List of Small Business Ideas for Farmers and Gardeners

Small farmers, homesteaders, acreage owners, and even suburban gardeners can make extra money at home with small businesses raising vegetables, fruits, flowers, small livestock, and other specialty products in their own backyards!

List of Small Business Ideas for Farmers and Gardeners

The following is a list of specialty crops and other unique opportunities to make extra money at home:

• Alpine strawberries are treasured for their extraordinary flavor and sweetness. In addition to fresh berries, alpine strawberries also make excellent jams, jellies, and other foods. They combine well with bee businesses and many other crops and can also be grown in pots. Pre-planted pots make popular gifts.

• Aronia berries have attracted a lot of attention recently due to their extremely high antioxidant content and are developing a small commercial growing industry in their native United States, after decades of popularity in Europe.
• asparagus
  
• bird seed
• bulbs
  
• Catnip can be grown for cat toys, teas and other edible and medicinal uses, and essential oils. Catnip flowers are a favorite of honeybees, so catnip businesses combine very well with bees businesses.
  
• The United States imports about 40 million pounds of chestnuts annually, producing only about one million pounds domestically despite the fact that chestnut species grow well in many regions of the United States. Chestnuts are easy to grow and tend to be highly productive on an annual basis, so they make an excellent cash crop for small farmers and acreage owners. Blight-resistant American Chestnut hybrids such as the Dunstan Chestnut are considered to have the best flavor. Chestnuts are used both as human and as livestock food, depending on the quality of the nut. They are popular in agroforestry and woody agriculture systems, and can be coppiced.
• Chili peppers are easy to grow in most areas of the United States, and offer a number of opportunities for value-added products. In Mexico and the American Southwest, chilis are traditionally hung to dry in long strings called ristras. In addition to being a convenient way to store chilis for later use in the kitchen, ristras are also quite attractive and are commonly used in home decor in some regions. Other pepper crafts include chili pepper wreaths, and they can also be made into salsas, relishes, and more.
  
• Christmas greens are a great side business for Christmas tree growers and other foresters.
  
• The ancient art of coppicing is still practiced in some parts of Europe, where it is undergoing a revival of interest as a possible source of biofuels, as well as traditional coppice products such as woven baskets, furniture, wattle fencing, and charcoal. American researchers and farmers are also looking with interest at the practice, and it may soon undergo a revival in the United States as well.
  

• Currants are native fruits that are easy to grow and over a variety of opportunities for value-added products, including currant wine, baked goods, and jellies.
• edible flowers
• Edible forest gardening is a type of permaculture that uses diverse, multi-story plantings of fruit and nut trees, herbs, vegetables, and other plants to create a self-sustaining and highly productive garden. Though most popular on a family scale, the concept can be adapted to commercial scale production, or used to create extra income streams from a more traditional woodlot.
  
• Elderberries are another delicious and underutilized native berry, with many possibilities for value added products.
• garlic
  
• Ginseng is a common medicinal plant that is also sometimes used in teas and other drinks. It is best grown in forests, as system known as wild-simulated cultivation.
  
• Goji berries are the latest health craze due to their high antioxidant content. They are easy to grow across much of the United States.
  
• Gourds are easy to grow and can be made into a variety of crafts, including bird houses.
  
• Most commercially grown hazelnuts in the U.S. are derived from the tender European Common Hazel, which can only be grown in the Pacific Northwest, but breeders have been experimenting with hybrids combining the superior nut quality of the European hazel with the hardiness of the two native American hazel species, and hazels have also been attracting interest from woody agriculture researchers, due to their ready ability to coppice. Another innovative use of hazels is as livestock feed for production of hazelnut-finished pork.
  
• More and more people are turning to heirloom tomatoes in an attempt to recapture the flavor of a real tomato, and there is now a sizable market for growers of heirloom tomatoes. Organic heirloom tomatoes can fetch higher prices than conventionally grown tomatoes. Tomatoes are also suitable for pick-your-own operations and can be made into a variety of value-added products, including canned tomatoes, pickled tomatoes, pasta sauce, salsa, and more.
• hosta
  
• hydroponics
  
• Indian corn
• lavender
• Milkweed is a native American wildflower that has been attracting a lot of interest due to the extraordinary qualities of milkweed floss, which is hypoallergenic and 20% warmer by weight than down! Milkweed also combines very well with butterfly and bee businesses.
  
• Miscanthus x giganteus is a perennial grass used as biofuel feedstock for production of ethanol and other types of alternative energy. Studies have found that one acre of miscanthus produces 2 1/2 times the amount of ethanol as one acre of corn. Miscanthus also helps reduce erosion caused by tilling, builds organic matter levels in the soil, and sequesters carbon. In many parts of the United States, miscanthus requires less water and lower amounts of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides to grow than corn.
• In addition to being the tastiest of the edible bamboos, the stalks and fibers of Moso bamboo are used for everything from bamboo furniture and flooring to bamboo sheets and yarn. The fastest growing plant in the world, it reaches harvest size in 3-5 years and regenerates from the roots after being cut back. It can be sold raw, for processing by others, or made into value added products such as bamboo furniture. It can also be sold as an ornamental. In the US, it grows only in zones 7-8.
• mushrooms
• native plants
  
• orchard

• Organic Christmas trees are a growing niche market as more and more families become aware of the risks of pesticide-treated Christmas trees. They make not only an attractive, but a profitable alternative crop for small acreage owners and farmers. Organic Christmas trees can be sold wholesale or as U-pick/cut-your-own, and are sometimes raised in agroforestry systems with cattle or other livestock.
• organic cut flowers

• Organic herbs have been recognized as a profitable business for people with small farms or big gardens for many years, and with the rise of organic agriculture, they have become even more so. In addition to selling fresh cut herbs, there are many value-added product possibilities, from foods such as homemade pestos or spaghetti sauces to crafts such as potpourri or sachets, to medicinal products, and beyond.
  
• organic salad greens
• Pasture cropping is a system that combines grain cropping with perennial pastures to reduce erosion, improve soil, and diversify income.
  
• Pecans are native North American trees that produce delicious and nutritious nuts. Other native hickories, including the shagbark hickory and the shellbark hickory, also produce excellent nuts. Pecans and hickories also produce good quality lumber and are popular with many game animals, including deer, squirrels, and bears.
  
• pick-your-own berries
• pick-your-own pumpkins
• SPIN farming stands for Small Plot INtensive farming and it focuses on producing a significant income from plots of one acre or less, through intensive planting of high profit vegetable crops.
  
• sweet corn
• Switchgrass, a native North American perennial grass, has attracted a lot of attention recently as a source of cellulosic ethanol due to its high productivity, drought tolerance, and soil building qualities.
  
• table grapes
  
• watermelons
• wheatgrass
  
• Woody agriculture is a system of agriculture combining intensive production of woody food and fuel crops, mainly focusing on chestnuts and hazelnuts.

The following is a list of animal enterprises suitable for small farms and in some cases even suburban backyards!

• Acorn-finished pork is a traditional food in Europe, where the legendary jamon iberico de bellotas is made from pigs who spend the last six months of their lives fattening in the oak forests of southern Spain, and was also popular in Colonial America. The practice is undergoing a revival in the United States due to the extraordinary flavor, health benefits, and more humane treatment of the animals.
  
• alligators
• alpacas
• Angora rabbits
• aquaculture
• Aquaponics combines hydroponics and aquaculture to produce an efficient and self-sustaining production system for fish, shellfish, vegetables, cut flowers, and more.
  
• "Baby beef" is "contrary farmer" Gene Logsdon's term for a calf raised and fattened on mother's milk and good pasture, and slaughtered at about 750 pounds. The system produces extraordinarily tender beef without the cruelty of conventional veal raising, and depending on the breed, the farmer may enjoy some high quality extra milk on the side.
  
• Many species of butterflies are relatively easy to raise, and they do not take too much space. Butterfly farmers typically raise their lovely miniature “livestock” for butterfly releases at weddings, schools, and other events. Some butterfly farmers also raise exotic species to sell to zoos, botanical gardens, and other organizations. Some large butterfly farms offer tours or even host events such as weddings in butterfly atria.
  
• catfish
• crickets
  

• Though the number of working draft horses has declined dramatically since the 19th century, they continued to be used for logging small woodlots and other tasks, and in recent years there has been a revival of interest in farming with horses as well. Breeders and trainers are likely to be in growing demand.
  
• ducks
• earthworms
• Easter lambs
  
• Free range eggs are in high demand due to their superior health benefits and more humane treatment of hens.
• geese
• grass fed beef
• grass fed dairy products
• guard donkeys
• guinea fowl
• Heritage turkeys are experiencing a resurgence of popularity due to their delicious flavor.
• Hoop house hogs are raised on deep bedding in open-ended hoop houses. The system is an inexpensive and humane alternative to conventional confinement methods of hog rearing. it can be used for feeder pigs or breeding sows.
• hunting dogs
• Jacob sheep
• lacewings
  
• ladybugs
  
• As awareness grows of the important role predators play in maintaining healthy ecosystems, more and more farmers are seeking alternatives methods of protecting stock from predators. One that has been growing in popularity is livestock guardian dogs, which are raised with their flocks and live with them day and night, summer and winter. Demand for good livestock guardian dogs is likely to continue to grow.
  
• llamas
• manure tea
  
• mealworms
• milking goats
  
• mules
  
• Orchard mason bees are non-aggressive but highly effective pollinators. These native solitary bees can be raised and sold to farmers, orchardists, and gardeners looking for alternatives to the honeybee in areas devastated by Colony Collapse Disorder. They are a great complement to flower, herb, fruit, or vegetable businesses.
• organic beekeeping

• Pastured broilers are gaining in popularity due to their superior flavor, health benefits, and more humane production systems.
• pastured pork
• pheasants
• praying mantises
• pregnant mare urine (PMU) production
  
• Rabbit manure is considered one of the best forms of soil amendment by gardeners, and many rabbit producers have a thriving side business in packaged rabbit manure.
  
• rent a goat
• rental chickens
  
• sheep dogs
• Depending on the breed, snails can be raised as escargot (heliciculture), as aquarium pets, or as bait or food for other aquarium pets.
  
• squabs
• stud service
  
• Texas Longhorn cattle
• worm castings

The following is a list of small business ideas for people who enjoy crafting or cooking with the fruits of their farm and garden, as well as growing them. It includes value-added products for a number of the business opportunities described above.

• apple cider
• baked goods
  
• bamboo furniture
• bat houses
• Bee houses for orchard mason bees and other solitary bees are a common side income for solitary bee raisers.
• beeswax candles
  
• bird houses
• dried flowers
• essential oils
  
• fence posts
  
• firewood
• goat cheese
• goat milk soap
  
• handmade furniture
• handspun yarn
  
• handwoven baskets
• herb-infused cooking oils
• herbal teas
  
• Making homemade potpourri is an enjoyable hobby that can become a home-based business if you have a good nose and a good eye. You can save money by growing and drying many of your own flowers and other raw ingredients, and can also make extra money selling them as cut flowers or other types of arrangements. Flower businesses are great complements to bee businesses.
• jams, jellies, and preserves
• jerky
  
• maple syrup
  
• living wreaths
• pine cone wreaths
• sauces and salsas
• sausages
• sheep milk cheese
  
• sheepskin clothing
  
• smoked meats
• stone-ground grains
• tanned hides
  
• taxidermy
  
• wooden toys
  

A few miscellaneous ideas, mainly in the service and hospitality industries:

• bed and breakfast
• birding guide
  
• butterfly garden
• campground
  
• carriage rides
• catch and release fishing
  
• chuck wagon cookouts
• demonstration garden
  
• dude ranch
• fee hunting
• fish and fry
  
• guided hunts
• hayrides
• haunted barn
• horse boarding
• landscape design and maintenance
• lawn mowing
  
• nursery
• organic lawn care
• permaculture design
  
• pet boarding
  
• petting zoo
  
• summer camp
• trail rides
  
• wildlife preserve