Permie Orchard : Expected Revenues

I am an accountant by training and one of the hardest things about permaculture is getting financial revenue numbers from existing permaculture farms. Could you help us out by sharing a range of revenue by acre that you have experienced? That would be a huge help to those of us trying to write business plans, etc or trying to make informed decisions on when to get away from our professional careers.

Nathan Pickard wrote:I am an accountant by training and one of the hardest things about permaculture is getting financial revenue numbers from existing permaculture farms. Could you help us out by sharing a range of revenue by acre that you have experienced? That would be a huge help to those of us trying to write business plans, etc or trying to make informed decisions on when to get away from our professional careers.

Thanks Nathan for the question. We are working on a comprehensive spreadsheet with a few agroeconomists to do exactly that. Customizable so you can plug in our own variables and give you a great idea for projecting your future revenue. We expect to have the project finished by the end of the summer. Stay tuned, if you would be interested in it send me an email with: 'Permaculture Orchard Spreadsheep" in the subject to: miraclefarms(at)videotron.ca I'll notify you when it's ready at the end of summer.
Our target revenue from the Permaculture Orchard is $1 per square foot. Where we have fully planted and the plants are mature and graze animals we can reach that. We do not yet achieve that over the whole of the orchard since we still have plantings to add. Caveat we sell all direct, no middle man but we are far from a major city (1 hour to Montreal). If you are 10-20 minutes from a town with a McDonalds I envy you since it is so much easier, you already have your customer base nearby. Read Booker T. Whatley's great book on the subject of marketing your farm products.

Stefan Sobkowiak wrote:

Nathan Pickard wrote:I am an accountant by training and one of the hardest things about permaculture is getting financial revenue numbers from existing permaculture farms. Could you help us out by sharing a range of revenue by acre that you have experienced? That would be a huge help to those of us trying to write business plans, etc or trying to make informed decisions on when to get away from our professional careers.

Thanks Nathan for the question. We are working on a comprehensive spreadsheet with a few agroeconomists to do exactly that. Customizable so you can plug in our own variables and give you a great idea for projecting your future revenue. We expect to have the project finished by the end of the summer. Stay tuned, if you would be interested in it send me an email with: 'Permaculture Orchard Spreadsheep" in the subject to: miraclefarms(at)videotron.ca I'll notify you when it's ready at the end of summer.
Our target revenue from the Permaculture Orchard is $1 per square foot. Where we have fully planted and the plants are mature and graze animals we can reach that. We do not yet achieve that over the whole of the orchard since we still have plantings to add. Caveat we sell all direct, no middle man but we are far from a major city (1 hour to Montreal). If you are 10-20 minutes from a town with a McDonalds I envy you since it is so much easier, you already have your customer base nearby. Read Booker T. Whatley's great book on the subject of marketing your farm products.

Thanks Stefan. I think your comprehensive spreadsheet will be a huge help!

Wow, $1/sqft is awesome. One of the things I'm interested in as far as profit is concerned is the bootstrap process (e.g. how to get going from zero). I've been working on a strategy for successing through various annual, fast-perennial, and long-term perennial crops. The plan as it stands now is to start out with workshops as the property is developed for initial cash flow, then plant the system so that it'll have a steady yield of marketable stuff starting within a few months and continuing steadily afterward. I've been thinking about a sequence that includes things like cut flowers, herbs, and vegetables, with the fast stuff filling the gaps until the slow stuff catches up. I'm hoping that will keep the system profitable as the trees mature.

What has your experience been like for getting cash flow going as the orchard is just getting started?