Starting A Small Scale Seed Business - An Additional Business Unit for A Small Scale Farm, The Founder's Story with Daniel Brisebois

Dan Brisebois will be one of the speakers at PV3 in March 2016. Learn more about PV3 at permaculturevoices.com/pv3. Today’s episode takes us to Quebec, where farmer Dan Brisebois is doing some amazing things at the Tourne-Sol farm…. Dan Brisebois started out like a lot of other small scale growers, growing market vegetables intensively to sell to CSA customers. But unlike most other growers, Dan also had another plan in mind as he started his farm. A plan that would really distinguish him from many other small scale growers. Because from the beginning Dan’s plan was to integrate seed production into his small farm's operation. Seed which could be used on the farm, and seeds which could be sold. Dan's now about 10 years into the seed growing and selling business, and things are going well and he's producing a lot of seeds. Seeds that he uses in three ways. He's selling seeds which are being sold to through his own seed company and seeds which are being sold to seed retailers, and seed which is being used on his farm. It’s proving to be a lucrative and viable add on business for his small farm. And before starting thinking, I don't have enough room on my farm to grow seeds as well as market veg, thinking again, because Dan is dedicating less than 1/2 an acre to seed production. You don't need a lot of land to produce a lot of seeds. But it isn't just as easy as grow plants and get seeds. There's a lot of strategy, skill and marketing that plays into the small scale seed business. Some of which is intuitive and some of which isn't. Like why Dan grows his market tomatoes on supports in the greenhouse, but grows his tomatoes for seed outside on the ground. Find out exactly why in this episode, as Dan shares 10 years of seed growing experience. If you are looking to cash flow a small piece of land or diversify your farm operations, pay attention in this one... Learn more at permaculturevoices.com/dan