One of the best ways to achieve financial freedom and true independence is to set up a smallholding where you can produce enough food for your family to live on. This is certainly an extreme thing to do in modern society where the vast majority are dependent on all kinds of other things to make their daily bread, but if it is a dream of yours, there is very little stopping you from going ahead and pursuing it.

But, if your dream extends a little further, your smallholding can easily be expanded to create a business for your family to thrive on. With a bit of extra planning and some smart thinking, you can quickly create a small, local business that will have the homegrown flavor everyone loves.

Here’s what you need to do.

Think Carefully About Crops

The first thing you thought about when setting up your smallholding were the crops that would do the most for your family. This is just as important now but instead of thinking about what you would like to eat, you need to think about what will provide you with the most profit in your local market.

There is a science to getting the most out of your crops and rotation is key to keeping the nutrients well balanced in the soil. This means that either you need to rotate year on year or move around your smallholding, changing the crops. Large agricultural businesses are likely to buy seed from large agronomy specialists like MKC (contact us) and you can follow their methods in your own small way too.

Always Add Value

When you are making something from scratch, you should always be looking to add value to your product. For example, if you have an orchard you could sell the apples in punnets or you could add value by making apple pie or cider.

This is a classic way of making your profits stretch a bit further but it could also make your business more noticeable. People are much more likely to comment on your delicious apple pie than they are the apples. There are lots of things you can do in a smallholding kitchen to add value such as making pies, jams and other preserves.

Branding and Marketing

Finally, you will need to think about your branding and marketing. Even if you are only planning to sell locally, you need people to recognise your logo and style so that you can build up brand loyalty and become well-known. In smaller communities this is just as important as when you are selling online.

Though it might be tempting to go all out straight away, it is important that you build your brand slowly and just offer a few products at a time. This way you can afford to experiment a bit more and see what the market wants. Once you have built up your following, you can be more certain of what will sell and focus your energies on producing those products.