There was an old saying back years ago when I was a business consultant that goes like this:
Those who can, do.
Those who can’t do, teach.
Those who can’t teach? They consult.
I think of that little refrain as I see an increasing number of email and Facebook promotions from farmers-turned-consultants. It’s not meant as a put-down, because the farmers who are doing the consulting are talented individuals with serious real-world experience, profiled on this blog. No, this emergence of farming educators/consultants has to be a reflection of the growing interest in regenerative agriculture by more folks serious about homesteading. Here are three prime examples:
1.Charlotte Smith. Last time we heard from Charlotte Smith in 2015, her raw milk was in such big demand, she was selling it for $24 a gallon from her Oregon farm. She had just begun her consulting activities. The consulting seems to have taken off—on her Facebook page, she reported in April that she had more than 800 people signed up for three days of free lessons on how to market farm products more effectively, while keeping your personal life together. Her own consulting business model is to ‘graduate’ participants from her free programs to paid individual coaching gigs.
2. Mark Baker. This U.S. Air Force vet-turned-farmer garnered national attention a few years back when the state of Michigan came down on him for farming wild hogs. He spent three years successfully fending them off in court. There was a brief foray into local politics, before pushing full steam into teaching/consulting activities. These include on-farm sessions on butchering hogs, chickens, and other meat sources, along with instruction and support for homesteading and home schooling. There are also video options. Pricing is from $80 for a one-day class on pastured chickens to $650 for a three-day class on raising and butchering hogs.
3. Joel Salatin. The master farmer has long had a national following, thanks to his appearances in various documentaries about farming and his wide-ranging speaking activities and instructional books. Since Covid did a number on his in-person speeches to corporate and nonprofit organizations, he’s made a big push into the teaching/consulting arena with a high professional Facebook marketing campaign, that explains: “Farming and homesteading are very tough enterprises to build. There’s a lot to know, a lot to buy, and land is expensive. This course will make all the difference in your chances of success with your homestead or farmstead effort. Get started today!” It leads prospects to a web site full of endorsements from happy previous participants and videos of Joel. The 18-video course sells for $995.
There are also a number of farmers doing their own one-off conferences and informal gatherings. Canadian raw dairy farmer Michael Schmidt, who spent years battling Canada’s legal system for the right to sell raw milk, offers rooms on his farm via AirBNB, and says he provides farming instruction to travelers, most of whom are eager to learn.
Business experts sometimes argue that the real money during the California Gold Rush of the 1840s was made by the many businesses selling picks and shovels and other supplies to the eager gold seekers. So it it seems to be many decades later in the homesteading rush.
I’m glad to see farmers sharing their hard-won experience with people who want to learn from them. Good for them for diversifying their revenue sources! They deserve all the financial and personal success they receive.
Building a raw milk business takes serious business acumen.
I hear about lots of people that just want to feed others with healthy food and believe in Rawmilk But… they don’t apply business smarts to the project. As a result they just don’t do well.
Producing and selling raw milk is just like most other businesses. It requires an interest in people. Not just soils, cows and milking. People. In my opinion the greatest and most important element in a successful raw milk business is people. Building a team to do all the work. Building a base of customers that love and trust you.
It’s a people business. It can also be capital intensive with many skills from Grass to Glass.
Growing pains are rampant. The demand is high and that means growth. Growth is though.
Raw milk is not a magical world of profits and rainbows. It’s a business centered on team building and people.
Excellent advice, Mark. I think too many people go into small-scale farming with stars in their eyes, think that ‘if you build it they will come.’ Doesn’t work like that in farming any more than it does any other business.
Totally correct David
A note on the 89 organic dairies that were left abandoned by Danone and Horizon processors. And the huge numbers of organic dairies that have closed in California.
We reached out to many of them. At RAWMI We even advertised to invite them to the growing, highly sustainable raw milk markets.
Their answer was this. We don’t want to deal with people. We don’t want to deal with inspection, building a brand , social platforms. They said that just want a good check from a processor. That’s it. No tours or growth. Just to be left private and alone. That’s what we heard from the few that answered.
My take away is this. Raw milk is awesome for people that love people….that want to serve people.
That’s me. Love the tours and education. Love the mind bending research and being innovative and adaptive.
That’s not for everyone.
Guess I am pretty darn safe in this market.
https://apple.news/Aehy-iIsHQ6i7hGTvBucasg
I found this well written story to be quite an accurate narration of the All American Gun Saga
Some history and some knowledge of the mechanics of bullets, flesh and fear.
Little things going extremely fast cause death but shock concussion. Worth a read.
THIS SPEECH WILL GO DOWN IN HISTORY – CHRISTINE ANDERSON MEP
The ongoing ambiguity surrounding so-called Listeria outbreaks…
“A woman who lives near Big Olaf Creamery said she was surprised to hear the CDC’s statement.
“I haven’t heard anything in this village anything from our friends, people we know here,” Charity Lapp told WFLA.”
https://www.theepochtimes.com/cdc-reveals-food-product-connected-to-deadly-outbreak-of-listeria-bacteria_4574561.html?est=ipRG%2FrtW1IhQVluQRZOGhfLJSs8Vp%2BA1DkW4AV0z2mw2ArIrSOZUQ0koKyzG%2B4RvFVhY0w%3D%3D
And as one commenter pointed out, “10’s of thousands dead from the covid shots, millions injured and nothing from the CDC about stopping the shots, instead they are pushing more. For some reason they think we should trust them?.”
More fake news Ken, you’re getting to be as goofy as old Watson. Why would I believe an article from a publication run by the Falun Gong “FAKE” religious movement, kinda reminds of the Hare Krishna!! Get Real Ken, You’re WAY smarter than that!!
35 minutes video by Tom Cowan … the heart is not a pump. Brilliant
Starts and ends quoting Rudolf Steiner. Has profound application to how milk is created
https://greatreject.org/the-heart-is-not-a-pump/
Watson, Cowan has completely discredited himself, lost his medical license, certainly has gone off the deep end!! However Steiner’s work is still quite relevant and brilliant!!
a classic example of the ad hominem attack, from the peanut gallery
of course, nary a word of intelligent comment re Doctor Cowan’s explanation that the heart is not a pump. He makes too much sense. Even you could grasp that, were you to set aside your prejudice, Mr Dutcher. Too bad you’re locked-in to the past. Sally Fallon did. Is she a fool, too? Or is she a pioneer whose role is > to suffer the slings and arrows of reproach, as she pours out her good will to help the nation?
your homework is >>> to find out how many concepts were held, rigidly, by the Medical profession, only to be ditched once more and better information became available
Tom Cowan’s explanation is a tour de force. Getting to his point about 2/3 the way through = “this changes how we understand disease”
Watson, I sure wish David had a LOL button or a LMAO button, either would work very well per your post, LOL!! AND, Yes, Fallon has completely discredited herself too, her greed is over the top!! As is your ridiculousness.