Ideas for a speciality crop

[deere755]

I am needing ideas for a specialty crop on a 5 to 10 acre plot. The wife says it can not be real time consuming as we are very busy with the kids sports and she says it can not interfear with our boating time. Any ideas on what would be a good crop for a small tract in central Illinois. All that I can think of take a lot of time such as strawberries, sweet corn, etc. It is being farmed now but it is a real pain to get to with todays equipment. I have been wanting to do something with it for a few years now.

 

[randy41]

a lot of people around here grow christmas trees and nursery trees.

 

[KaiB]

You may want to look at sunflowers if you're not too wet there. If you're close to the suburbs and can handle the people and insurance issues, I've often thought that "rent out" gardens would be a good idea.

Build a greenhouse and starter frames, till a bunch of plots and lease to those who want to garden but can't.

 

[MossRoad]

Pumpkins.
Sweetcorn contracted to a local market.

 

[mjarrels]

Half Indian corn and half gourds.

mark

 

[EddieWalker]

I've always been impressed by the success some people have had growing lavender. It might not grow in your area, but for those who have done it, they are making some serious cash.

Of couse, it's all in the marketing and finding people to buy it.

There are allot of small greenhouse and nurseries in my area. They have a few acres and sell potted plants on there front yard. Some have added statuary and potting soils. Its all what you can provide and how much traffic is at your location.

Others set up booths at the flea markets we have here and sell there plants there. Prices are always cheaper from these people and we have several that we buy from when we want some plants.

Eddie

 

[schmism]

Horseradish?

we usually see a few feilds of about that size planted around my parts as the "horseradish captial of the world" is a mear 20 min from me....

http://www.horseradishfestival.com/

 

[pappy19]

I've known a number of small plot farmers that finally decided to plant garlic,most get certified organic, and are making a bundle selling locally.

 

[Egon]

Nice grass. Otherwise all the other activities will be curtailed.

 

[jpm]

which nice grass are you talking about

 

[Egon]

Not that type but on second thought prairie grass and wild flower seeds can be gathered and sold. Again it takes time.

 

[N80]

Yea, it would seem that if it doesn't take much money, time, land or effort you're going to have a hard time selling whatever it is because people will 1) be able to do it themselves or 2) can already get whatever it is real cheap.

We have folks that do the you-pick tomatoes and strawberries. I'd still think that would be pretty time consuming. There is a pumpkin patch near us that does well, but they do hay rides, school trips, apples, cider etc, etc. Its a full time affair.

There is also a place nearby that grows corn and does their own stone ground grits. But you'd need more than 10 acres, you need a mill and you'd need a cheap delivery service because you aint gone sell no grits in central Illinois!

 

[KaiB]

mmm...grits!

 

[chili]

I think you might test the waters by planting several different kinds of vegtables on about one acre and see how they sell at a farmers market. You could also see which vegtables sell best and the time to work different kinds of vegtables. It would be nice to just get on your tactor, plow, disk, plant, spray but the problem is going to be in the harvest without investing money in some specialized picker that you could pull behind you tractor.

 

[gsganzer]

How about a native wildflower plot for the seed? Someone has to be growing the seed for these wildflower mixes and the stuff is as expensive as heck. I think they must sell the wildflower seed by the gram...

I'd think that once you get a pretty solid stand of wildflower, all you have to do is harvest the seed once it matures (however the heck they do that). Surely there must be some ag publications on how to do it or the ag extension can help you find what you need to become a seed source.

I always thought seed farming would be a neat retirement career (kind of an oxymoron isn't it) for someone living in the texas hill country area. It seems like all you'd need is a good couple of acre patches (3-10 acres each) to get an intensive seed crop going of various wildflower strains for harvest.

 

[MossRoad]

Do a google search for specialty crops and illinois. There is all kinds of information out there. Broomcorn, red clover seed, peas and beans, mellons and squash are all listed. Popcorn, too. I have a friend that contracts with a local grocery chain for sweet corn. I know of another family that plants organic sweet corn. They plant one acre, then two weeks later another acre, and two weeks after that another acre. When it is almost ready, they put out a sign by the highway that it will be ready in a week. On opening day, it is a mad house. They sell an entire acre in a weekend or two at most. Then they change the signs for the next batch. All they put into it is three weekends in the spring, water it all summer, and 4 or 5 weekends towards the end of summer.