What to Spend Money on when Setting up your Microgreens Farm from Scratch
How much does it cost to get a microgreens business set up and running is probably one of the most common questions I get asked. And rightly so! What do you need and what’s the investment? You need to know if you can afford to set this business up in the first place and then approx how long it will take to get a return on your investment.
The good news is that a microgreens business can be set up inexpensively and be profitable quickly.
And that’s the beauty of small-scale microgreens farming from home. You can literally get this business started on a shoestring. You can try it out to see if it works and you enjoy it, with very little up-front investment.
In today’s blog post, I’ll be outlining what’s best to spend your initial cash on to get your busienss up and running and profitable.
To start your microgreens business from scratch, your money is best spent on the following 7 items:
1. Microgreens seeds from a reputable UK supplier. I highly recommend getting your seeds from Grow Sow Greener based in Devon, UK.
2. Compost. Fresh, fine textured, peat-free is the best. I love using Melcourt’s Sylva Grow.
3. Seed trays and bottom watering tray (any size is fine to start with).
4. A warm, brightish window sill. If you don’t have any, then a simple rack and grow lights is your next go-to (see scaling up further down the post).
5. A sharp knife or scissors for harvesting.
6. Clear, recycled plastic packaging. I like to get mine from Cater4you.
7. Good training. So you know what equipment to use, seed to buy and exactly how to run your business properly. Grabbing some training early on is time and money very well spent.
I'm a huge advocate of not shelling out a load of cash on equipment before you know if you're going to even enjoy the day to day running of the business. I know how tempting it is once you get excited about it all to buy a load of kit straight away, but honestly, just get your inexpensive basic supplies, some training and start growing.
Then whilst you're doing that, research your local area for potential customers. Even start by just giving them out to friends and family and getting their feedback. It will give you the confidence in the quality of your microgreens for when you start selling them to the public.
Scaling Up
Further down the line, if you then realise you’re enjoying the process and you have local customers to sell your greens to, you may then want to scale up your operation to the next stage. The main costs equipment-wise to do this, include:
✔️ 1 (or more) grow racks costing around £120/each (Costco),
✔️ Grow Lights costing around £10-£15 each (Barina LED battens),
✔️ Microgreens Commercial Grow Trays at £2.99 each to maximise your production space (Grown Local)
A bit of my story from when I started in 2017: Nell’s Urban Greens, Leeds, UK
I grew my crops on the window sills of our conservatory for the first 6 months of my business. I’d spent less than £100 to get set up and going at this point and was profitting £150/week selling to local chefs and our neighbours.
I was in profit after the first 3 months of being in business. When I eventually maxed out my window sills, I went full time on my microgreens business and did a mini scale-up to the set up above. I was still using my cheap flimsy seed trays and small cheap racks. At this point I was profitting around £300 - £400 / week and was only buying my consumables - seed, compost, packaging, labels.
The profit made from these first 3 years paid me a small wage and was enough to pay 70% towards the cost of my new Grow House in the garden. When production started in the Grow House, business profit tripled.
My advice is always the same to any new potential microgreens business owner: Start small, grow gradually, reinvest your profits.
That way your microgreens business will be much more sustainable over time.
(Oh and to help your business growth as much as possible, I highly recommend keeping your business at home! Particularly when you’re starting out and testing the market. It will be no fun having to grow a huge amount of greens each week to just cover your premises rent and utilities. Only move out (if at all!), if you’re certain the market’s there to support the expansion).
Earlier this year, I made a brand new online course for those of you who are at your planning, trial grows, market research and first sales stage. It takes away all the guess-work of how to do this properly and will save you loads of time and cash.
The course is called Micro Steps and it enables you to properly test the waters to see if pursuing a successful microgreens business is for you.
Through step-by-step tutorials, you’ll be able to grow your first crops to a commercial standard along with me. Then learn exactly how to sell these to paying customers.
It’s open now! Click below for the details:
