Ground Report

Avoid Costly Mistakes By Following The Advice Of Successful Growers

Before you think about growing food on a commercial level you need to consider your reasons for doing so. You also need to be prepared for the hard yards as you go from a backyard gardener to an aquponics farmer. In a former issue of the ASC magazine, JD And Tawnya Sawyer shared their views on what it takes to make an Aquaponics farm profitable. Here are the top 10 tips from that article.

Before you think about growing food on a commercial level you need to consider your reasons for doing so. You also need to be prepared for the hard yards as you go from a backyard gardener to an aquponics farmer. In a former issue of the ASC magazine, JD And Tawnya Sawyer shared their views on what it takes to make an Aquaponics farm profitable. Here are the top 10 tips from that article.

1. You need to educate yourself – You can’t go into the business of commercial Aquaponics on ideals and fancy ideas. You need to put the time into gaining the knowledge you need, to run a successful business.
2. Make a Plan – Fail to plan, plan to fail. How can you know what you want to achieve without a plan? What is your personal, business, financial and marketing goals for your business? This is a big mistake that lots of people make, without these goals in place you will be chasing your tail and wondering why things are not working as they should http://aquaponics-how-to-guide.info/aquanewsletter/
3. Start small and learn – Don’t make the mistake of trying to manage a large commercial system. Learn with a smaller system, and educate yourself along the way. You can iron out problems much easier with a smaller system. Once you have success growing at this level you add to your system and reduce costly mistakes.
4. Grow what sells in your area – do your research and find out what people want and what they are willing to pay for it. There’s no point in growing food on a commercial level if you have no market to buy it. https://www.facebook.com/AquaponicsSurvivalCommunities
5. Mother Nature isn’t interested in your financial status – The growth rates of plants are dictated by the environments they grow in. Temperature extremes can stunt plant growth or kill them completely. You need to consider your climatic conditions and find out what types of heating or cooling systems you will need to combat these problems.
6. Diversify your revenue streams – offer classes and tours of your facility. Help people assemble their own systems for a small fee, put together a how to kit for people new to Aquaponics.
7. Keep expenses under control – You need to know what your energy, human resources, plant supplies, fish feed and building leases are costing you every month. Many start up businesses don’t monitor these costs and find themselves out of money and unable to continue. Don’t make that mistake, budget everything.
8. Learn how to calculate your cost per unit expenses and cost per square foot expenses – You divide these expenses by including the growing space, seed germination area, storage areas, fish tanks and so on. Cost per unit is based on estimating your total unit production and dividing that across the combined fixed and variable costs of your operation.
9. Tell your story – give customers a reason to interact with you. Tell them why you got into the Aquaponics industry and what you hope to achieve.

10. Don’t quit your job – build your clientele on a small scale first, get recognized and go from there. With any new business it is a good idea to have another source of income for all the expenses and challenges you are likely to face along the way.

If you follow these 10 steps then you can turn Aquaponics farming into a profitable enterprise. Just like any other business, you need to plan, be realistic and be prepared to work hard.