How are farming and white-collar work a lot alike, you may wonder? In either case, you can rent the space to make it happen. Matt Conver is part of a growing trend of young people who are leasing farmland from property owners, and he is reaping plenty of what he sows at Cherry Grove Organic Farm! In Matt’s case, a combination of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) revenue and farmers market sales pay the bills to support his family, allowing his wife (a trained social worker) to stay home with the kids.
If you live in an area with existing farmland or land that is suitable for farming, you will most likely need money to get started. BeginningFarmers.org is a great resource for loans and grants specific to farming. When you have things up and running, you may want to offer CSA shares to cover some of your initial expenses and this site will help get the word out to potential customers (also a great site to find a CSA in your area and support your local farmers!).
And finally, a salute to America’s farmers- yes indeed, “they’re farmin’ and they grow it”!
This is another segment in CareerFuel’s “How America Works” series, a collection of job search and small business success stories! Do you have a small business success story? If so, we would love to hear about it!
For another great small business story, meet this social entrepreneur!
Video production by darQlight Studios
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