PODCAST · science
Farm Small Farm Smart
by The Modern Grower Podcast Network
Insights for vegetable farmers and market gardeners who earn, or want to earn, a living growing vegetables profitably. In each episode, I talk with a beginning or experienced farmer, diving deep into their story to find out what makes their market farm successful. I focus on in-the-field farming. Soil preparation, weed management, post-harvest processing, appropriate technology, farm tools and equipment, and growing crops.Hosted and produced by Diego Footer's Modern Grower Podcast Network.
Episodes
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You're Selling to the Wrong People (2 of 2)
Your customer probably isn't who you think it is. In the finale of the Who to Sell series, Diego names the "mission trap," building a farm around the people you most want to help, who may not want, value, or be able to afford what you grow, and lays out the sequence that actually works: build a...
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Inoculating Soil with Microbes - Gardening Beyond Basics 91
In this episode, Dr. Paul Zorner of Locus Ag Solutions talks sheds light on how to go about populating soils with healthy microbes. Subscribe for more content on sustainable farming, market farming tips, and business insights! Get market farming tools, seeds, and supplies at Modern Grower. Follow...
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Why Your Farm Will Fail Charging Low Prices (1 of 2)
There's a number most farmers never calculate: the minimum price you need just to break even. Diego walks through the math that separates small farms that survive from the ones that slowly bleed out: why wholesale is a volume game you were never set up to win, why direct-to-consumer is the only...
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Increasing Carbon Stores in the Soil - Gardening Beyond Basics 90
In this episode, Dr. Johannes Lehmann of Cornell University talks about where the long-term carbon stores in the soil actually come from. Subscribe for more content on sustainable farming, market farming tips, and business insights! Get market farming tools, seeds, and supplies at Modern Grower....
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The Profit Pie: Why Smart Farmers Choose Their Market Before Their Land (3 of 3)
Margin tells you how much to keep. Volume tells you how much to grow. But none of it matters without the right place to sell it. In part 3 of the Profit Pie series, we break down the four sales channels: farmers markets, CSAs, restaurants, and wholesale, and how to match the channel to what your...
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Putting Fungi in the Soil - Gardening Beyond Basics 89
In this episode, author and educator Peter McCoy of Mycologos discusses putting fungi into soil by building up the soil. Subscribe for more content on sustainable farming, market farming tips, and business insights! Get market farming tools, seeds, and supplies at Modern Grower. Follow Modern...
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The Profit Pie: 70% Profit Margin Doesn't Pay the Rent (2 of 3)
In Part 1, we built the Profit Pie, the framework for how much you keep on every bed. Here's what it doesn't tell you: a 70% margin on a bed doesn't pay the rent. Margin is how much you keep per bed. Income is margin times volume. Get one wrong and the whole thing falls apart. Watch the episode...
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Depending on What You Grow - Gardening Beyond Basics 88
In this episode, compost specialist and owner of Living Roots Compost Tea Troy Hinke breaks down the nuances of making and using compost tea depending on what you're growing and what your goals are. Subscribe for more content on sustainable farming, market farming tips, and business insights! Get...
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Refusing Expansion (MFB 61)
Most entrepreneurs see growth as progress. What if the smartest move is to stop? Subscribe for more content on sustainable farming, market farming tips, and business insights! Get market farming tools, seeds, and supplies at Modern Grower. Follow Modern Grower: Instagram Instagram Listen to other...
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The Profit Pie: What Actually Moves Your Farm's Profit (1 of 3)
Ask most farmers what has the biggest effect on profit and they'll say inputs: seeds, soil, amendments, the stuff you put in the ground. They're wrong. After a decade of interviews, here's the profit pie: every factor that touches your profit, ranked from biggest lever to smallest. Watch the...
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Farming on the Conservation Reserve Program - Gardening Beyond Basics 87
In this episode, soil specialist and consultant Dr. Jim Hoorman of Hoorman Soil discusses farming within the bounds of the Conservation Reserve Program. Subscribe for more content on sustainable farming, market farming tips, and business insights! Get market farming tools, seeds, and supplies at...
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7 Years, 100k Invested, Zero Products (MFB 60)
Struggling founders: detailed plans slowly, never execute. Successful founders: Build basic version, get it to customers, learn what actually matters, iterate. Difference isn't intelligence — it's velocity. The main thing: Build product, get it to customers. Subscribe for more content on...
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The Symbiotic Relationship Between Trichoderma and Plants - Gardening Beyond Basics 86
In this episode, Professor Emeritus at Cornell University College of Agricultural and Life Sciences breaks down what happens in a symbiotic relationship between trichoderma species and plant species. Subscribe for more content on sustainable farming, market farming tips, and business insights!…
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Farming Below Minimum Wage (MFB 59)
Do you know how much labor goes into growing that bed of lettuce? Not just the planting and harvesting, the weeding, the washing, the selling, too? If you don't know your numbers, you might be in danger of farming below minimum wage. Subscribe for more content on sustainable farming, market…
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7 Things That Happen When You Go From Employee to Farm Owner
Everybody fantasizes about being their own boss, but nobody fantasizes about standing in front of a field at 6 AM wondering if you made the right call, or about the part where you clean the toilets. After a decade interviewing farmers who made the jump from employee to owner, the same seven walls...
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What are Efficient Microbes - Gardening Beyond Basics 85
In this episode, one of the pioneers of probiotic technology, Dr. Matthew Wood of Probiotic Holdings, sheds light on what efficient microbes are and what they do. Subscribe for more content on sustainable farming, market farming tips, and business insights! Get market farming tools, seeds, and...
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400 Trays/Week at $20/Tray (MFB 58)
While $20/tray of microgreens seems like a wildly profitable venture, do you know the kind of logistics, inputs, and labor that go into that $20 tray? Subscribe for more content on sustainable farming, market farming tips, and business insights! Get market farming tools, seeds, and supplies at...
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The Farmer Too Busy to Plan Will Always Be Too Busy
How many hours did you work on your farm last week? And the harder question: how many of those hours were spent running the business versus improving it? "Work on your business, not in your business" is in every business book ever written. Everybody nods, but almost nobody does it. Watch the...
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Not All Biochar is Created Equal - Gardening Beyond Basics 84
In this episode, USDA soil scientist Dr. Kurt Spokas explains why not all biochar is exactly the same and why some are better than others. Subscribe for more content on sustainable farming, market farming tips, and business insights! Get market farming tools, seeds, and supplies at Modern Grower....
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A Profitable Farm Business on 1000Sqft. (MFB 57)
With a solid crop selection, tight crop succession, and unwavering customer base, you can ABSOLUTELY run a profitable business on 1000sqft. of land. Subscribe for more content on sustainable farming, market farming tips, and business insights! Get market farming tools, seeds, and supplies at…
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The One Number That Separates Six-Figure Farms From Struggling Ones
Your farm has a salary cap. Land and time are finite, and every crop you plant spends some of both. The question isn't "what makes me the most money," it's "what makes me the most money per day it occupies my bed." That's dollars per day (DPD), and after interviewing over 200 farmers, it's the...
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Misconceptions About Clay Soils - Gardening Beyond Basics 83
In this episode, Dr. David Laird of Iowa State University breaks down the most common beliefs around growing in clay soils. Subscribe for more content on sustainable farming, market farming tips, and business insights! Get market farming tools, seeds, and supplies at Modern Grower. Follow Modern...
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How Hiring Can Boost Your Business (MFB 56)
You can only grow so much by yourself. If you're planning on growing your business, you'll eventually need to hire out help. Subscribe for more content on sustainable farming, market farming tips, and business insights! Get market farming tools, seeds, and supplies at Modern Grower. Follow Modern...
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7 Money Mistakes That Kill New Farms Before They Start
More than half of new farms fail in their first five years. In almost every case, it's not a growing problem...it's a money problem. After a decade interviewing hundreds of farmers and running a farm supply business serving thousands of customers, the same financial mistakes show up again and...
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Multiplying Microbes and Their Regionality - Gardening Beyond Basics 82
In this episode, Dr. Jane Fife of 3Bar Biologics talks about how to multiply microbial populations and how different types may multiply better in different regions. Subscribe for more content on sustainable farming, market farming tips, and business insights! Get market farming tools, seeds, and...
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Making Over 230k in Year 2 of Farming (MFB 55)
Vincent Cuneo started his microgreens business with zero growing experience. Year two revenue: $230K. But money was tight, stress was crushing, and crop failures meant lost revenue. His advice now? Get good before going pro. Subscribe for more content on sustainable farming, market farming tips,...
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How the Smartest Farmers I Know Stopped Competing and Started Winning
A farmer I interviewed was doing everything right — certified organic, quality product, good prices, showing up every week. Three years in, the farm was cash-neutral. Not losing money, not making it. Then he moved towns. Same farmer, same crops, same methods. First market day in the new town…
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Finished & Unfinished Compost - Gardening Beyond Basics 81
In this episode, Malibu Compost Founder Randy Ritchie talks about the many differences between using finished and unfinished compost. Subscribe for more content on sustainable farming, market farming tips, and business insights! Get market farming tools, seeds, and supplies at Modern Grower.…
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Build a Plan that Fits Your Farm (MFB 54)
What does your farm have to do for you? Does it need to net you a livable income? Or does it just need to supplement your current income? Plan out your farm based on what you need to do lest you overreach and stretch yourself too thin. Subscribe for more content on sustainable farming, market...
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Why Trying to Sell to Everyone Is Killing Your Business
When you try to be everything to everyone, you become nothing to anyone. The farm selling "fresh local vegetables" to whoever walks by is invisible. The farm known for the best salad mix in the county, or the only source of specialty greens for high-end restaurants, is the one people seek out and...
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Tillage and Carbon in the Soil - Gardening Beyond Basics 80
In this episode, Dr. Bruno Basso of CIBO Technologies discusses the effects of tillage on the carbon in the soil. Subscribe for more content on sustainable farming, market farming tips, and business insights! Get market farming tools, seeds, and supplies at Modern Grower. Follow Modern Grower:...
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Making a Living Farming (MFB 53)
Is small-scale farming a viable source of income? It definitely could be! But there's no free lunch: it's something you're going to have to put work into. Subscribe for more content on sustainable farming, market farming tips, and business insights! Get market farming tools, seeds, and supplies…
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Potential Cons to Cover Cropping - Gardening Beyond Basics 79
In this episode, Research Associate Professor Dr. Buz Kloot of Soil Health Labs talks about the potential reasons why farmers would choose not to cover crop. Subscribe for more content on sustainable farming, market farming tips, and business insights! Get market farming tools, seeds, and…
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Farmers Markets vs CSAs (MFB 52)
Which should you sell to, farmer's markets, or CSAs? The answer: it depends. Can you grow consistently? Can you deliver on your weekly orders? Have you already built a solid customer base? Subscribe for more content on sustainable farming, market farming tips, and business insights! Get market...
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5 Variables That Turn an Underperforming Crop Into a Top Earner
Jodi Robuck's first beet harvest: one bunch. Maybe $3. Twelve months later, the same bed produces over $850. Not luck — he changed one variable at a time until the math worked. Click here to watch the full episode on our YouTube Channel! Subscribe for more content on sustainable farming, market...
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Plant-Fungi Relationships - Gardening Beyond Basics 78
In this episode, author and educator Peter McCoy of Mycologos sheds light on the symbiotic relationship between plants and fungi. Subscribe for more content on sustainable farming, market farming tips, and business insights! Get market farming tools, seeds, and supplies at Modern Grower. Follow...
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DIY Costs More Than You Think (MFB 51)
Sometimes, you can cheap out and MacGyver your way to get your farm business going...but not always. Subscribe for more content on sustainable farming, market farming tips, and business insights! Get market farming tools, seeds, and supplies at Modern Grower. Follow Modern Grower: Instagram...
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Mature Compost is Better Quality - Gardening Beyond Basics 77
In this episode, compost specialist and owner of Living Roots Compost Tea Troy Hinke explains the importance of allowing compost to take its time maturing before application. Subscribe for more content on sustainable farming, market farming tips, and business insights! Get market farming tools,...
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Farms that Fail, Farms that Thrive (MFB 50)
In this episode, Diego talks about the small differences that make up the difference between farms that make it...and farms that don't. Subscribe for more content on sustainable farming, market farming tips, and business insights! Get market farming tools, seeds, and supplies at Modern Grower....
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5 Common Farm Purchases vs. the $10,000 Question
5 purchases, one filter. Every year farmers spend thousands on equipment they're told they need. Almost nobody asks one question before swiping the card: Will this generate or save me $10,000 in the next 12 months? Click here to watch the full episode on our YouTube Channel! Subscribe for more...
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Assessing Soil Health and Quality - Gardening Beyond Basics 76
In this episode, microbiologist and co-creator of the Johnson-Su bioreactor, Dr. David Johnson, schools us on how to tell if a soil is healthy and of good quality. Subscribe for more content on sustainable farming, market farming tips, and business insights! Get market farming tools, seeds, and...
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The Real Reason Why Farmers Quit (MFB 49)
Diego has identified what breaks farm business owners. It's not the physical work: it's everything else. And the difference between farmers who barely survive and those who thrive? Systems. Subscribe for more content on sustainable farming, market farming tips, and business insights! Get market...
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The Most Profitable Crops for a Market Garden
Search "most profitable crops" on YouTube and you'll get saffron, ginseng, cannabis. After interviewing 200+ small-scale farmers over a decade and running a farm supply company, I can tell you almost nobody is making real money on anything from those lists. Click here to watch the full episode on...
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Cover Crops, Biomass, and Nutrient Cycling - Gardening Beyond Basics 75
In this episode, soil specialist and consultant Dr. Jim Hoorman of Hoorman Soil discusses how increasing above-soil biomass plays a role in nutrient cycling. Subscribe for more content on sustainable farming, market farming tips, and business insights! Get market farming tools, seeds, and…
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Year-Round Farming on 1.5 Acres (MFB 48)
When Taylor Mendell moved from California to Vermont, she made every mistake possible: spent their entire budget on irrigation during the wettest year on record. By year three, everything felt out of control. Then they built something remarkable: a year-round CSA grossing over $200,000 on just…
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The Exact Math Behind $250 of Lettuce a Week
How many beds of lettuce do you actually need to hit $250, $500, or $1,000 a week? Using production data from Ray Tyler's Rose Creek Farms in Tennessee — a farm that's done over $400,000 in sales on ¾ acre — here's the exact math. Click here to watch the full episode on our YouTube Channel....
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Replacing Lost Nutrients in the Soil - Gardening Beyond Basics 74
In this episode, soil microbiologist and founder of The Soil Food Web Dr. Elaine Ingham talks about how farmers can go about replenishing soil nutrients for future growing. Subscribe for more content on sustainable farming, market farming tips, and business insights! Get market farming tools,...
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The Planning Habits that Turned a Farm Profitable (MFB 47)
Taylor Mendell was drowning. Nothing was working on Footprint Farm until she discovered something unexpected: brain science and habit formation could fix her farming chaos. What started as a desperate loan application turned into an annual planning system that transformed their operation.…
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Market Gardening Explained: Can You Actually Make a Living on Under 2 Acres?
Most people hear "farming" and picture tractors and hundreds of acres. Market gardening is different: under five acres (often under two), vegetables grown intensively, sold directly to customers at retail prices. A well-run market garden can return over $100,000 per acre. Click here to watch the...
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The Conventional Pushback on No-Till - Gardening Beyond Basics 73
In this episode, Dr. Gabe Kenne of the University of South Carolina talks about conventional farmers' concerns on no-till growing. Subscribe for more content on sustainable farming, market farming tips, and business insights! Get market farming tools, seeds, and supplies at Modern Grower. Follow...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Insights for vegetable farmers and market gardeners who earn, or want to earn, a living growing vegetables profitably. In each episode, I talk with a beginning or experienced farmer, diving deep into their story to find out what makes their market farm successful. I focus on in-the-field farming. Soil preparation, weed management, post-harvest processing, appropriate technology, farm tools and equipment, and growing crops.Hosted and produced by Diego Footer's Modern Grower Podcast Network.
HOSTED BY
The Modern Grower Podcast Network
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Farm Small Farm Smart have?
Farm Small Farm Smart currently has 599 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Farm Small Farm Smart about?
Insights for vegetable farmers and market gardeners who earn, or want to earn, a living growing vegetables profitably. In each episode, I talk with a beginning or experienced farmer, diving deep into their story to find out what makes their market farm successful. I focus on in-the-field farming....
How often does Farm Small Farm Smart release new episodes?
Farm Small Farm Smart releases new episodes frequently with a large back catalog of 599 episodes. Check the episode list for recent publication dates.
Where can I listen to Farm Small Farm Smart?
You can listen to Farm Small Farm Smart on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Farm Small Farm Smart?
Farm Small Farm Smart is created and hosted by The Modern Grower Podcast Network.
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