SHOW NOTES

KEY IDEAS: 

Our guest today has a passion for farming, a path to farming full-time and a job that he likes that might keep him from doing just that!

Chris Benton and his wife Leann are the owners and founders of C&L Farms Grows.  They have an 8 acre farm about 45 minutes outside of Atlanta, Georgia and they are focused on growing microgreens.  Chris told me that he chose microgreens for a number of reasons.  The fact that there is an almost immediate harvest and return, nobody in his area was doing it and they are so nutritious were among his top reasons for this decision.

The way that Chris and Leann developed their business is interesting as well.  Chris grew up around agriculture and wanted to be involved with that.  Leann did not necessarily have the same desire to farm, but she wanted to find a niche business that would allow her to work from home for a number of reasons.  Thus the business was developed.  It allows Chris to be involved in agriculture, and it allows Leann to stay at home.

In this episode Chris and I discuss a way of creating your off-farm income that I have never really focused on, and that is having a job but working from home.  This is what Chris does, so he rarely has to suffer through the notorious commutes associated with the Atlanta metro area.  The ability to work from home gives Chris a lot of the same flexibility that entrepreneurs have when it comes to farming.  When something comes up during the day that Leann needs help with, Chris can break away and help really quick.  This way, when Chris’ work day ends, he does not have a list of things that have to get done at home.  He has already finished those.

This reminded me a flier that I received from the State of Montana a couple of years ago.  In an effort to get people who had attended college in Montana to return to the state they sponsored a “work from home” campaign.  The flier invited me to come back to Montana to live.  Then it gave instructions on how to convince your employer to allow you to work remotely so you could do just this.

I found this very innovative at the time since the State of Montana did not have the jobs to attract people back to the rural areas that they had left, but they thought outside the box on how to make this happen.

ADVICE FROM CHRIS:

COUPLE: If you are going to farm micro greens, start with just a couple of trays while you learn what you are doing.  Work out a system before you grow too fast.

OVERHEAD: This business is great in that not a lot of overhead is required.  It really lowers the barriers to entry.

NICHE: Chris found out that nobody in his area was growing or selling micro greens.  He chose this as his crop because he and Leanna could serve two local farmer’s markets as well as restaurants with a product that was otherwise not available.

BEST BUSINESS ADVICE CHRIS HAS EVER RECEIVED:

“Be committed to success” – Chris states that without this commitment you will not make it through the hard times, and this advice has helped him in those very times.

RESOURCE RECOMMENDATION:

Chris highly recommends The Urban Farmer: Growing Food for Profit on Leased and Borrowed Land as a book to help anyone get started in farming.

CONTACT INFORMATION:

Website: LINK

Email: sales@clfarmsgrows.com

Facebook: LINK

Instagram: LINK

Where Off-Farm Income And Matt Brechwald Can Be Heard:

Member Of The National Association Of Farm Broadcasters