Introduction
“A smart man learns from his mistakes. A wise man learns from the mistakes of others.”
Be wise and learn from my mistakes and my regrets. I’ve been in business for five years, growing and scaling my microgreen farm, Piedmont Microgreens. I started growing in the living room of a rented duplex and eventually scaled to a multiple six-figure farm. Although my path hasn’t been without its setbacks, I’d say it’s been relatively smooth. Regardless, I have a short but salient list of regrets I wish I could’ve avoided. I’ll discuss six regrets that cover things I wish I’d done sooner and things I wish I’d never started doing.
The Regrets
Sales Tax Exemption:
One day, about 2.5 years into business, I was visiting a local gardening store. This vendor sourced the Promix soil we use for our production. The well-meaning employee checking me out that day asked if I had a "sales tax exemption form" on file with the store. I was confused and caught off guard because I’d never heard about such an exemption. They went on to explain that farms can apply for an exemption from paying sales tax for qualified business purchases - one of the few perks of owning a farm. Obviously, I went home and immediately started researching. With an NC state sales tax rate of about 7%, those savings add up to thousands and then tens of thousands as you scale. There’s no way I could’ve known about this sooner, but I wish I had. If you’re hearing about this now, know that each state is different and you have to meet certain qualifications. Don’t worry, I wrote an entire article on the prerequisites and application process - What is Sales Tax Exemption & How to Get It for Your Microgreen Farm?
Fertilizing:
Whether to fertilize your microgreens is a hotly debated topic in the community, but it shouldn’t be. Yes, microgreens technically have enough energy stored in their seeds to reach maturity. However, fertilizing is objectively the smart move for your business. It doesn’t matter if you use a solid fertilizer like Gaia Greens or a liquid one like Ocean Solution. The cost per tray is negligible, but the yield increases are undeniable. More yield means a higher revenue per tray and more profit for your farm. If you’re new, take the time to become comfortable with growing microgreens and managing your farm before introducing fertilizer. Once you feel comfortable running the day-to-day of your farm, start experimenting with different fertilizers and different regimens. Here’s an article to get you started - How to Fertilize Your Microgreens for Bigger Yields & More Revenue!
Using Compostable Packaging:
As farmers, we likely skew to be more environmentally conscious, on average. Our customers are likely the same way. In the scope of a microgreen farm, one of the few things we can do to impact the environment is consider our inputs. It’s much easier to buy a different type of packaging than to install $20,000 of solar to offset our electricity bill. When I started growing, I wanted to use the most environmentally friendly packaging option, even if it cost a bit more than the cheapest petroleum alternative. During the first three years in business, we used packaging made from polylactic acid (PLA). PLA is compostable, but only at an industrial composting facility. PLA costs 20-30% more than the same packaging made with PET/rPET, the petroleum alternative. I eventually hired a Duke graduate student to analyze a few life cycle analysis (LCA) papers on the topic. The results? PLA is not objectively better for the environment than PET. PLA wins for certain “impact categories,” but loses in others. It’s a wash. We decided to communicate these findings to our customers. We switched to PET and started saving 25% or more on our packaging going forward. If you want to die on this hill and use PLA, that’s fine. This is simply what we did. If you want to learn more about the pros and cons of PLA and PET, here’s an article - Compostable v. Petroleum-Based Microgreen Packaging
Blacking Out:
To blackout a tray means to put it into complete darkness during germination. The blackout step is not the same as stacking trays in germination, even though that process also blocks out most light. Blacking out is usually done with an empty, inverted 1020 tray or an opaque dome, much like a humidity dome. The goal with blacking out is to trigger etiolation, the elongation of a crop’s stem as it reaches for the light. Longer stems make for easier harvesting and potentially higher yields. The problem with blacking out is that it’s simply not necessary for any crops. Again, some people will die on this hill, but we don’t blackout any crops at my farm. Why not? Adding a blackout step creates additional expenses, complexity, and training. You need to buy additional equipment - domes. You need to sanitize the additional equipment after each grow cycle. The grow cycle is now more complicated because there are extra steps, which makes onboarding harder and the likelihood of mistakes higher. You also need extra rack space to hold those trays during blackout and extra storage for the domes when not in use. Yes, you can mitigate some of these issues by using an inverted 1020 tray, but it’s still not worthwhile in my mind. Again, if you want to hear more on the topic, here’s an article - Should You Blackout Your Microgreens?
Avoiding Software to “Save Money”:
Software and AI are great additions to your business and personal life, but only when they make sense. We often add things for the sake of adding them, or because they sound sexy or fun. If you get caught in this trap, you can end up with a long list of useless subscriptions that drain your bank account every month. Let’s not toss the baby with the bathwater, though. There are a few apps you should consider important, if not required. Obviously, you need a payment processor and a website. Otherwise, how will people find out about you, and how will you accept payments? I’d suggest using a bookkeeping platform, like QuickBooks Online, sooner rather than later. Your books are not something you want to mess up or fix just to save a few bucks. I’d say those three tools are the bare minimum. You might notice these three are required for ALL businesses, regardless of your industry or what you sell. For microgreen growers, I’d add a fourth required software for even early-stage farmers - a crop planning and order management tool. When I was a beginner, nothing good like Microgreen Manager existed, which is why we built it. What’s even better is that you can’t complain about the cost or avoiding it to save money because we offer a free tier. Even if you fall into one of our paid tiers, it’s still FAR superior to saving money and DIYing a solution. Any solution you finagle with Excel, notebooks, or other free tools will still cost you. They’ll cost you in wasted time, mistakes with your production planning, missed orders, and confusion between team members. You’re better off spending the extra money and picking the right solution from the beginning. Here are two articles on Microgreen Manager and why it’s so valuable - 3 Software Tools for Offloading Work at Your Microgreen Farm and The 4 Software Tools Every Microgreen Farmer Needs!
Waiting to Hire:
My final regret is waiting too long before making my first hire. I was going to wait until after transitioning from my garage to our new commercial facility before hiring. I’m so thankful I didn’t. If I didn’t have employees to run the farm before relocating, I would’ve drowned in the workload and burnt out. Thankfully, someone convinced me to hire employees before I otherwise would’ve, and I avoided a lot of heartache. While they were running the farm, I could focus on remodeling the commercial space, preparing for our first GAP audit, and networking with wholesalers. Employees will be your single biggest expense, but without them, you can’t scale.
Related Articles
What is Sales Tax Exemption & How to Get It for Your Microgreen Farm?
How to Fertilize Your Microgreens for Bigger Yields & More Revenue!
Compostable v. Petroleum-Based Microgreen Packaging
Should You Blackout Your Microgreens?
3 Software Tools for Offloading Work at Your Microgreen Farm
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