Why I’ll always keep my microgreens farm micro-scale
And when I say micro-scale, I don’t mean micro profit. I want to clear that up from the off. Sometimes from an outsider’s view, the bigger the business, the bigger the profit must be, but that’s not necessarily true.
In today’s blog post, I want to outline the reasons why keeping your microgreens farm business small-scale can create a satisfying balance in your life and will always be my preference for my own microgreens farm.
Last week’s blog post was all about setting out your intentions for your business. You need to do this right from the start, because your subsequent planning will then be designed around reaching your intended goals.
Once you’ve started successfully growing a few trays of microgreens and your research into local customer streams is positive, then I highly recommend you answer the following questions before doing anything else, to help set your intentions for your business:
1. Income
How much you’d like, or need, to make from your business?
2. Time
How much time would you like to spend doing it each week?
3. Enjoyment
Which bits do you enjoy the most? Then make sure these are regularly present in your business model and work schedule.
Then design your business to achieve these goals.
There’s always the possibility that you might want to go medium or even larger-scale with your microgreens farm, and that’s fine, you just scale up your current set up. And by larger-scale I mean - renting out large premises, having several paid staff members, national distribution etc. However, for the sake of today’s post, I want to very much fly the flag for small and micro-scale microgreens farming.
Firstly, this is what I mean by micro-scale microgreens farming (and there’s obviously a spectrum here, but generally it will include):
Keeping your microgreens business at home, whether that’s in your house or an out building in your garden.
Just you as the sole worker, or you and someone else part time.
Supplying your microgreens locally yourself, or possibly regionally by a small distributor.
When I first started my microgreens farm back in 2017, I was really clear that I wanted to make a comfortable living (£25K+ for me), in as little time as possible, in the smallest space I could get away with to make this happen. And I’ve kept working towards this ever since; continually tweaking my systems and business model to get the balance just right for me. I’ve always wanted to keep the whole operation small, efficient and under control. I also love being part of a community of independent businesses and particularly independent food businesses, so that’s who I wanted to supply in the beginning and have a connection with.
It’s time well spent really thinking about what you want to get out of your business. Microgreens farming is great in that you can do it at any scale. It’s not an all or nothing business and you can scale it gradually. So properly think about your intentions, write them down, then write a plan of action of how you can achieve that.
Nell’s Urban Greens’ Grow House, Spring 2022
The top 5 reasons why I love the micro-scale microgreens farming business model:
1. It’s cheaper to run.
You generally won’t be paying recurring rent or staff costs - 2 of the biggest overheads in business. This will also keep your business resilient during times of recession / global pandemic / whatever else the world wants to throw at us, as your overheads will remain small (and at zero if you ever have to stop your business for a while).
2. It’s neater to run with less extra faff involved.
No ongoing staff training, staff meetings, additonal admin, more thinking. Less faff = better sleep at night!
3. The short grow cycles of microgreens AND keeping this micro-scale means it’s a very flexible business model.
You can design your work schedule around your life pretty easily. If you start to get too large, then there’s much less wiggle space for this. I (intentionally) tested the boundaries of my farm last summer. I wanted to see how much revenue we could make at capacity out of the Grow House. Revenue and profit was high, but I decided to scale it back after the trial so I could stay true to my original intentions of just spending a set amount of time on the business each week.
4. You get to meet your customers.
If you stay small-scale, chances are you’ll be doing some (or all) of the deliveries yourself, which enables you to form a real connection with your customers. I love this part of the job! It’s great for feeling part of a community, chatting to people who are benefitting from your produce and learning how different customers are using your microgreens. This insight is so useful for helping you to develop your business too, particularly when you first start out.
5. You can compete with larger companies on produce quality.
Microgreens don’t travel well. Chances are that your microgreens will arrive in a much better condition, and will therefore have a longer shelf life, than microgreens that have been delivered by a second party distributor and may have lost a few days in storage. The same goes for microgreens found on the shelves in supermarkets. The aim is to get your micros to your customers as soon as possible after harvest. Same day is great, but within 24 hours is fine too and will still be of a great quality if they’ve been stored correctly.
5. You can still make a good living from operating on a micro-scale.
And this is the best bit!
Ultimately, the important thing to remember:
Microgreens are highly profitable crops and people love to eat them. This means that you can turn a really great profit in a small space and not work long hours doing it. If this is your ultimate intention for your microgreens business, then a micro or small-scale business model is definitely the way to go.
My own microgreens farm profited around £30K last financial year, using a growing and processing space of 3m x 6m in around 35 total labour hours a week.
So if this is your ball park financial aim (or less), then micro-scale will work for you. I’ll always recommend eliminating as much extra faff and potential stress as possible whenever you can. Keeping your microgreens farm tight, small and under control, whilst still being profitable enough for you, should be your goal. In my opinion.
If you’re keen to run an enjoyable & successful, small-scale microgreens business this year, then my 14-page Mini UK Microgreens Business Guide is a great starting point to find out how to do it.
Download now to get it sent straight to your inbox!
In your guide, you’ll get:
5 great reasons for starting a microgreens business in the UK right now
A basic equipment list
A step-by-step guide to growing and harvesting radish shoots and pea shoots, including UK pricing suggestions and profit margins.
A how-to guide to selling your microgreens to chefs, restaurants and your local community.