market gardening - Market garden operations, Market gardening business, Market gardening as alternative lifestyle

The intensive production of horticultural crops on smallholdings, especially fruit and vegetables for local markets; also known as truck gardening in the USA. It may incorporate pick-your-own enterprises, where labour is scarce.

Such a farm is sometimes called a market garden

Market gardening as a business is based on providing a wide range and steady supply of fresh produce through the local growing season. Market gardening also employs more manual labor and gardening techniques, compared to large-scale mechanized farming. Because production is relatively low-volume, sales are often through local fresh produce outlets, such as on-farm stands, farmers' markets, community-supported agriculture subscriptions, restaurants and independent produce stores.

Market garden operations

An example of a market garden operation in North America might involve one farmer working full-time on two acres (8,000 m²).

A somewhat larger market gardening operation, ranging from 10 to 100 acres (40,000 to 400,000 m²), may be referred to as intensive mixed vegetable production, although the essential business and farming tasks are the same.

Market gardening business

Surviving profitably in market gardening relies in great part on direct sales. Farmers selling into wholesale market typically receive 10-20% of the retail price, whereas in direct-to-consumer, they receive 100%. Although highly variable, a conventional farm may return a few hundred to a few thousand dollars (US) per acre ($0.03/m² to $0.30/m²), while an efficient market garden can be in the $10,000-15,000 per acre ($3/m² to $5/m²) range, or even higher. On the other hand, there is a practical ceiling on how large a market garden can get, based on this model, whereas with conventional farming, quite vast areas can be farmed because access to a direct market is not a requirement.

Larger market gardens often sell to local food outlets, including supermarkets, food cooperatives, through community-supported agriculture programs, at multiple regional farmers' markets, to fresh food wholesalers, and any other higher volume channels that benefit from purchasing a range of vegetables from a single supplier, their freshness allowing for a premium over the revenue from the supermarkets, and frequently, other local suppliers as well. By pursuing mixed crop production, a larger market garden can thus maintain a sales alternative to the wholesale, commodity-style channels often utilized by farms specializing in high volumes of a limited number of crops.

The very fact that market gardening tends to rely on cities for its markets can have its drawbacks, however. For example, in the United Kingdom, south Sussex was famous for growing tomatoes for the London market, with delivery by train in order to get the produce to the market. The arrival of railways in the 19th century initially stimulated the growth of market gardens in certain areas because of the quick access to the city it afforded, but this also eventually led to commuting residents moving to the area, causing many market garden areas to develop into suburbs.

Market gardening as alternative lifestyle

Market gardening has in recent decades become an alternative business and lifestyle choice for individuals who wish to "return to the land", because the business model and niche allow a smaller start-up investment than conventional commercial farming, and generally offers a viable market, especially with the recent popularity of organic and local food (and the fact that "everybody has to eat"). It is in some instances considered hobby farming, although market gardening is a recognized type of farming with a distinct business model that can be significantly profitable and sustainable. Although in some cases the distinction may be arguable, market gardening should not be confused with the efforts of amateur gardeners, who sometimes sell from home or at markets, as an extension of their pastime.