Market Gardening For A Living

Earning potential for market gardening an acre or so

Via Lynn Byczinski in a 2013 article on Mother Earth News, "Earning potential of a market garden"

A rule of thumb in market gardening is that one person working full-time can handle about 1 acre of intensive production. In this model, at least one person, and often two, work full-time on the farm with little or no hired help. They grow a wide array of crops, but with a particular focus on high-dollar crops, such as salad mix, heirloom tomatoes, and cut flowers; and they sell in diverse markets, including farmers markets, to restaurants, and through a community-supported agriculture (CSA) component.

An acre in square feet is 43,560, and:

During the Middle Ages, an acre was the amount of land that could be ploughed in one day with a yoke of oxen, a rectangle measuring four rods by one furlong, yielding 4,840 square yards.

And Byczinski continues:

The amount of money that can be earned per acre on this type of farm varies considerably, based on the length of the growing season and differences in management practices. It could be $20,000 per acre for mixed vegetables to $35,000 an acre or more for high-dollar salad mix, herbs, or cut flowers. Whatever the per-acre revenue, the margin on this type of farm consistently runs at about 50 to 60 percent, which is considered a very good margin. At this scale, farmers rarely hire labor, preferring to do the work themselves rather than managing other people. They purchase only basic tools and equipment. The bulk of expenses on this type of farm are for seeds, plants, and supplies.

And the same size, but part time:

Despite those constraints, it is not unusual for a part-time farmer to gross $10,000 to $15,000 an acre on produce and flowers and to net about half that amount.

She has a book on this as well, from Chelsea Green a publisher who is usually pretty good.

There's also a good document by Ann Slater on the Canadian Organic Grower's site, where she's talking about growing on 1.5 acres:

Can a small-scale market garden provide a reasonable second or only income to the farmer or farm family? In 2004, my gross farm income was $28,000 and in addition there was fresh, stored and preserved produce for myself and six other family members. I sell almost all of my produce within ten kilometers of my farm, in the town of St. Marys. Of the $28,000, $13,500 came from selling at farmers' markets and $11,700 came from my 37-member CSA program.

And her top 10 selling/producing vegetables:

Lettuce and mixed salad greens ~$4800
Tomatoes ~ $4000
Potatoes ~ $2300
Spinach ~$2000
Beans ~$2000
Peas ~ $1500
Carrots ~$1400
Summer squash ~ $1400
Beets ~$1300
Winter squash ~ $1100

She talks about double and triple cropping in one season:

With limited market garden space, I rely on double cropping to increase my planting area and extend my season. Lettuce, spinach, salad greens, bok choi and radishes are all easily double- or triple-cropped. Carrots, summer squash, cucumbers and late cole crops can be planted following early leaf or pea crops. After early potatoes are harvested, late leaf crops can be planted. Likewise, beans and beets can follow early lettuce.

She doesn't want to grow most of the cabbages either, I love this attitude:

I am going to stop growing most cole crops because they take more space than is appropriate for the income they return. However, I will continue growing Brussels sprouts and kale because they bring in cash late in the season. The crops that give me the best return for the area they use in the garden are lettuce, salad greens, beets, beans and spinach.

And there is some great advice for how you can price your produce by pricing your time spent harvesting and processing:

A good starting point is to expect $30 to $40 for each hour you put into harvesting and getting produce ready for market.If it took you an hour to pick a bushel of beans, you should get $30 or $40 for those beans at market. If you are not getting this minimum return, you can raise the price or sell in smaller quantities (you can usually get more by selling in quart boxes than in bushel baskets). Or you can streamline your harvest and preparation operation, or use the garden space for something more economically viable.

As you gain experience, you should be able to pick and prepare produce for market more efficiently and should be able to bring in more than $30 to $40 per hour of harvest and preparation.

Some excellent advice all around, and I'm interested seeing that their ballpark figures are not so far outside of my ballpark figures, even if my calculations or production models are a little different.