Closing my business

[garentee]

I am in the process of moving on from my thriving 11 year old farm business. I do not wish to get out of farming altogether, but in order for me to be a better farmer/businessman it seems to be smart to stop what I am doing where I am doing it, stop the financial bleeding, right the ship and diversify. I am wondering if there are others out there who have taken a bit of time off from running a business only to return to it in a different form a year or two later and what were some of the adjustments that you needed to make. I raise high quality vegetables and dable in some livestock, and want to diversify into prepared food.. I feel that time off due to burnout of doing vegetable growing only for 11 years solid is the best solution..Thanks G

[rhonda524]

What kind of prepared food are you considering?

[garentee]

Food prepared from my vegetable growing... pizza is one idea ....If I get in to raising pigs it would be pretty cool to sell BLTs at farmers markets..... things like that...

[Nectarine]

If you like what you do and want to do it differently why dont you do it ?
The worst things that can happen is that it fails and you will have your old business to fall back on, so i say GO FOR IT! Sounds like a good idea.. mmmm fresh BLT's.

Sincerily Kim

[Dreamline]

How about hydroponics? I've always been fascinated by them. You could do a solar powered system, less reliance on the grid. Playing into the country's recent "green" and "organic" fetish. Do seminars and tours. Teach others how to do it...


Jennifer

[ArthurHung]

What a great question. Wondering if there are others with similar experiences. And I'm sure there are. For my own part, I'm more interested in the vibe I get from this post. I know you start out describing your business as thriving and go on to talk about stopping financial bleeding. I take it, things have changed. Also, I notice you mention you feel a break is the best solution, and I always recommend people trust their feelings. Still, there seems to be a bit of confusion and some assumptions regarding the situation.

Manifesting things in physical reality is generally not as difficult or confusing as much as the population currently thinks. The process generally involves knowing, acknowledging and appreciating ones current situation as well as knowing, acknowledging and appreciating a new situation one desires. Once that's established, it is simply about taking steps consistently whether big or small, towards that goal. There is only one outcome: you eventually get there. This journey can happen slow or fast and it is generally best to not be attached or concerned or worried about how long it takes.

And the very act of being relaxed and stress free about it will almost certainly make it come faster, so for myself, if I wanted to diversify or branch out with my business I would visualize or write down what exactly I wanted to happen. If I saw myself catering or selling prepared foods, I would visualize a prepared food stand or prepared food packaging or prepared food distribution. Maybe I'd look on craigslist for people who might help. Whatever I did, they'd be consistent steps, small or big towards my goal. If one of those steps is a break, and that feels right, then great; if that's a long break, also great. If it's a short one, maybe that's even better. The trick is to realize exactly how simple the process of making things happen is. Anyway, that's my current perspective and what I have to offer and I appreciate what you're doing and wish you all the success in the world.

[James81]

Originally Posted by garentee

Food prepared from my vegetable growing... pizza is one idea ....If I get in to raising pigs it would be pretty cool to sell BLTs at farmers markets..... things like that...

There is a local farm near where I work, and not only do they grow vegetables and sell meat and stuff, but they are also a restaraunt and people LOVE their food (because it's fresh and farm grown).

Perhaps you could think about opening up a building where you sell your vegetables, sell ice cream, sell meat, but also have a menu for people to buy from?

I know the farm here that does that seems like it's really successful.

[rhonda524]

If you dabble in livestock and want to do the farmers market think have you ever sold your meat there. I am in the process of helping a friend market his grass-fed beef. I know that isn't really prepared but it can be good financially and maybe different from what you are doing now.

[garentee]

Thanks for all your replies... I guess the one thing I have to say is that my business has never been better as far as what I grow and what I can sell to whom and for what price... That said nothing I do at the farm is sustainable. not physically, not emotionally, not financially... and the soil conditions are not sustainable either. The issue at hand is basically I have been renting this land for the past 11 years and working it on my own(with some help) I am a one man show though as far as managing it goes and that is where I get myself into trouble..Even with the high quality help I have right now I know that I am past the point of no return here. My decision has been made to leave after this season.. I have the freedom to return if I so desire .... I am not certain that I will, There is no one issue that is causing me to decide this rather a large amount of seperate and unrelated issues. No matter what I grow I can sell it and for top dollar because I grow high quality produce.... Still though at the end of the day it is farming and it costs an enormous amount of money to produce this stuff and the weather can turn on a dime and ruin a lot of produce.
I do not desire to leave agriculture at all... I love what I do immensely... I just know that this particular situation has run its course and if and when another opportunity should arise to farm in a different setting with some major pieces in place, I will certainly do what I can to make it happen...
I guess really one of the major pieces to this puzzle that makes it difficult is that the family I rent from is amazingly dysfunctional and there are events that have reached into my efforts to diversify... As I said above there are a lot of reasons why this is happening and I think that it is ultimately a good choice..