Non traditional farms out there?

[Sheepwheat]

Thought this topic could use its own thread. It seems a hard thing to wrap ones head around.

Anyone out there know of success stories of farmers doing wild and crazy things with their marketing, with their products?

Non grain guys making a living doing out of the box things? Why does it seem so hard to fathom it can be done? It is in my view, the ONLY way to refill the empty countryside. Why do we hold them back?

[WiltonRanch]

Seems the goto non traditional farm is a sort of veg patch or greenhouse. If you’re close to a large centre they work if you want to work. The quandary is the further you are away you must either produce more durable goods or be prepared to move them into a better marketing position. To me a lot of these ventures will provide with a decent living provided you bust your hump and keep abreast of change. It’s no different if you have a farm based business providing a good or service needed today but not in the future. Neighbour used to rebuild swather and mower knives. Great idea when everything was riveted and you had a cost effective service to replace blades. Today who would think of that? That change is what spooks me off of doing such things. I thought of selling sucker rod fence posts and quick fence braces I make but when you see what others are charging for similar items they haven’t truly costed out their time and materials. It’s that undercutting and competition from inferior products which results in a race to the bottom where no one makes money. It eventually happens to the best ventures.