We’re experiencing a pandemic right now; many industries have been disrupted on the negative, but that doesn’t mean that there are no positives. Farming, for instance, benefited from the disruption before the pandemic and it led to more opportunities.
Small farms, in general, have started to become considered a potentially lucrative business. It can also be raised up in a variety of settings and not just in a purely rural landscape. Even urban farms are not out of the question, as long as there are vertical farming containers and spaces available. The smallest of spaces (think rooftop gardens) can even be used to raise crops and various crops.
If you’re interested in trying out gardening with the purpose of farming in your backyard, or you want your very own small farm, then you’ve come to the right place. Read on and find out how you can start growing crops of your own during your home stay under the pandemic.
Starting a Tree Nursery
If you want a start in farming, a tree nursery could be the right start for you. The way farmers do it is to start with only 10 to 20 seedlings, spread on a small acre. With the right strategy and marketing, farmers can profit from the small trees before they mature further. There are small trees for sale are $20 per piece, which is a pretty affordable price to invest.
If you’re going to choose this method, you should study more about trees and how to grow them properly. You could choose what trees to invest in. Fruit-bearing trees can be grown through grafting or budding, for example. You could produce a good batch of the same trees using this method.
Fish Farming in a Pond
Fish farming is another nice idea for urban or semi-urban farming, but this requires space on your lot. You can start a fish farm by creating your own fishponds or having fish tanks. If you have a natural pond on your lot, it will make establishing your fish farm easier.
You should invest in studying proper fish farming and how to source fingerlings. If you have the proper knowledge, you’ll be able to decide which fish to choose and how to raise them. Some fish breeds that are recommended are cod, catfish, and even tilapia.
Small scale farms such as yours could profit by selling fish locally. During this time of the pandemic, local supermarkets and restaurants in your immediate vicinity will value what fish you can sell to them.
Mixed Crop Farming
This kind of farming is great for advanced farmers and green thumbs who want variety in their profits. For this, you can cultivate two or more types of crops in your area, but you’ll need bigger space as well. It’s a popular choice for farmers because it makes the most out of their soil, water, and also requires the use of more equipment, the investment in which could be really costly.
Farmers use this method to mitigate the risks and problems brought about by calamities, pests, droughts, and other seasonal problems. For instance, some can grow wheat when it’s in season, then cycle over to corn and canola when it’s the more profitable crop.
Creating a Co-Farming Space
Co-farming is a popular initiative, especially in places where you have a lot of space that goes unused. This is almost always an urban setting, and there are benefits, most of which are aimed towards giving people ways to make money. During the pandemic, this is badly in need.
What the community can do is to organize people into creating community gardens to provide soil for farming. It has benefits both physical and psychological and also provides people a reason to go out, without having to stay outside or far away for too long.
Gardening for Herbs
There are farm ideas that don’t require a very large space to work. Chief among these is to grow herbs in your garden. If this is your choice, you should care to create variety with your herbs and shrubs. You should also make sure that these herbs are ones that are in demand, so you can sell them off easily.
You can choose to sell these online during the pandemic. Pick the herbs that you know most about, then sell them off online to friends and other people you know will buy them.
There are a lot of ideas into farming that you can do, but these stand out as the best out there. If you’ve got your own ideas of urban farming and small space farming, why not get into it?
