WHY ARE THERE NOT MANY PROFITABLE SMALL FARMS? S4 ● E6

I got an email today asking for references to other profitable small scale permaculture farms in Europe and I get emails like that nearly every week. And to be honest, there really aren't many I can think of in Europe that got me thinking because if we can make it work from up here at 59 degrees north with a really short growing season in one of the most expensive and heavily regulated and taxed countries in the world, then it really should be a little bit easier in some of the other countries further south from here. I've spent half my life working in this field and I've talked to thousands of people who are going into this. And so I wanted to make a quick video of eight of the main reasons that I've come across that stop people from getting into this field and what to do about that. Really the first point and one of the biggest things for me that I've seen all over the world is self limiting beliefs. This. Yeah, but kind of attitude. Ah, they have this resource or these people have this thing, that's the reason they can make it work. I've worked in every major climate zone across several continents and it's always the same. People are limited by their own beliefs. Ah, it's too wet here. Ah, it's too cold here, it's too dry here, it's too hot here. That won't work here. And really as to your own disadvantage, if you have that kind of attitude then you kind of half failed already and that needs checking because really farming has a lot to do with your attitude and aptitude. This is not a livelihood that would suit someone looking for a kushti 9 to 5 sort of life. It's life that involves constant creativity and responding to problems as they turn up and just the attitude of doing whatever needs doing when it needs doing. And I think that can be a big reality shock for people coming into this field from different professions. And indeed, I think that's a big problem with the permaculture movement. A lot of people coming into this sort of lifestyle that don't have any background in production and all the wide skill base required to run a farm. It's interesting because I feel like the permaculture world has offered a double edged sword at the same time as opening people up to all kinds of possibilities. I think it's also fed dreams that aren't based upon reality to a lot of people. And I think some of the idealism in the permaculture world needs to be swiftly replaced by pragmatism. If you want to go into any form of production as a livelihood. And just as we will encourage conventional farmers we work with to start thinking outside the box and diversifying a bit, we will also tend to rein in idealistic, permaculture minded people and get them to narrow things down a bit and simplify a bit. I think that's an important point to reflect upon. All these points really go hand in hand, but perhaps the one that underlies and ties them all together is context. And I'm referring specifically to the work of Alan Savory in holistic management. It's amazing how many people I meet who haven't defined their context, who can't speak of the life they're looking to create for themselves, their family, their business, etc. And for me it's really the first step. It's the foundation of all design is getting clear about what it is you're shooting for in life, what you value, what you're willing to do to secure that, and how you're going to take responsibility for the resources around you to ensure that that is a lifestyle that can go on for generations. And so that's the first place to really start any design work. In my mind, if you haven't looked into that work, go right in your holistic context. Something else I've seen a lot of is people hesitating to get started because they're looking for this perfect place. And really there is no perfect place. You know, there are pros and cons to any site you could possibly find. What's important is you get clear about your context, how you make decisions, what you're trying to achieve and why, but also get clear about the site specific criteria you're looking for. If you're looking to buy a property. We came here with about 50 clear goals that we were looking for in a property. And we looked at other properties around Sweden, but there was only one that we didn't meet when we bought this place. And that was to be a certain distance from the sea. And we were okay with that because we have a Lake about 500 meters away and it's got a beach, so we were okay with that. Other reason I've seen people fail and get disgruntled with this lifestyle is not committing 100%. I think if you want to make a living farming, you need to really go for it 100%. And that might require saving up money and getting a little security in the bank before you start. But I think it would be incredibly challenging to run a land based business if you Weren't fully thinking about it all day, every day. And really what I think, living as a farmer is that it's the little details, the little observations you make day to day that inform your decision making. And I think you can't possibly expect to be on top of that if you don't live in the middle of your farm if you're not engaged with it wholeheartedly. And that ties into the next point, which is planning. And I think people often fail to make time for planning and making decisions, checking their economy, following up and monitoring their plants. But really that's also partly been a big hole in the permaculture world is a lack of focus on business, often even a rejection of business or rejection of agriculture. And I feel like that's a big shortfall of the permaculture movement for me. There's a lot of idealism spread around, and there's very few people who come into the permaculture space from a professional production background. And there's so much to learn from that world, so much experience to draw from. And yeah, I think it's, you know, if you put aside idealism to get pragmatic about the scale of your operation, the context you're working within and what you're trying to achieve financially, and putting the plans into context of the land base you have. I mean, all the enterprises we run here, for example, any one of them could be scaled up to meet a family's annual income needs in six months of production. But you need that planning in place to be able to scale up your plans and see what you need to do to be able to produce that income. And it ties back to the context in that you can't possibly plan and make decisions if you haven't clarified what it is you're looking to achieve with your life and the values that drive you underneath all that. And there's been a big lack of sharing of critical economics and working business models. There's just a lack of working permaculture firms in my mind. So it's hard for people to get experience in that. What I would say is something that is invaluable is spending a few seasons working at places that are really rocking it. You know, if there's somewhere you've heard about that's demonstrating viable livelihoods, working in a production model that you're interested in, go and spend a season working with them. I mean, that's become a large part of what our internship is about. It's been a reality check for people just about to springboard off onto their own enterprises. And it's, you know, we're taking all the risk and ultimately it's our responsibilities, but it's. We give as much responsibility as we see a person is able to take on. And that really allows this kind of reality check to, like, see, is this what I want to do? You know, am I up for this? Have I got the skills and energy and strength to do that? And that's been really effective. But I think, you know, there's so many amazing places that would happily take a dedicated, serious person on for a season. And you learn so much like that. And I say that because, you know, these, these processes we're working with, they're all based on complex things like economy, ecology and society. And you can't learn about that stuff from courses, from books, from videos. Ultimately, your learning only really begins when it's your money on the line, your customer base, your production model. And, you know, I think there's another point in there about fear, the fear of failing. I think a lot of people don't make the leap because of fear. Commitment is a big one I've seen, particularly for young people who have a very different lifestyle to perhaps our parents or grandparents and committing to stuff long term, committing to livestock seven days a week, 365 days a year. It's something that we're not so patterned into in our culture nowadays with our fickle kind of lifestyles. And I can see for many people it would be also just a big fear of, you know, a major life change. It is really a lifestyle and it's a totally different way of life to most of society. And I think, yeah, it's obvious that fear is a big barrier for people. But like I said before, I think, you know, there's ways to test the water. If you've never worked in agriculture before, then I would spend three or four seasons working at other people's places. I wouldn't jump into something you have no experience on. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, I think, you know, obviously one of the biggest barriers for a lot of people coming into this is money. It's a big one. There's no magic answers to that. If you have no money, it's very hard to start a business. You need money to start a business. We started this farm with less cash in our pockets than most people spend on a car here. And we had a business plan, so we got loans. And, you know, if you clarify your context and have good enterprise budgets and spreadsheets, then that's one way to Go about it. A lot of people inherit money, inherit land, and that obviously makes it a lot easier, but you can do it without owning land. You could do it on rented land, you could do it as a complimentary enterprise on someone else's land. That's the beauty of these models that we're demonstrating here, is you don't need your own farm to run any of these enterprises. And just as a story, the week that I came to Sweden, I viewed a property several hundred hectares just outside Stockholm would have cost tens of millions. Beautifully fenced and lakes, very nice property. And the old farmer, as is typical here, in his 60s, and cut the grass twice a year. And that was it. No animals, no farming going on. I took an experienced holistic management grazer with me and set up a meeting. And within an hour I had full permission to run a pastured beef and chicken enterprise there at no cost. Turns out that they would have got higher subsidies if I was grazing the land. So it worked for them, worked for me. I didn't end up doing that because we decided that it fit our context better to actually purchase a place because of the things that we were going to actually do. But, you know, I just see that there's opportunities all over the place if you're really committed to going for it and you're not attached to how it's got to look. And that's the beauty of holistic management. Once you clarify your context, it helps you get rid of that attachment to life must look a certain way. And I've really enjoyed the fluidity of my management because of that. But yeah, it's, you know, the right person with the right attitude and pitch could happily set up an enterprise at my place if it benefited the farm as well as them. And I think that's true of so many people own land and farms. You know, if you can find a complimentary enterprise that works for everyone, then there's scope all over the place. I hope you benefited from this video. If you like our videos, hit subscribe. Share the video. And if you want to comment below on any of the reasons that have stopped you getting started, I'd be interested to hear. You can find out more in our book, Making Small Farms Work, available on our website. See you next time.