the vineyard rows.
next year.

Plans for the future

Within the next 3-5 years, I wish to be able to work less.

Now that my enterprises are running well and I have
some collaborators I can trust, I want to focus on my
family. I hope that the coming years will bring some
economic stability. I want to spend more time with my
wife and daughter and also have some more time on my
hobbies; I want to work to live, not the other way round.
After many years of struggle and uncertainty, I want to
invest more time and effort in study and research. I
don’t think the farm will get bigger, but I’m up for new
enterprises and collaborations. I will introduce some
more fruit types that are highly requested, like pears.
My wife and I are thinking about turning the type of Chromatography analysis of the soil.
selling we have now at the farm into a CSA. I’m training
some young workers who will stay for a few years; thus,
I plan to delegate some activities to have more free time.
Many young unemployed people are contacting me for
advice about how to start farming, or how to prune fruit
trees for example, or how to manage a no-dig market
garden. This free time might be invested in organising
workshops or other courses. There are many plans for
the years to come.

Words of advice

I’m always very careful when I am asked to advise people

starting up in farming. We’re all different, and agricul-
ture is such a wide field that any word might appear use-
less if applied in the wrong context. During these years
I’ve gathered some experience and faced many mistakes Compost tea.
250
that could have been avoided. I’m going to write about
those aspects that could have made things easier if I had
known them.

Maniacally define what your business is about. Ask

yourself: what is my business offering more than others?
Why should customers buy my products? This is not
wasted time; it is time well-invested in the future. Once
you have a clear plan for your business, everything will
go smoothly. Try to choose the enterprise you sincerely
feel committed to. Choose the one you like and enjoy DANIELE BUCCI
the most, not the one you consider most profitable.
You’re going to spend a lot of time doing that activity, Podere Cimbalona, Italy
so you better love it. ____________________________

Find a way to sit down and talk with people, exchange

opinions, contact experts or someone you esteem. Now- MAIN ENTERPRISES:
adays it is extremely easy to contact anybody around
the world in a moment. Don’t be afraid to ask. Temperate fruit / Grapes / Market
garden / Layers / Berries
Even in a busy period, find a moment to sit down and
sincerely concentrate on how it is going. Use numbers,
not only emotions. If something is going wrong, you’d MAIN SALES CHANNELS:
better pause, take your time to analyse the situation and
fix the problem as soon as possible. Farm shop / Wholesale

Define, year after year, the percentage of net income for ____________________________
yourself. Do not reinvest all the money into the farm, it
can become a black hole.
AREA IN PRODUCTION: 6.5HA
Use what you have. New equipment is fancy and super STARTUP YEAR: 2016
cool to use but costs a lot of money. Often it is possible
to work with second-hand stuff. Force yourself to figure STARTUP INVESTMENT: €100,000
out low-cost solutions before you spend a single dime.
Consider inputs as everything that crosses the gate of REVENUE: €75,000
your farm; are they really necessary? NET PROFIT: 45%
______
Care for the soil no matter what your operation is about.
Soil is an essential resource for farming. The better you
treat it, the more it’s going to give back, in terms of pro-
duction and consequently income. Count to ten every
time your farming practice entails soil disturbance or
exploitation.

As much as possible, try to find trustworthy collabora-

tors that are as good as you or better. Delegate tasks to
the members of your team; do not try to carry all the instagram / facebook
burden yourself or you’re going to burn out.

251
 Jakob Haller and Lisa Kager
Hof des Wandels, Italy

Hof des Wandels means ‘farm of change’. Our 1ha prop- and distilled plant water; about 4,000m2.
erty is quite steep and in a sort of small valley with one
south-facing slope, one north-facing slope, and a strip • a small nursery selling aromatic herbs and exotic
in the middle which is also on a slope lengthways. plants.

Our main enterprises are: • processed goods such as fermented veg, pickles, jams,
juice, tea etc. that we sell in the farm shop.
• a no-dig market garden in an agroforestry system with
100 10m beds, selling to 50 CSA members, in our farm Our initial vision
shop and to restaurants.
We are 5 people living and working on the farm: Lisa
• perennial lanes (pear, apricot, plum, peach, mulber- (my partner), Hanspeter and Martina (Lisa’s parents),
ries, olives, figs, all sorts of currants, gooseberries and Kiran (our 1-year-old son) and me, Jakob. The farm is
more. There are also a few perennial vegetables. This owned by Lisa’s parents.
adds up to about 30 10m beds, plus more spread over Lisa and I met about 5 years ago and were both very
the herb garden. interested in permaculture at the time. Since her fam-
ily had a farm and her father was farming apples at the
• a small apple orchard, for selling both fresh and as vin- time (highly intensive monoculture, common in our
egar, juice and cider, is slowly coming into production area) and was fed up with doing that, it made sense to
(from the old existing conventional highly intensive or- do something with the farm together. Hanspeter was
chard, close spacing, M9 rootstock, old varieties grafted very keen on getting us involved with the farm and so
on). It’s about 1,500m2. were we. A couple of years before our arrival on the
farm, Hanspeter completed training in aromatherapy
• a herb garden for distillation to produce essential oils and had got really into distilling herbs to extract the es-

252
sential oil. He knew what he wanted to do and his mis-
sion was clear; he wanted to set up a herb garden for his
distillery and teach workshops about distilling. As he
has a little blog on Facebook, he had started building up
a good customer base already before we got involved.
Lisa and I, on the other hand, didn’t have a clear vision
of what we wanted to do with the farm, except it needed
to be ecological and socially sound. As I have worked all
my life as a chef in some really good restaurants, I knew
I wanted to use my skill-set to build myself a solid base.
So, in the first winter, we installed a commercial kitchen
in the basement that could also be used as a processing
room, and I started up my own catering company. My
idea was to grow veg for our consumption, have great
products for the catering and deliver the surplus to
gourmet restaurants. I did do that the following season The clan.
following the most common beginner permaculture
principles, however the growing part wasn’t that seri-
ous; it was very chaotic with no standardised beds, and
I was making my money from the catering.
Lisa still worked as a freelance journalist and a yoga
teacher, so we weren’t in a rush to make a living from
the farm. Our initial focus was on learning about dif-
ferent concepts of farming and gain experience with
growing stuff. I was very inspired by the idea of creat-
ing a forest garden with a high diversity of perennials.
Initially, I wanted to open a farm restaurant (and I was
the only one in the family who liked the idea), produce
only for that and sell the surplus to hotels and restau-
rants. With things evolving on the farm, it started to be-
come clear that this idea didn’t fit our context and that
it would have interfered too much with our private life
since we live and work together in a quite small space. The farm seen from above.
Influenced by a friend helping us out in the garden
sometime, I was getting interested in market gardening.
He told me about Richard’s YouTube channel and that
opened up my perspective on a few things. I attended
Richard’s 3-day seminar at ‘Helle Bauer’ in October, and
2 days later we started setting up the market garden.
With the size of the farm and the growing demand for
good veg, it was the logic enterprise to get started with.
We decided to do CSA boxes and sell the surplus to res-
taurants and through our farm shop. To find subscrib-
ers for the boxes, Lisa printed small flyers and dropped
them in people’s letterboxes in the neighbourhood,
posted some short promotions on Facebook and tried
to make it clear to people what CSA boxes are by ex-
plaining (and explaining again all winter long). By the
beginning of March, we finally had all the paperwork
done to start our farm shop, had set up the infrastruc- The farm seen from the yoga platform.

253
ture for the farm shop and had 35 members. I had aimed • Potting soil: €300
for 50 shares, but it made sense to have a bit of space for
mistakes to happen and some room for trials. • Electricity: €400
Operation-wise we do things completely separately on
the farm. Meaning: Hanspeter is running his enterpris- • Water: €1,500
es (distillery, plant nursery, workshops) and is fully in
charge of what he decides to do, invest in and earn. And • Packing: €300
the same goes for us. Therefore it runs like two separate
businesses, but on the same farm and all in his name. • Compost: €1,000
We found that this was the best solution for us, both on
a relationship level and tax-wise. All big decisions that • Tax consultant: €1,200
affect everyone on the farm are taken jointly.
In our business, we divide the responsibilities: Lisa is We also have a 24m x 6m polytunnel and a 5m x 15m
in charge of all the PR, marketing, communication and greenhouse. They are mainly used by Hanspeter; how-
sales, runs the farm shop (together with Martina) and ever, the propagation setup takes up a bit of space in the
helps me with the production of processed goods; all small greenhouse. He invested the money for those, but
this while looking after our son and being a mother. I we can use some of the space.
am in charge of all the work on the ground, the market
garden and the fruit production. It is quite important Our revenue in the first season was €28,720:
to me that I have my own space where I can operate
freely and have the possibility to manifest my vision and • Csa boxes: €16,000€ (100% net)
kind of make it my own. So here we are, trying to be the
change through our farm. • Farm shop (veg): €5,400 (100% net)

Our investments and returns • Farm shop (other): €4,400 (65 % net)

We have invested a total of €22,578; Restaurants: €2,920 (100 % net)

• Compost and wood chips: €8,500 Our current situation

• Propagation setup: €700 With the data I had from various books (Jean-Martin
Fortier’s The Market Gardener and Richard Perkins’
• Equipment: €6,000 Regenerative Agriculture were the most helpful regard-
ing planning), I figured out approximately how much
• Wash-and-pack station: €1,000 yield I could get out of each bed under perfect condi-
tions. From there I decided what I wanted in every box
• Walk-in chiller: €2,000 throughout the season, and with the help of target har-
vest calendars, it was possible to put some sort of crop
• Irrigation: €800 plan together. I guess starting up today is quite different
to someone who started up 30 years ago since we now
• Trees and berry bushes: €2,000 have all this precise and helpful data which makes things
a bit easier to plan. I had some help from friends in get-
• Plastic veg boxes: €518 ting set up with some simple excel formulas, which was
nice since I had no prior experience. It was an interest-
• Cash desk: €1,060 ing process to sit in front of the computer day after day
to figure out the what, when and how until steam was
Our running costs add up to €5,900: coming out of my ears.
Even though I thought I’d done quite an alright job on
• Seeds: €1,200 my crop plan, it turned out to be a disaster. I was eager
on getting as much as I could out of one bed and that

254
 was my biggest mistake, I guess. When it was time for
the first bed flip, the crop was still in the ground and
my seedlings were ready. Luckily, I had put up a few ex-
tra beds that could be used for random plantings, and
I just used those instead. At that point, the whole plan
shifted and nothing fit anymore. I tried to correct things
on the plan for about a month, but it felt like a bit of a
waste of time. At this point, I realised that some of the
crops I didn’t need to grow as much of, such as radish-
es, spring onions or Asian greens. I got feedback from
some clients and also saw that they weren’t selling well
in the farm shop. So, I discarded the whole crop plan
and instead wrote a new one by hand and simply put
in how many successions I wanted for the rest of the
year. I planted where there was space and decided quite
From monoculture to diverse ecosystem. intuitively. This worked quite well; maybe I didn’t get
the most out of the garden, but I learnt a lot from that
big mistake.
I guess I could already fill this whole story with things
that went wrong and didn’t work; with seedlings that
didn’t turn out well, bad germination in the beds and
the propagation, slugs destroying a hole bed of lettuce,
aphids on beans, a blight on cucumbers, 3 beds of auber-
gines produced only one or two fruits… But I still man-
aged to have a full and quite a diverse box every week,
and that was the most important thing. And maybe we
could have made more profit in the first season, but
more than anything it was so important to have made
these experiences as they made me aware of aspects that
need better planning, more care, a different seed vari-
ety or a better set-up. Another thing that I started to
understand is the use of different micro-climates; since
After the clearing. The beginning of the third year on we have a very hot side and a shady side, which has its
the farm. benefits.
The weeding was quite annoying throughout the sea-
son. Some of the blocks had quite stubborn weeds like
sorrel, dandelion, cinquefoil, couch grass and bindweed
in them, and they grew right through both the layer of
cardboard and 15cm of compost. But we managed to
stay on top of them and get most of it out by just doing
some weeding by hand.
One of the biggest challenges for me was the work-life
balance. Managing a relationship and having a son at
the same time as starting up the business wasn’t easy. It’s
the moment where one’s partner expects you to be there
the most, yet the work outside never really finished.

Our current vision

The market garden set and ready for its first produc-
tion season. If we go back to day one when Lisa and I arrived at the
255
farm, there was no clear vision nor any sort of master and ego-guided actions into very harmonic communi-
plan in our minds. It evolved over time and as we gained cation.
more knowledge and experience, but also with having a
child which shifted a lot of responsibilities, expectations Our challenges
and desires. It the beginning our business mindset was
not very strong. That partly had to do with the fact that One big challenge on the farm is access to water. We are
we didn’t know what we were doing or where we wanted part of a water cooperative consisting of various farm-
to head, but also that we were both earning our money ers who have a common well, and we only have access
elsewhere. She had the journalism and I had the cater- to the water 3 times a week, and only from 3 pm to 6
ing, which was great because it created a good resource pm. I don’t want to irrigate through drip irrigation, and
base. watering in the middle of the day in the summer isn’t
Coming from high-end gastronomy and having worked sensible. Some areas of the farm are very exposed to
all my life in fine-dining restaurants, I felt a certain ne- the heat, so evaporation and surface dry-out is quite in-
cessity to do something with my skill-set, and I guess tensive. Having put up tree lanes of semi-vigorous fruit
every chef who is passionate about his work at some trees will help in the long run, I think. It’s difficult to get
point has the desire to start his own restaurant and a different slot on the watering schedule, but that would
even if possible be involved in the actual production be ideal. There are a lot of options as to what we can do,
of the products. Seeing the potential in this was what but it sort of works for now and we want to solve this
was driving my desire to achieve it. Lisa helped me to issue in the best and most permanent way.
understand that just because there is potential in some- I guess the biggest challenge was really to establish
thing, it doesn’t mean you have to manifest it. I started good basic communication between all of us, where ev-
to understand that a restaurant on the farm would com- eryone gets to address their desires, feelings, visions and
promise too much and would draw me away from the problems. I think that through a lot of arguing, shouting
production side that I was so interested in. So, we dis- at each other, making peace again, and then some more
carded that plan completely, and before I knew it I was arguing and misunderstandings and some more shout-
really into market gardening. ing at each other, we developed a better feel for one
Looking at things now, the farm has clear roles, struc- another and started to respect each other more. There
tures and boundaries. We have a goal, or maybe more is something about different generations being in the
precisely a context, that we work toward which helps same boat. Starting all together as one team, we realised
us navigate our way to a successful and happy hard- that to be successful, we would have to ‘split up’ in a way
working lifestyle with an intense summer season and and have separate areas of management. To me, that
a bit slower winter. Having had the opportunity to run was one of the biggest changes that pushed things in the
my own catering business and being confronted with right direction. With our son being born and with us
constant decision-making and planning has helped me taking on more responsibility and being successful in
get real about what it takes to run a successful business. what we’re trying to achieve with these unfamiliar tech-
Also, having such a big team at hand, all with their own niques (no-dig), I have noticed a reaction to that in the
perspective and skill-set really benefits the whole enor- older generation; they want to pass things on to us, and
mously. they are proud of us.
I think the major thing that has changed is that every
person now has their role on the farm. Hanspeter and I Plans for the future
have set clear boundaries around the area that we man-
age. We have a direction and a clear vision of what we There are a few things that we want to make happen:
want to achieve, as a business but also as a family. We
have a broader skill-set compared to when we started, • Find more time for family as well as time away from
and a wider perspective of what farming means to us. the farm.
We have a standard routine that helps bring a certain
structure into our daily lives. For me that is something • Get good at market gardening and perfecting what
I enjoy; with many different tasks, having a certain there is to perfect.
rhythm is quite important. And most of all I feel that
the relationship dynamics have shifted from discussions • At least double the revenue of the farm income.
256
• Start selling seedlings to private customers that come
through the farm.

• Do cut flowers. There is a big demand for it, we just

need to find the right customers.

• Expand to the last parts that are still empty and estab-
lish that area with more perennial plantings.

• Get some animals in for homesteading purposes.

• Slowly increase the diversity of processed products

(cider, vinegar, more fermented foods)

• Maybe start doing microgreens during the summer

months. What romantic moments look like after becoming
parents.
• Build an outdoor kitchen and an area to have pop-ups
during the summer months.

• Have longer winter breaks.

• Create more permanent access to water.

• Start offering courses about regenerative farming

methods.

Startup advice

I think the way we started was unique. We had land. All

of us already had our own business or were building it,
and therefore didn’t rely on a farm income. We had lots
of time, and also financial support from our families. The first harvest of the season.
What we didn’t have was a solid business plan and the
skills to do what we are doing now. We could live on the
farm and didn’t have any big expenses. It took us nearly
5 years to get to the point where we are now. I guess
if I would have worked one or two seasons somewhere
else, at a place that is similar to ours and have that sort
of mindset, we probably could have done it in less than
that. On the other hand, there was so much else that
happened in those five years, like having a kid, renovat-
ing our apartment and establishing my own business.
I must say I’m quite happy about how we did things. I
think learning by doing is a very effective way to gain
skills and knowledge.
So, if you don’t have the same resource base, I could
see the benefit of working at someone else’s place to ac-
quire skills. But even so, there will always be things that An evening stroll through the market garden with the
you will pick up on the way. So, my best advice is: make real boss.
257
 sure you are passionate about this and be sure you want
to work hard and long hours. It’s good to be financially
solid and to have done a fair amount of research about
what it is you want to manage. Start small and grow big-
ger over time. And think about what you want to spend
your money on in the beginning. Other than that, do
whatever brings you joy and happiness.

The first patch of the herb garden.

One of the weekly boxes.

Inside the farm shop.

258
Jakob Haller and Lisa Kager
Hof des Wandels, Italy
____________________________

MAIN ENTERPRISES:

Market garden / Processed products

MAIN SALES CHANNELS:

CSA / Farm shop / Restaurants

____________________________

AREA IN PRODUCTION: 1HA

STARTUP YEAR: 2020
STARTUP INVESTMENT: €28,478
REVENUE: €28,720
NET PROFIT: €242
______

website / instagram / facebook

259