I could think of alot of Job opportunities better than the dreaded cubical. The idea of those capable & wanting the indenpendence of self employment are most miserable when they can't quite bridge that cap to true financial freedom. And really it will work in his favor to diligently find that niche to break free from surrendering to wholesale discounted bulk sales. His heart is doing what HE loves. Be blessed.
Other than 7 days a week one must commit to cause once you start hard to squeeze in any vacation for a week or two unless you get big enough to pay somebody and TRUST to do the right job
Hey Diego, if you are ever in Belgium always welcome at our farm. We are seeding over 1.000 trays a week and are automating a lot of stuff. Last week with the holiday we sold over 230kilos of microgreens mostly to retail.
Our plan as to what to do with excess that can't be 'sold' or bartered out, is more valuable to us as chicken/hog feed, and even the cows as a treat. With that said...grow excess knowing you can be ready instantly to snag a huge, sudden order...or just have chicken chow for almost free. Rotate greens likely to hit a peak price and feed them to the chicks if you guessed wrong. Sort of a win win without the frustration when you your wrong.
I kind of noticed the nature of the biz after a few grows. Good to highlight that in this video. However: 90% of jobs are repetitive, it just depends on what you favor.
Since lot of it seems to be not too demanding on our brain space, we can use harvesting time to listen audiobooks, learn a new language (like french :-), or listen to your favorites podcasts
@@simonlepage2217 Yup, Bible study,, creation science, spending time praying and speaking with our Creator,, Thank Lord for His Son Jesus sacrifice for our sin. Shalom
@@patrickcash864 yo bro want to be new micro green buddies or something, just like share ideas and help keep eachother consistent, this is literally so random but i wouldn't mind bouncing ideas off of one another lol
@@ellgonzales6165 I told my fiance and she didn't seem interested. She's got her own crafting business that is getting some air beneath it and I'd like to supplement our incomes at least enough to afford the roof over out heads for starters so we don't have to worry about income and focus more on our passion projects. Ofcourse this would be my endeavor and it's simple enough to to have time for ourselves. Btw I'm a doordasher and make my living that way as of right now so I pretty much have all the time in the world... Picked up some seasonal plants for the first time ever since I don't work a traditional 9-5.
How many people in the NYC-5 boroughs are looking at this and thinking;, “ I could try this”. I can never tell if this is a great “ new idea for this area” or a flooded market. Awesome content! Super appreciate the knowledge. Thank you.
That's so great that Sonoma Farm shared all their knowledge. I was never thinking about doing this commercially (just for my own food) but found it very interesting.
This was a great video; thanks Diego! I'm considering leaving my career as a product experience manager to produce microgreens instead. I appreciate that this video focuses on some of the challenges and not just the margins.
Rent? Insurance? Taxes for profit business? Any business trying to compete with a subsidized operation like that, would need a massive size to break even.
Something that I've always been interested is using business structure to maximize revenues. Most farms seem to be for profit(sole proprietor up to corporation). Its interesting to hear Geoff Lawton in one of your vids talk about the benefits of being a non-profit. This particular farm is a non-profit. Seems to be an unexplored area of farming. Not all states have laws in place to allow for them, but cooperatives can offer amazing benefits to farmers as well. In my senior thesis, analyzing (agriculture/utility) cooperatives in Hawaii, the financial advantage cooperatives gained was in having no tax obligation. Some of them paid above average wages for the area as well. How many homesteads and small farm are currently using business structure to reduce their tax obligation?
Excellent point. According to their financials this particular operation receives grants. Its a wonderful program that assists autistic adults. That being said, It brings up the issue of a non profit that is able to compete with a commercial operation. Is that fair competition ? A for profit company would not be able to compete. . Just a thought
Any business you have that delivers a product is for the most product systematized. If you want a normal life.. you need to hire people ... and even then you’ll have full days. As an entrepreneur micro greens are looking very attractive.
@@doomyoda7298Damn. Im about to start. Buying a rack today. How were you looking to start? I am going to go for larry hountz’ system. Will link video. Have you heard of him?
I really appreciate your questions and analysis-very thought provoking and hence more informative than just the "basic" type of question. The Sonoma Farm guy said that one of his major expenses was the soil. I'm wondering if growing hydroponically would be any cheaper. Anyone have any thoughts on that?
I have found that the small seeds (arugula, Wasabi, broccoli)germinate and grow better hydroponically the large seeds grow better in soil just my experience so far check out Larry hydrocity Hydrofarm on CZcams he has great videos
Personally I'm trying to find alternative methods of growing microgreens that help eliminate the majority of the issues in the video, hydro/aeroponics and cheap diy automation seems to be promising for both scalability and value.
@@lazyh-online4839 I just made a box out of dry wall and zip tie with a air intake booster. not a full intake fan. cut holes on one side for air intake thn the other side for ventilation and cover it with air filters to get dust. the box is 4 feet long by 2 foot height for the t5 I'm using and 2 feet wide to fit standard trays. I use seedling soils with organic amendments for a tiney boost(a super small amount) and distilled water from walmart or homemade.then I harvest and put in paper bags. paper bag and they last about a week in the fridge. then I take the used soil put it in a 5 gallon bucket and let it dry out fully. deroot it then flush it then reuse the old soil infinitely. no by product no nothing. just the watts from the wall. which is 48watt for a 4 foot t5 led. I get 2 trays done week and a half and I dont sell it. it's just the perfect amount for me. brocolli sunflowers spinach and kale r my mains
@@JJN603 sounds awesome. I wanted to grow more because we were considering selling and since I have worked in manufacturing my whole life I wanted to try my hand at making something to grow them more consistently and efficiently without as much labor involved.
what do your wholesale customers look like on the high-end scale of trays they take per week vs the low end? Let me rephrase that I have just started growing microgreens and I am still learning and looking towards selling them in the future; like 9 months so I can get more shelves going and different crops. As of now, I have 2 working shelves with only a total of 3 broccoli trays every 4 days for harvest. I calculated I can produce 8 harvests on a long month, so 24 trays of broccoli per month. I will be experimenting with radishes in January after I have bought 2 more selves for production. I am curious when I should be able to afford a wholesale customer based on your lowest quantity customer vs your average vs your high quantity customer. I don't want to pitch a wholesale customer without having the needed growth I can afford. Sorry for the long comment I just felt I needed to explain my situation. Thank you for your time.
Thanks for your personal integrity in presenting this information. Some of the main microgreen CZcams guys are not telling the whole story. Especially those guys who are selling grow kits or books.
I almost got sucked into the CZcams creator trap myself. While we do gross $3-5k per week it is a great challenge to be legitimately profitable. Just ask my wife 😂. If growing and selling microgreens were as profitable as some of the CZcamsrs say they were, they wouldn’t be spending their time coming up with courses to sell to others. Im all about maximizing revenue streams but growing a few racks and then calling yourself an expert “buy my course” just seems like bullshit to me.
Look at all that space above those plants you could put like 20 more rows but you’ll need some more lights. I think it will work out economically 🤔pretty sure about that
Very interesting video, thanks very much. I am often surprised that the flood and drain system isn't more popular as basic biology tells us that the roots are for water absorption and the leaves are for CO2 absorption. Most plants can use very little water effectively through their foliage (most less than 5% as opposed to 95% by roots) and as mentioned in the vid increases the risk of mould and fungal infections tremendously especially in crops like microgreens that are so dense.
I appreciate your asking the questions about the economics of the system for this grower. I would like to know how much the 'suppliers' pay for their product (15 or 20+ dollars/tray) and what do they charge for that unit and who do they sell to. The reason for this question is are the current system of food production profitable to the top end distributer? Which I think it is. If someone were to understand the the big picture then the farmer and distributer may really need a profit sharing system to really make it possible for the farmer to make a living. I live in Iowa now and a large percent of farmers (soy and corn) have jobs as well as farm their land. They also have to meet short falls by taking loans out on their land. The current system is probably not sustainable for the farmers but the people that set the commodity price for farmers and price for restaurants and food markets seem to always make a profit. It has always been messed up in America. and can that be corrected? Like the fellow from Belgium down the list below sells to retail.
These are easy to grow for individual use. I would expect a lot of people to start growing for themselves. Everything is readily available online to plant a few trays for personal use.
Nope Polypropylene trays leaches 126 chemicals and is not food safe. Go ahead and use Municipal toilet flush water. Be sure to add your daily million emitted microbes. I refuse to eat anyone elses mics. YourhTube $100,000 a year income garantead.
And you make chickens happy! I see some reds, coocoo marans, welsummers, buff orphingtons and are those silver laced welsummers? Good job keep up the good work.
I am growing my microgreens in two sizes of small round recyclable trays (clear drip trays for pots). It takes more love and care but I feel it ends up being worth it because they are more profitable for the amount of space they use. I am selling them alive at the farmers market for $5 and $8 per tray. I use a ground coco coir fiber as the medium and don’t use any hydrogen peroxide anymore. They are true organic hydroponic plants. No nutrients, fertilizers, or chemicals used during the whole process. I’ve only seen mold starting in a couple trays and those I will dump, clean the tray, and start a new crop in them. Everything is grown on a wire shelf rack under T5 fluorescent lights in a spare bedroom. Depending on the size of the rack, with 4 foot racks each shelf has potentially $188 of profit per crop, minus supply costs which are under $1 per tray. I have a variety of different plants on each shelf and avoid cross contamination because they are in their own trays and watered by hand. I’ve tried the 10/20 trays and it seems they are more useful for wholesale deals, so I’ll go back to that if I ever start supplying restaurants or whoever else for wholesale amounts.
he has a pretty sweet deal. The non-profit pays him and the laborers. THEN he gets to make profit from what he grows in the farm, all because he provides the non-profit with the microgreens as well. What an insane trade off.
Very different production to the hydroponics on shelves with grow-lights that I've been watching. I think I prefer the hydroponics but I'd love to see someone making their own nutrient solution instead of just buying this input - and also, I'd love to see someone growing their own seed supply in their garden.
Utilize vertical easily with a football stadium design for the seating... Instead of people in the stadium thousands and thousands of trays... Trucks can roll into the infield for easy loading and unloading... Cart could be used in the walkways between the levels and then you have to use artificial lighting at night to make it absolutely flourish 🛐📈
One thing I've heard about electric harvesting tools is they don't get as clean of a cut as a knife, leading to shorter shelf life. I wonder if this is the case with the harvester in this video or not.
I saw a guy who grows all his microgreens on coconut fiber pads. There's no cutting he sells that whole sheet to the customers and it has a better shelf life than cut greens. That's the way I'd do it for sure if I did this.
I know this is a very late comment but hopefully it'll get a reply: What type of 1020 trays are being used so that you can bottom water? I've so far only seen trays w/ no holes in the bottom of them.
Ya hippies....sometimes you gotta go to wrk and actually work! I've been in and out of farms for years and the ones who dont succeed are the ones who forget it's not just farm- fun....its farm-buisness too.
FYI. Hydrogen Peroxide is great, except that the growth of salmonella explodes with it. If you decide to continue using it. A 35% (or 70%) peroxide with an injector works very well.
We have done a podcast on this subject. Long story short there are seed growers who grow seed for a variety of purposes and microgreens are one of those purposes amongst many.
@@DiegoFooter thanks, I'll look for it. I was trying to picture in my mind, how an all around farm would look, one that produced the soil, the seed, and then the micro greens.
We use 30ml of 35% Hydrogen Peroxide per litre of water. If you google “Peroxide Microgreens anti fungal” you’ll find the right ratio per percentage of HP you can source. 35% is what we buy from a cleaning company and it has to be stored in the fridge to retain its percentage.
Yes for mold. But realy it's a relitve humity problem. All that water and shade makes it easier for damping off to de develop. They need more air movement and control of over irigation.
Is micro greens the only way to make a profit ? Every time I go to the farmers market, there are half the farms selling them. That’s ok , but I like diversity in my foods. Also greens in general are everywhere at the markets. Please make some videos that are non greens . Thanks in advance
You can't. Most other crops, besides tomatoes, simply are not profitable enough to grow on a small scale. Small scale farms have to be niche and greens are that niche.
I have a pricing question. Perhaps someone could help. I keep hearing that you can get 20ish dollars for a 10x20 tray. I have been making about 8 per of broccoli and radish. I checked at a local CSA that sells the same and my price is slightly higher per oz. Is the 20 dollar estimate on the high end or did I misinterpret something? Been selling at farmers market for 8 weeks and have sold out of everything 6 weeks.
OPs market is local upscale wineries and whole selling to San Francisco. You may be taking home less than that, but you probably have less overhead than OP. OP says he needs to sell about 500 trays a month to break even on costs and labor (for one employee and him).
most people are getting 2.00-3.00 for 2 oz of greens here in NC. if you get 1 lb of greens per tray then you can base price off per pound and break it down in OZ or sell per OZ. greens per OZ will always Net more profit for you. im gettin 27.00 per lb for most of the greens im selling to local chef's.
TacticalCoffee where are you located in NC. I am just starting to grow microgreens for my family but one day down the road I may be interested in selling. But I want to learn first and see what others are doing so I don’t screw up. Thanks. I am close to Fuquay-Varina.
Selling to distributors means you earn less because they buy in bulks and the price is much lower than selling to a restaurant. I guess this is how it goes when you go big time. And doing this over and over is much better than doing over and over what I'm doing now
When you scale by default you have to move more product, either to more customers or bigger customers and yes bigger customers usually can command a lower price because they are buying so much at once.
I noticed the micros were not washed before packing. It is my understanding that FDA requires the washing of micros. I am confused or I am misinformed. Any comments! Nice video, thanks for sharing!
My understanding is that any processes should be done before harvesting, and once harvested, it should go right into a container. The health dept comes into play when the processes are post harvest. Generally micro greens are grown in a clean and fairly sterile environment so shouldn’t need cleaning. Putting water on top of the greens via misting or top watering promotes mold, so I wouldn’t do it.
No, but we have covered that on a few podcast episodes. Search for The Growing Microgreens Podcast, also in the description below. Long story short, if you can use natural light and get a good crop do that. If you can't or are spaced constrained, then you go to lights. If you are using shelves versus benches, then lights basically are required.
In my mind grow lights allow for a much more easily controlled environment. Using a greenhouse will result in better energy efficiency/cost due to the sun being free, however will be more difficult to make a closed controllable environment.
i think 120 trays a week should be making alot more then 1800.00 a week. making your own soil, instead of importing soil will save money. 120X20per tray is 2400.00 im not here to micro manage but, improvements could be made to up the profit for sure.
Labor is generally the largest expense on a farm. Making your own soil still requires inputs so, not only do you save minimally by making your own soil, you’ve added labor cost.
@@DiegoFooter but what if you base your system on only live. I know one guy who does all live flats. No time wasted cutting, less room for human borne pathogens, longer shelf life, and no waste (packaging). I train all my customers at farmers market all live, and my chefs. They seem to enjoy it thus far and have had no complaints only compliments due to shelf life, and higher yields for them while also out competing anyone from out of state due to shipping costs.
@@DiegoFooter Transportation is added fees that most dont want to pay for the greens. drop shipping same day or 2 day to the customer is low cost and the way to go. as most micro greens have a 10 day shelf life anways.
@@MyDadWorksAtMarcs I would debate that shelf life is longer on a living product. Consider this, a cut product that it harvested the same size week in and week out gives a chef a consistent/reliable product every week that lasts up to 2-3+ weeks depending on the crop. If we leave a living flat in our system for more than a few days it becomes over grown, woody, discolored and more prone to mold and fungus gnats. Not to mention; delivering a living product at scale is a legitimate challenge. So while you might save on labor cost of harvesting, you need to reinvest into a delivery system for said living trays. I don’t know everything but, just wanted to provide a bit of push back for people to think about.
i hope this market doesn't go the way of Storage Wars, Amazon arbitrage and private label - when too many people do it as a business there is no profit
The farmer sounds very unmotivated or maybe he had a bit too much funky stuff before the interview. Either way good interview, very informative although I would like to know how them being part of an npo works like does the npo cover the bills or subsidize the crops and would they be making a profit without it?
$1,800 average a week sounds good, but not including cost of property and taxes, green house, supplies, advertisement, delivery cost, maintenance and business taxes... would be nice to see a video on the actual cost and profit for a regular tax paying business.
Brilliant, also he said 5 to 6 dollars per tray cost, so you can knock $600 off that 1800 straight away. Also he said 'WE', one man could not do this, so it isn't viable is it?
He said that’s the profit but he gets a salary so I am not sure if that’s the profit for the company he is working for and then he is paid a set portion of that amount. I am also not sure how many out of pocket expenses he has to pay. For example, my cousin had a chicken farm where he was paid by another company. The company provided all the chickens, cartons for the eggs, pick up of the eggs, and a salary for my cousin. But my cousin had to build his own chicken house and pay for the upkeep of the house and chickens. I don’t know the arrangements with this micro green company.
This is more rewarding than being a working robot at an office .
I could think of alot of Job opportunities better than the dreaded cubical. The idea of those capable & wanting the indenpendence of self employment are most miserable when they can't quite bridge that cap to true financial freedom. And really it will work in his favor to diligently find that niche to break free from surrendering to wholesale discounted bulk sales. His heart is doing what HE loves.
Be blessed.
Other than 7 days a week one must commit to cause once you start hard to squeeze in any vacation for a week or two unless you get big enough to pay somebody and TRUST to do the right job
Most prisons are self made...
Working in a monotenous office job is more rewarding than being homeless.
...can’t be nashville every night.
Im producing 135 trays a week out of my 12x30 grow room in my basement by myself.
Wow !!! Im just starting.....any tips from hard learned lessons ?
Well done bro, I'm just starting too👍🏼
Super cool! I am starting Kratky vegetables and just got my seeds for micro greens! You are an inspiration!
Hi Adam, I would really like to speak with you outside this form. Is it possible that you could email me at mrmikesullo@gmail.com thank you
What's the approach to marketing and the time spent in travel and sales?
Hey Diego, if you are ever in Belgium always welcome at our farm. We are seeding over 1.000 trays a week and are automating a lot of stuff. Last week with the holiday we sold over 230kilos of microgreens mostly to retail.
That would be an interesting podcast. Email me if you are interested.
Inspirational.
Our plan as to what to do with excess that can't be 'sold' or bartered out, is more valuable to us as chicken/hog feed, and even the cows as a treat. With that said...grow excess knowing you can be ready instantly to snag a huge, sudden order...or just have chicken chow for almost free. Rotate greens likely to hit a peak price and feed them to the chicks if you guessed wrong. Sort of a win win without the frustration when you your wrong.
I kind of noticed the nature of the biz after a few grows. Good to highlight that in this video. However: 90% of jobs are repetitive, it just depends on what you favor.
Since lot of it seems to be not too demanding on our brain space, we can use harvesting time to listen audiobooks, learn a new language (like french :-), or listen to your favorites podcasts
@@simonlepage2217 Yup, Bible study,, creation science, spending time praying and speaking with our Creator,, Thank Lord for His Son Jesus sacrifice for our sin. Shalom
Thanks for saving me 50 minutes... i was like why wouldn’t I want to get into micro greens.... lmao
@@patrickcash864 yo bro want to be new micro green buddies or something, just like share ideas and help keep eachother consistent, this is literally so random but i wouldn't mind bouncing ideas off of one another lol
@@ellgonzales6165 I told my fiance and she didn't seem interested. She's got her own crafting business that is getting some air beneath it and I'd like to supplement our incomes at least enough to afford the roof over out heads for starters so we don't have to worry about income and focus more on our passion projects. Ofcourse this would be my endeavor and it's simple enough to to have time for ourselves. Btw I'm a doordasher and make my living that way as of right now so I pretty much have all the time in the world... Picked up some seasonal plants for the first time ever since I don't work a traditional 9-5.
$1800 ÷ 125 = $14,40 Per tray. Pretty good return considering its wholesale and no expense on delivery etc
You couldn't rent anything big enough for $1800 in Sonoma.
Minus cost of seeds..soil...labor..water etc
Trays only sell for $15 to a restaurant around here and even less to a distributor.
How many people in the NYC-5 boroughs are looking at this and thinking;, “ I could try this”. I can never tell if this is a great “ new idea for this area” or a flooded market. Awesome content! Super appreciate the knowledge. Thank you.
That's so great that Sonoma Farm shared all their knowledge. I was never thinking about doing this commercially (just for my own food) but found it very interesting.
This was a great video; thanks Diego! I'm considering leaving my career as a product experience manager to produce microgreens instead. I appreciate that this video focuses on some of the challenges and not just the margins.
How did it go?
Hoping you were able to follow your dream
Rent? Insurance? Taxes for profit business? Any business trying to compete with a subsidized operation like that, would need a massive size to break even.
Something that I've always been interested is using business structure to maximize revenues. Most farms seem to be for profit(sole proprietor up to corporation). Its interesting to hear Geoff Lawton in one of your vids talk about the benefits of being a non-profit. This particular farm is a non-profit. Seems to be an unexplored area of farming. Not all states have laws in place to allow for them, but cooperatives can offer amazing benefits to farmers as well. In my senior thesis, analyzing (agriculture/utility) cooperatives in Hawaii, the financial advantage cooperatives gained was in having no tax obligation. Some of them paid above average wages for the area as well. How many homesteads and small farm are currently using business structure to reduce their tax obligation?
Excellent point. According to their financials this particular operation receives grants.
Its a wonderful program that assists autistic adults. That being said, It brings up the issue of a non profit that is able to compete with a commercial operation.
Is that fair competition ?
A for profit company would not be able to compete.
.
Just a thought
Hi Eric would you please email your thesis paper ? I would really appreciate it and would love to read it.. rudy90660@hotmail.com
Interesting
Is your thesis available to read anywhere please?
This is a great video. So much to learn about the techniques, logistics and economics of small to medium scale microgreens production!
Any business you have that delivers a product is for the most product systematized. If you want a normal life.. you need to hire people ... and even then you’ll have full days. As an entrepreneur micro greens are looking very attractive.
The more I hear, the more inspiration I have. Lets do this baby!
Hows it goin
@@jetjaguar5200 Thanks to Covid, still waiting to get started.
@@doomyoda7298Damn. Im about to start. Buying a rack today. How were you looking to start? I am going to go for larry hountz’ system. Will link video. Have you heard of him?
@@doomyoda7298 czcams.com/video/fO9Q2bnQvLo/video.html
@@doomyoda7298so what's the update then?
I really appreciate your questions and analysis-very thought provoking and hence more informative than just the "basic" type of question. The Sonoma Farm guy said that one of his major expenses was the soil. I'm wondering if growing hydroponically would be any cheaper. Anyone have any thoughts on that?
You can the yields just aren't as good
I have found that the small seeds (arugula, Wasabi, broccoli)germinate and grow better hydroponically the large seeds grow better in soil just my experience so far check out Larry hydrocity Hydrofarm on CZcams he has great videos
this video made me want to go plant another tray lol microgreens will be the future.
Personally I'm trying to find alternative methods of growing microgreens that help eliminate the majority of the issues in the video, hydro/aeroponics and cheap diy automation seems to be promising for both scalability and value.
@@lazyh-online4839 I just made a box out of dry wall and zip tie with a air intake booster. not a full intake fan. cut holes on one side for air intake thn the other side for ventilation and cover it with air filters to get dust. the box is 4 feet long by 2 foot height for the t5 I'm using and 2 feet wide to fit standard trays. I use seedling soils with organic amendments for a tiney boost(a super small amount) and distilled water from walmart or homemade.then I harvest and put in paper bags. paper bag and they last about a week in the fridge. then I take the used soil put it in a 5 gallon bucket and let it dry out fully. deroot it then flush it then reuse the old soil infinitely. no by product no nothing. just the watts from the wall. which is 48watt for a 4 foot t5 led. I get 2 trays done week and a half and I dont sell it. it's just the perfect amount for me. brocolli sunflowers spinach and kale r my mains
@@JJN603 sounds awesome. I wanted to grow more because we were considering selling and since I have worked in manufacturing my whole life I wanted to try my hand at making something to grow them more consistently and efficiently without as much labor involved.
J N the future is upon us 🙏🏾
J N what makes them special? Live at apt so don’t think I can grow
never saw a greens harvester before
thinking about going into this area.
The vid helped me think out my business plan.
What is up with your algorithm man?! You should be at 500K Subs with all this value!! Come on CZcams!! Keep it up brotha!
what do your wholesale customers look like on the high-end scale of trays they take per week vs the low end? Let me rephrase that I have just started growing microgreens and I am still learning and looking towards selling them in the future; like 9 months so I can get more shelves going and different crops. As of now, I have 2 working shelves with only a total of 3 broccoli trays every 4 days for harvest. I calculated I can produce 8 harvests on a long month, so 24 trays of broccoli per month. I will be experimenting with radishes in January after I have bought 2 more selves for production. I am curious when I should be able to afford a wholesale customer based on your lowest quantity customer vs your average vs your high quantity customer. I don't want to pitch a wholesale customer without having the needed growth I can afford. Sorry for the long comment I just felt I needed to explain my situation. Thank you for your time.
Thanks for your personal integrity in presenting this information. Some of the main microgreen CZcams guys are not telling the whole story. Especially those guys who are selling grow kits or books.
You mean I cant make 100k in 6 months off a closet grow?
I almost got sucked into the CZcams creator trap myself. While we do gross $3-5k per week it is a great challenge to be legitimately profitable. Just ask my wife 😂. If growing and selling microgreens were as profitable as some of the CZcamsrs say they were, they wouldn’t be spending their time coming up with courses to sell to others. Im all about maximizing revenue streams but growing a few racks and then calling yourself an expert “buy my course” just seems like bullshit to me.
Look at all that space above those plants you could put like 20 more rows but you’ll need some more lights. I think it will work out economically 🤔pretty sure about that
would it be better to use coconut cull as soil to help with mold an bacterias as i want grow microgreens. any info from anyone will be respected
Very interesting video, thanks very much. I am often surprised that the flood and drain system isn't more popular as basic biology tells us that the roots are for water absorption and the leaves are for CO2 absorption. Most plants can use very little water effectively through their foliage (most less than 5% as opposed to 95% by roots) and as mentioned in the vid increases the risk of mould and fungal infections tremendously especially in crops like microgreens that are so dense.
Roots are doing a lot more than pulling water. You need to get past your "basic biology" research
🤔
@@dungeonmaster6292 Why don't you elaborate?
I appreciate your asking the questions about the economics of the system for this grower. I would like to know how much the 'suppliers' pay for their product (15 or 20+ dollars/tray) and what do they charge for that unit and who do they sell to. The reason for this question is are the current system of food production profitable to the top end distributer? Which I think it is. If someone were to understand the the big picture then the farmer and distributer may really need a profit sharing system to really make it possible for the farmer to make a living. I live in Iowa now and a large percent of farmers (soy and corn) have jobs as well as farm their land. They also have to meet short falls by taking loans out on their land. The current system is probably not sustainable for the farmers but the people that set the commodity price for farmers and price for restaurants and food markets seem to always make a profit. It has always been messed up in America. and can that be corrected? Like the fellow from Belgium down the list below sells to retail.
Excellent video! You ask all the right questions and cover indepth. Thanks for sharing ❣️
These are easy to grow for individual use. I would expect a lot of people to start growing for themselves. Everything is readily available online to plant a few trays for personal use.
Nope
Polypropylene trays leaches 126 chemicals and is not food safe.
Go ahead and use Municipal toilet flush water.
Be sure to add your daily million emitted microbes.
I refuse to eat anyone elses mics.
YourhTube $100,000 a year income garantead.
And you make chickens happy!
I see some reds, coocoo marans, welsummers, buff orphingtons and are those silver laced welsummers? Good job keep up the good work.
i have no idea what any of these are. you are speaking english?
@@susanraymond4364 they are the breeds of the chickens in the background
Great questions and attention to process details..... Thanks
Wow Diego, this is one of the best and most informative videos ive ever seen. Thank you 👍
I am growing my microgreens in two sizes of small round recyclable trays (clear drip trays for pots). It takes more love and care but I feel it ends up being worth it because they are more profitable for the amount of space they use. I am selling them alive at the farmers market for $5 and $8 per tray. I use a ground coco coir fiber as the medium and don’t use any hydrogen peroxide anymore. They are true organic hydroponic plants. No nutrients, fertilizers, or chemicals used during the whole process. I’ve only seen mold starting in a couple trays and those I will dump, clean the tray, and start a new crop in them. Everything is grown on a wire shelf rack under T5 fluorescent lights in a spare bedroom. Depending on the size of the rack, with 4 foot racks each shelf has potentially $188 of profit per crop, minus supply costs which are under $1 per tray. I have a variety of different plants on each shelf and avoid cross contamination because they are in their own trays and watered by hand. I’ve tried the 10/20 trays and it seems they are more useful for wholesale deals, so I’ll go back to that if I ever start supplying restaurants or whoever else for wholesale amounts.
Quick question why do you not sell them directly to end-users and make maximum profit?
he has a pretty sweet deal. The non-profit pays him and the laborers. THEN he gets to make profit from what he grows in the farm, all because he provides the non-profit with the microgreens as well. What an insane trade off.
I'd like to know more about how that works as I am not familiar with nonprofits.
great video , I watched the whole thing ! It makes me want to grow micro greens
Very different production to the hydroponics on shelves with grow-lights that I've been watching. I think I prefer the hydroponics but I'd love to see someone making their own nutrient solution instead of just buying this input - and also, I'd love to see someone growing their own seed supply in their garden.
1800 a week with that big space seems low since some are doing that with a few shelves and 200sqft
They are selling to distributors, they aren’t making as much cause they have a middle man and a price cut.
Things aren’t always as they seem.
How much is the Sunflower trays worth?
Maybe a uv wand passing over them vs peroxide...worth a try with supply chain issues or cost.
Peroxide is h2o2 its literally just hydrogen and oxygen when broken down.
This is fkin golden diego. Thank you! Im at half their production atm so it helps for me to fill any gaps I may have.
Just watched the whole video.
No, I definitely am going to want to grow.
Thanks for the tips and ideas! 👍
Excellent, thank you!
Do you know what makes a farm a farm? A FARMER!
Utilize vertical easily with a football stadium design for the seating... Instead of people in the stadium thousands and thousands of trays... Trucks can roll into the infield for easy loading and unloading... Cart could be used in the walkways between the levels and then you have to use artificial lighting at night to make it absolutely flourish 🛐📈
Whoops, my bad, resolution is fine--sorry. Lots of great stuff here, thanks for taking the time to cover so much.
They're delicious
How are you in every comment section
One thing I've heard about electric harvesting tools is they don't get as clean of a cut as a knife, leading to shorter shelf life. I wonder if this is the case with the harvester in this video or not.
Different angle on the title of this video......BUT, still want to grow em! 🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱
Keyword for success “Automation” love it 🤓🌱
Is that 24 oz container or 24oz of product?
I saw a guy who grows all his microgreens on coconut fiber pads. There's no cutting he sells that whole sheet to the customers and it has a better shelf life than cut greens. That's the way I'd do it for sure if I did this.
I know this is a very late comment but hopefully it'll get a reply:
What type of 1020 trays are being used so that you can bottom water? I've so far only seen trays w/ no holes in the bottom of them.
You can order the trays with the holes in them from Amazon. Some are pretty cheap and they have some that are more expensive that are nicer.
Nice job. Good choice of question
Ya hippies....sometimes you gotta go to wrk and actually work! I've been in and out of farms for years and the ones who dont succeed are the ones who forget it's not just farm- fun....its farm-buisness too.
Well said ya troll
FYI. Hydrogen Peroxide is great, except that the growth of salmonella explodes with it. If you decide to continue using it. A 35% (or 70%) peroxide with an injector works very well.
Thanks for the video.. what are those white cloths for?
Moisture control
great operation and great people!
I've often wondered how much outdoor farmland is required to produce the seed bank required to sustain this kind of operation.
We have done a podcast on this subject. Long story short there are seed growers who grow seed for a variety of purposes and microgreens are one of those purposes amongst many.
@@DiegoFooter thanks, I'll look for it. I was trying to picture in my mind, how an all around farm would look, one that produced the soil, the seed, and then the micro greens.
It would be the perfect juxtaposition of scale. A large machine based operation to produce the seed and hand labor to grow the microgreens.
Great video thank you guys so much for sharing really appreciate it
Is that 1 cup of 'food grade' hydrogen peroxide that you're mixing with the one gallon of water?
Is that 34% H2O2 food grade?
Is the peroxide used to prevent mold? What is the mix ratio. Great video.
We use 30ml of 35% Hydrogen Peroxide per litre of water.
If you google “Peroxide Microgreens anti fungal” you’ll find the right ratio per percentage of HP you can source.
35% is what we buy from a cleaning company and it has to be stored in the fridge to retain its percentage.
@@livcochrane6095 many thanks for your response. I am sure that others will welcome it.
Yes for mold. But realy it's a relitve humity problem. All that water and shade makes it easier for damping off to de develop. They need more air movement and control of over irigation.
@@thomascoca2179 Thank you .
Sad to see more plastic clam shells. Live cut seems a great alternative.
Live cut is a great alternative, but not everyone has a problem with plastic.
How cold does the fridge have to be to slow it the growth.
Is micro greens the only way to make a profit ? Every time I go to the farmers market, there are half the farms selling them. That’s ok , but I like diversity in my foods. Also greens in general are everywhere at the markets. Please make some videos that are non greens . Thanks in advance
You can't. Most other crops, besides tomatoes, simply are not profitable enough to grow on a small scale. Small scale farms have to be niche and greens are that niche.
What would the cost be for the greenhouse and irrigation setup? Thanks for the video mate. Cheers
That glasshouse is expensive, but you could just do a simple structure. The irrigation setup probably cost them less than $1000.
You mean you aren't making 20 grand a month on 1/4 acre...😂😂😂😂😂 ( nice video..)
Grow your own food
best micro green video ever
I have a pricing question. Perhaps someone could help. I keep hearing that you can get 20ish dollars for a 10x20 tray. I have been making about 8 per of broccoli and radish. I checked at a local CSA that sells the same and my price is slightly higher per oz.
Is the 20 dollar estimate on the high end or did I misinterpret something?
Been selling at farmers market for 8 weeks and have sold out of everything 6 weeks.
Making $8 and selling for $20 are two totally different things.
OPs market is local upscale wineries and whole selling to San Francisco.
You may be taking home less than that, but you probably have less overhead than OP.
OP says he needs to sell about 500 trays a month to break even on costs and labor (for one employee and him).
most people are getting 2.00-3.00 for 2 oz of greens here in NC. if you get 1 lb of greens per tray then you can base price off per pound and break it down in OZ or sell per OZ. greens per OZ will always Net more profit for you. im gettin 27.00 per lb for most of the greens im selling to local chef's.
TacticalCoffee where are you located in NC. I am just starting to grow microgreens for my family but one day down the road I may be interested in selling. But I want to learn first and see what others are doing so I don’t screw up. Thanks. I am close to Fuquay-Varina.
u mentioned misting table and then flood table....what is a FLOOD TABLE???
Selling to distributors means you earn less because they buy in bulks and the price is much lower than selling to a restaurant.
I guess this is how it goes when you go big time.
And doing this over and over is much better than doing over and over what I'm doing now
When you scale by default you have to move more product, either to more customers or bigger customers and yes bigger customers usually can command a lower price because they are buying so much at once.
Thank you for the real info on microgreens! get video
Where does one purchase the hand held cutter the guy used?
Really enjoyed this video. Lots of excellent advice!
lots of details. Thank you!
Isn't this way of farming uses up a lot of seeds to produce only little food?
Is what I thought as well... but that also goes for grins, wheat flour, etc. Yup imagine all the actual radishes grown... tons
They are more nutritious and take much less time and resources to grow.
I noticed the micros were not washed before packing. It is my understanding that FDA requires the washing of micros. I am confused or I am misinformed. Any comments! Nice video, thanks for sharing!
My understanding is that any processes should be done before harvesting, and once harvested, it should go right into a container. The health dept comes into play when the processes are post harvest. Generally micro greens are grown in a clean and fairly sterile environment so shouldn’t need cleaning. Putting water on top of the greens via misting or top watering promotes mold, so I wouldn’t do it.
Link to the flood trays he uses?
I havent found one that holds 4 trays as of yet would love a link
Look at products by Botanicare.
New to this, is there any videos on the advantages and disadvantages to green house vs grow lights for micro greens?
No, but we have covered that on a few podcast episodes. Search for The Growing Microgreens Podcast, also in the description below. Long story short, if you can use natural light and get a good crop do that. If you can't or are spaced constrained, then you go to lights. If you are using shelves versus benches, then lights basically are required.
@@DiegoFooter awesome thanks for the reply!
In my mind grow lights allow for a much more easily controlled environment. Using a greenhouse will result in better energy efficiency/cost due to the sun being free, however will be more difficult to make a closed controllable environment.
Right on Diego, my old home town!
Great video. Thanks
Nice work on the grow let's get it
I don't see lights over the microgreens
i think 120 trays a week should be making alot more then 1800.00 a week. making your own soil, instead of importing soil will save money. 120X20per tray is 2400.00 im not here to micro manage but, improvements could be made to up the profit for sure.
Labor is generally the largest expense on a farm. Making your own soil still requires inputs so, not only do you save minimally by making your own soil, you’ve added labor cost.
Great video, great stuff to think about here!
very informative.
Seems like it could only be profitable if you have a strong market and you grow your own seed.
How did covid affect this operation?
Great video Diego!
Great job Luke, Thanks for the info.
Good information...!!! Mahalo
Food grade peroxide?
so why cut and not deliver live?
Transportation and your customer might not want that.
@@DiegoFooter but what if you base your system on only live. I know one guy who does all live flats. No time wasted cutting, less room for human borne pathogens, longer shelf life, and no waste (packaging). I train all my customers at farmers market all live, and my chefs. They seem to enjoy it thus far and have had no complaints only compliments due to shelf life, and higher yields for them while also out competing anyone from out of state due to shipping costs.
Of course. If that is what your customer wants and it works, then you do that. That's what Justin does: czcams.com/users/TheSeedsOfXanxadu
@@DiegoFooter Transportation is added fees that most dont want to pay for the greens. drop shipping same day or 2 day to the customer is low cost and the way to go. as most micro greens have a 10 day shelf life anways.
@@MyDadWorksAtMarcs I would debate that shelf life is longer on a living product. Consider this, a cut product that it harvested the same size week in and week out gives a chef a consistent/reliable product every week that lasts up to 2-3+ weeks depending on the crop. If we leave a living flat in our system for more than a few days it becomes over grown, woody, discolored and more prone to mold and fungus gnats. Not to mention; delivering a living product at scale is a legitimate challenge. So while you might save on labor cost of harvesting, you need to reinvest into a delivery system for said living trays. I don’t know everything but, just wanted to provide a bit of push back for people to think about.
Love microgreens
i hope this market doesn't go the way of Storage Wars, Amazon arbitrage and private label - when too many people do it as a business there is no profit
Every business eventually goes that way. It comes down to how can you differentiate and compete in that type of marketplace.
It's easier to rationalize laziness than to risk failure.
Hate to burst your bubble but Botanicare ebb and flow tables eliminate all the problems you have, while you’re trying to reinvent the wheel lol
Are all these guys just reformed weed growers?
The farmer sounds very unmotivated or maybe he had a bit too much funky stuff before the interview. Either way good interview, very informative although I would like to know how them being part of an npo works like does the npo cover the bills or subsidize the crops and would they be making a profit without it?
Why the hydrogen peroxide in the water
Sanitize the seed.
Who are the wholesaler
I love it
That harvester is now 685 usd.
$1,800 average a week sounds good, but not including cost of property and taxes, green house, supplies, advertisement, delivery cost, maintenance and business taxes... would be nice to see a video on the actual cost and profit for a regular tax paying business.
Brilliant, also he said 5 to 6 dollars per tray cost, so you can knock $600 off that 1800 straight away. Also he said 'WE', one man could not do this, so it isn't viable is it?
He said that’s the profit but he gets a salary so I am not sure if that’s the profit for the company he is working for and then he is paid a set portion of that amount. I am also not sure how many out of pocket expenses he has to pay.
For example, my cousin had a chicken farm where he was paid by another company. The company provided all the chickens, cartons for the eggs, pick up of the eggs, and a salary for my cousin. But my cousin had to build his own chicken house and pay for the upkeep of the house and chickens. I don’t know the arrangements with this micro green company.