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

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Richard Perkins is a globally recognised leader in the field of Regenerative Agriculture and is the owner of Europe’s foremost example, Ridgedale Farm, Sweden. He is the author of the widely acclaimed manual Regenerative Agriculture, regarded as one of the most comprehensive books in the literature, as well as Ridgedale Farm Builds and Farm,Fish,Hunt,Pick,Bake.

His approach to no-dig market gardening and pastured poultry, as well as his integration of Holistic Management, Keyline Design and Farm-Scale Permaculture in profitable small-scale farming has influenced a whole new generation of farmers across the globe. Garnering more than 16 million views on his blog, and teaching thousands globally through his live training at the farm and online, Richard continues to inspire farmers all over the globe with his pragmatic no-nonsense approach to profitable system design.

[marcogallazzi]

4 years, reading comments, very few actually listen to the words in the video. This is practical information, i recommend everyone to see and listen to it twice.

[ChaplinHawkeye]

I am a Disabled Military Veteran on 1.3 acres of land. There are no improvements except owning the land is a great improvement over renting, camping, homelessness. I have a limited monthly income and am great-full for that. Thank you for you intelligence and sharing your understanding! You have inspired hope in me to initially grow what I need and perhaps expand to grow and market food. Again sincerest thanks and best wishes!

[mrbrown]

One challenge I have with seeing how to run a "profitable" permaculture farm is the diversity of main crops, fruit trees, perennials, & animals involved. The key differentiator of Permaculture from other forms of agriculture includes food forests & perennials which by its very nature gives a wide variety of products which can be sold. The challenge out of this is how to deliver all these products to a high standard expected by the consumer. There is a lot of specialisation, equipment & deep knowledge (and pesticides) that comes with monoculture, but it does deliver those perfect large nectarines, those massive strawberries at scale and a relatively low cost. I find this to be a challenge in a polyculture model - it's labour intensive and entails a generalist holistic approach which is appropriate for lifestyles . I may be wrong but from my observation most "Permaculture" Farms seems to generate their income from tourism/airbnb, courses, workshops, internships and videos about permaculture or have simply incorporated some permaculture elements into an existing traditional large scale farm (not that there is anything wrong with that!).

[OldesouthFarm]

Excellent video. I started my goat farm in the back yard of my subdivision, then found a farmer who let me use his old horse barn, then finally bought my current farm. One just has to figure out how, not I can’t.

[mjk]

Even if you're not interested in setting up a Permaculture Farm, this is an outstanding video for anyone trying to methodically design their life. Excellent material Richard!

[camerakid]

Lots of good info. I think you're bang on in these assessments. I've got the land, I'm lacking capital and confidence. And that's coming from someone that comes from generations of traditional farmers. I was the black sheep and went a different path. Now my industry has been ruined, old, broke, and busted, and I'm looking to get back to my roots. But I know the hardships of the traditional farmer and am looking for a new way. Thanks for sharing your experiences.

[ecovlogger]

You hit the nail on the head with the ‘reality check’ part. I think I want to start my own farm and I think about it all day.

But thinking about something and actually doing the work are two very different things

[marianlord]

Thank you for posting this video. My husband and I and family recently bought a home on land with the intent to live off of it. But, we got a little stuck and because of this video I understand why. We do not have a clear plan of exactly what we want and how to go about doin it. Thank you for pointing that out!

[acostaseb]

the best part if this dude is his emphasis on context! almost all his points are applicable to any profession. keep going man!

[Andy_Home_Farm_Cornwall_Farmer]

We are just embarking on setting up our small-hold farm and the basic information/thoughts that you share are just bang on the money and so useful and inspiring. I am over 50 and all I ever hear is negativity from all my farming friends who farm by traditional monoculture principles but I believe unless you try you can't possibly suceed. Please keep up the good work as there are precious few like yourselves in Europe to inspire us fellow Europeans as most seem to be small feed yourself setups

[DARKLYLIT]

Great insight and opinions on Permaculture Farms Richard. What often irks me when I hear about Permaculture endeavours is that they rarely involve anything more than Design "certificate" programs, that teach people about basic Permaculture principles/concepts and I've often seen recent "graduates" start their own paid workshops just a year or two later. I'm all for education/gaining new knowledge and skills but this self-perpetuating "industry" of Permaculture education needs to stop or at least be better balanced with actual implementation of actual production combined with education.

Though I only recently discovered your channel and Ridgedale Permaculture, Ridgedale does seem to be the exception to the rule and good on you for it. If, as Permaculture practitioners, people say they can "heal the earth"(use regenerative principles in relation to growing food) AND "feed the see it. I see a lot of "permies" doing little more than what appears to be glorified hobby gardening. It's pretty challenging to find anything Permaculture where there is any significant amount of food being grown/raised in a productive and sustainable way. I'm not saying it can't be found, but they seem to be rare and often mostly reliant on the education base more than the actual practice of regenerative, sustainable agriculture.

[theswediblegarden]

Richard you point about helping at an existing farm to really learn what is involved, is probably THE most important aspect for a would-be farmer. There is nothing like hands-on of the day-to-day to really learn what it means and the put a bit of a dent in too much idealism. When I wanted to raise a few dairy goats I asked the potential seller if I could help. So it was mucking out stalls, trimming hooves, milking and even assisting in banding the baby bucks (not my favorite aspect but it pretty much ensured they would be pets instead of food). It helped enormously. Thank you for a nice tutorial.

[PeterSedesse]

The biggest problem I have seen is that the people spend too much time on production, and not enough time on sales and marketing. They think about how much they can grow, but not how to sell it all. I think with all parts of a farm you need to have almost 50% of your time spent on sales and marketing the first few years. Grow what you can sell, not what you can grow.. don´t let productivity get too far ahead of your sales outlets. I recently watched a company spend a ton of money on a huge aquaponics setup that was able to produce amazing amounts of products.. now they are in deep debt and scaled back their production to about 1/20 of what they could actually produce and they still rot a bunch of food. Grow what you can sell, and start small.

[Hkarl]

There are no problems, only solutions !

Loved you book but we were sad we did not get it on Swedish, we are a small commercial growers that follow the permaculture principles and been at it for 2 years in Öland - Sweden

thanks for all the good vibes and inspirations from your works

[lucschoonen]

I just finished reading "How to think and grow rich", by Napoleon Hill, very interesting book written by a man who studied 500-1000 of the most succesfull entrepreneurs of the late 1800's and early 1900's (Henry Ford, Edison, etc.) over a period of 30+ years. Very interesting to see the similarities between the observations he made during that time and the observations you share in this video. The more you read, observe nature and follow/analyse the pioneers in various fields, the more you realize how it's all connected and that it is all within your own hands. The information is out there, it's just all about your beliefs, doing the work and to connect with the right people.

[phakadekhanyile]

After rewatching this I see how valuable it is. Thanks Richard.

[ryanalexander]

I like that you really get it, not attaching to how things have to look.. says it all. All about the fluidity

[rwwkv]

This channel is such an unbelievable treasure trove. Thanks.

[thedomestead]

very informative. I felt like I was on a walk, getting advice from a friend.
subscribed.

[MoniqueVolkers]

Super good video. You couldn't have summarised it better! We are not running our small scale farm as long as you do, but we do have the same experience with people coming here visiting us. And also the experience that however small ours is 3, 4ha, there is still plenty of space for initiatives from other people. A good design, a proper business plan, planning well and monitoring your planning is really the way to make it happen. Thanks for the video. I had the idea I was on my own out there...