If you are just setting up or have been running your smallholding for a while we have put together some ideas to help your smallholding pay its way!
Whether its consumers shopping or local hospitality businesses looking for supplies there is a demand for locally farmed produce everywhere you look. Advertising in the local papers or on social media is a great way to promote your goods. You can post weekly or even daily updates of what stock you have to sell which will help you get a ‘following’. Another option for advertising is to hold an open day to show your current and future stock.
Leading on from the consumers if you notice demand growing for certain items e.g. eggs or vegetables you could try producing high value versions. Quails eggs could be a good place to start or rare vegetables such as purple carrots!
If you have plenty of spare land on your small holding you could use some of the land for other small businesses. Some ideas could be Dog or Cat Boarding, Guided Nature Walks, Storage lock ups or Glamping/ Camping. If you don’t fancy running them yourself, you could always rent the land to a business owner.
You could also use up any leftover fruit or veg by making some chutneys, this wont spoil so can be an all year-round seller when things go out of season.
We hope this has given you plenty of ideas to get into action over the quieter winter months!