How much can you make flower farming?

How much can you actually make flower farming? Well...This is a question I've gotten a lot over the last four years, so I wanted to give you the information and straight numbers for how much we made on our flower farm in year 3. While these are baseline numbers, please bear in mind that they can fluctuate a lot up or down depending on your practices, your income streams, your input costs and more!

There is a lot of content floating around out there about how flower farming is profitable--and it ::can:: be more profitable on a small scale than, say, commodity farming of wheat/soybeans/corn, for example. But it is also VERY labor intensive! Planting seeds by hand, harvesting by hand, curated bouquet making--it is a time consuming business. So if you are thinking you can do flower farming as a "side hustle," well--you definitely can! But you will need to scale up slowly and adjust your expectations of how much it will cost, how much money you will make, and how much time you will need to invest.

While we didn't get into the nitty gritty of what exactly makes more money (and what costs more money!) or every single expense by line item, we hope this helps give a general idea! We have more about the breakdowns below:

PLANTS: Seeds, bulbs, corms, tubers, perennials, shrubs, cover crops
INFRASTRUCTURE: Tunnels, irrigation, frost fabric, hail net, portapotty rental, hoops, netting, pathways, tractor, cooler, barn maintenance
MATERIALS: tractor, tools (shovels, broadforks, clippers), buckets, bouquet wraps, rubber bands, tables, chairs, vases, cards, paper
SOIL/AMENDMENTS: seed starting soil, alfalfa pellets, sheep maintenance (we put sheep in here because we use their output as manure!)
BUSINESS/EDUCATION: website, insurance, associations/memberships, marketing

So, what do you think? Would you do this for $10/hour?

[nicolephillips]

Not dry at all. I so appreciate when people are upfront about the cost of things. Thank you for sharing!

[hossenfeffer]

Not dry at all! Your Mom is right, don’t bother fudging numbers, that’s a set of lies you won’t have to try to keep track of. Your candour is most appreciated. There’s more intrinsic value to what you do than your calculated hourly return. The value of your outreach is probably not calculable, and you aren’t getting monetary returns on your knowledge transfer, but I feel like there is another more ethereal ledger for people that freely share their expertise. You have my admiration, and I do not doubt, the admiration of many thousands.

[ambrosiafarms]

As an accountant/farmer I’ve never spent 34k on inputs seeds, plants bulbs. That’s a huge number which luckily was offset by 45k in flower sales. Add to that your other expenses and labor… and as always farming (of any kind) is a losing proposition (financially) However Your workshops are very profitable so essentially that is your off farm income! We’ve always had to work off the farm to supplement our farm losses😊

[journeyoflight]

I love gardening and wanted to sell flowers as a side income to support my gardening expenses and potentially a full time business. I am a realist and did the math vs labor last year and decided at 54 years old with chronic illness and pain that this in not a good business endeavor for me! Thank you for keeping it real! So many YouTubers are all about the fluff and so many people jump in head first without counting the costs. I'll continue to garden for fun and therapy and make a random buck here and there. But I will find a more profitable, less grueling and hopefully fulfilling business to enjoy and bring me profits.

[jennifermiller]

I'm an accountant who has been watching your videos to start my own cutting garden. Definitely not dry to me.😊 That said, my part time accounting job is looking more realistic now rather than a flower business.

[aoife]

This was so helpful! Thank you for being so honest. I’m blown away by the fact you can stay on top of keeping 2 acres with two small kids! I’m struggling with a quarter acre 😅

[DalhiaSun]

That was great and very eye opening. Thank you. You put a lot into everything that you do and it shows. At 75 I certainly wouldn’t be starting anything as time consuming and intensively hard work but I was wondering if I might have done it when I was young. The answer is nope, I love growing flowers and gardening but to work as hard as it takes I just couldn’t do it. When I buy flowers or especially send an arrangement I tend to resent what it costs, but now I’ll have a new outlook on those prices. You certainly deserve a LOT more for all that hard work. Thank you so much for your honesty. You are a very beautiful woman.

[monicamaria]

I’ll be honest, I LOVE these videos. The money in/money out is really helpful and so interesting. I also like the YouTube income breakdown videos. Basically anything that gives me the numbers 😅

[Heirloom_Leaves_and_Seeds]

Thank you for this video & your transparency. People struggle their entire lives working at jobs they don’t like. It seems you have found something you enjoy doing and feel good about - that is priceless. I too love the outdoors & gardening and striving to make this love of mine a profitable one. 🌸🌱💕

[rechelleday]

Thank you for sharing. More visibility is needed so folks know going into it. Start small and learn how you want to grow your business. It’s easy to see big farms and think you should be buying all the bulbs etc. It also helps to have a spouse who is making an income off the farm ❤

[pintsizestories]

Great video. People often don't add up the costs of gardening, especially the infrastructure and soil amendments. Gardening for a business also has the many hazards of bad weather and insect damage.

[payang]

very real... I am a flower farmer in MN . I get it.

[ambethk]

I really appreciate this video. There's a certain flower farmer on social media that's always bragging about making six figures but never goes into details about her costs. It doesn't really matter how much money you bring in if you're spending more than you make! Lol so glad you get to pursue your passion and help take care of our planet!

[Liz]

I’m getting started as a first timer this year. And when you say $10 that’s crazy low. But there’s a trade off to not being a cooperate slave to the machine. Sounds like a good trade off to me! Cheers!

[flowergrower]

Your video is extremely informative and flower farming ranks with the rest of farming ventures. At the end of the day, most farmers do not make a lot of money, their revenue is tied up in their land, infrastructure, machinery and ranchers have livestock and other costs. Calculating hourly salary can be disappointing however life is not just making money, life is being active and loving it!

[kathrynsteven]

Thanks for sharing, I’m sure that it was hard to share your numbers but honestly it was so nice to hear as a microgreens farmer wondering if this was going to work! But you’re right, it’s about so much more than profit. It’s building community, a healthy planet and a priceless skillset.

[UrbanCountryStyleByJudy]

Thank you! This was not dry at all. I love that you address the reality of this business that is too often romanticized.

[melissaschloneger]

I appreciate your transparency. I think many get ideas of romanticized farming both veg and flower, and both require hard work and commitment for it to work. I have so enjoyed your channel (and “you cant eat the grass” as well), with your honesty.

Keep doing what you love

[savantofillusions]

I found a “store” of daffodil bulbs on the side of our backyard shed and the owner of the house who has lived here since he was a kid has no idea how they got there. There’s hundred of them and after turning them a little they just started sprouting after who knows how many years. Now they come back every year like we landscaped.

[serenababy]

Harsh reality 😢 💔. I assumed you made more for such beautiful flowers 💐 😍. It's a labor of love and passion for sure. Thank you for sharing.