Chef Mikey Russo on Building a Farm Brand, Not Just a Farm (CC58)
Release Date: 06/05/2026
Why Small Market Gardens Thrive - Be Careful Expanding
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There's a place on the market farming map where most farms go to die. It's not the ones that are too big or too small...it's the ones in the middle. Five acres, ten acres, mixed vegetables, a farmers market plus a couple of restaurants and a CSA. After a decade of interviewing farmers, that pattern shows up so often it's almost predictable. Subscribe for more content on sustainable farming, market farming tips, and business insights! Follow Modern Grower: Listen to other podcasts on the Modern Grower Podcast Network: ...
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The Boring Path to Full-Time Farming That Actually Works
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The romantic story goes: quit the soul-crushing job, buy some land, start a farm, never look back. Here's what actually happens: most people who do that fail within a few years because they run out of money before the farm can support them. Meanwhile, the un-sexy group who kept their jobs and farmed on evenings and weekends? Three to five years later, they're the ones still farming. Subscribe for more content on sustainable farming, market farming tips, and business insights! Follow Modern Grower: Listen to other podcasts on the Modern Grower Podcast Network:...
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How Ben Hartman Plans His Whole Season With Three Questions
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Most farmers plan their season by opening a seed catalog and picking what's pretty, what's new, and what their friends are growing. The best farmers open a one-page sheet, sit down with a customer, and ask three questions. Interested in watching the series? Subscribe for more content on sustainable farming, market farming tips, and business insights! Follow Modern Grower: Listen to other podcasts on the Modern Grower Podcast Network: Check out Diego's books: **** Modern Grower and...
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Ben Hartman Makes $1,000 Per Bed...on a Third of an Acre
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"Every bed here should generate $1,000 of value." That's Ben Hartman, standing on 15,000 square feet...a third of an acre. Twenty years ago, he started on a 1,000-acre corn and soybean operation, then market gardened on two acres. Today, he farms less land than he ever has, and his profit margin is the highest it's ever been. Interested in watching the series? Subscribe for more content on sustainable farming, market farming tips, and business insights! Follow Modern Grower: Listen to other podcasts on the Modern Grower Podcast Network: ...
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Ben Hartman: How to Stay in Business 20 Years by Doing Less, Better (CC60)
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Ben Hartman wrote The Lean Farm in 2015 and changed how a generation of market gardeners thinks about systems and waste. Twenty growing seasons in, he farms just 15,000 square feet—about a third of an acre—and his margins are the highest they've ever been. Interested in watching the series? Subscribe for more content on sustainable farming, market farming tips, and business insights! Follow Modern Grower: Listen to other podcasts on the Modern Grower Podcast Network: Check out Diego's books:...
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Why Farm Businesses Fail When They Scale
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The hardest part of farming isn't starting. It's what happens when things start working: when customers show up, when market days get bigger, when you need more beds, more hands, more of everything. That's when the foundation cracks. Interested in watching the series? Subscribe for more content on sustainable farming, market farming tips, and business insights! Follow Modern Grower: Listen to other podcasts on the Modern Grower Podcast Network: Check out Diego's books: **** Modern...
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7 Hidden Costs of Your First Year at a Farmers Market
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Everyone says the farmers market is the obvious place to start. Low barrier to entry — show up with an easy-up, a table, and a cooler. But low barrier to entry is not the same as low cost. Interested in watching the series? Subscribe for more content on sustainable farming, market farming tips, and business insights! Follow Modern Grower: Listen to other podcasts on the Modern Grower Podcast Network: Check out Diego's books: **** Modern Grower and Diego Footer participate in the...
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How 3 Farmers Built Financial Independence Without Quitting Their Jobs
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Seven and a half years ago, a farmer wrote down five goals. The last one: use a farm to buy a farm. He just closed on fifty acres for over a million dollars. The farm's financial track record made the purchase possible — not savings, not investors, not inheritance. Interested in watching the series? Subscribe for more content on sustainable farming, market farming tips, and business insights! Follow Modern Grower: Listen to other podcasts on the Modern Grower Podcast Network: Check out Diego's books:...
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From $247 Market Days to $10,000 Weeks (CC59)
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Shane and his wife started with two 8×12 plots as a hobby. Nine years later they own a 50-acre property in Sarnia, Ontario, market garden on 2.5 acres, and crossed $200,000 in revenue last year — up from $173,000 the year before. Minimum 30% year-over-year growth every year since they started in Ontario. Interested in watching the series? Subscribe for more content on sustainable farming, market farming tips, and business insights! Follow Modern Grower: Listen to other podcasts on the Modern Grower Podcast Network: ...
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$130K/Year Selling Lettuce (Zero Farmer's Markets, Zero Packaging Costs)
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$130,000 in farm revenue. $30,000 take-home. Where does the other $100,000 go? That gap is the most useful part of Chef Mikey Russo's story. Interested in watching the series? Subscribe for more content on sustainable farming, market farming tips, and business insights! Follow Modern Grower: Listen to other podcasts on the Modern Grower Podcast Network: Check out Diego's books: **** Modern Grower and Diego Footer participate in the Amazon Services LLC. Associates Program, an...
info_outlineChef Mikey Russo left a 20-year kitchen career to start a market garden in Tennessee. We first talked in 2023 during his first full-time season. Now he's in year four with no job, running $130,000 in annual revenue across 80 fifty-foot beds on two properties, selling to roughly eight restaurants, and paying himself $30,000 after $40,000 in labor costs.
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