Looking for a commercial viable "crop" on 4 acres

Hi GG,

Have you entertained the idea, that in addition to any crop that you decide to go with, that you can also run some chooks and supply free range eggs to passing traffic as well as running a few beehives and providing honey to passing traffic?

wombat

Need a house to live in for the someone to shot the foxes. And commercial chickens need DA and lots of stuff.

Peter
 
Hi GG,

From the Southern Rural Water web site....



If the water had been use for irrigation for many years it would have been already registered.

Check with your local water authority about if you can use the water for irrigation, or what you have to do (pay) to get it legally. A couple of phone calls will get you the info. SRW 1300 139 510

They will probably get a field officer to visit you, don't worry they are usually a friendly and helpful bunch, especially when you do things legally.

bye

Thank you so much Bill for the info, will look into it :)

GG
 
As mentioned previously, beekeeping.

On 4 acres you can legally have 100 hives and is legally covered by the Apiary Code of Practice. Realistically, the number of hives that you would have is dependant on the type of flowers in your area and 30-40 would probably be the maximum. However, council may want to have a say about that, but the legalities are that they have no say regardless of what they threaten you with.

I keep bees on 4 acres on the Mornington Peninsula and, in a good year can get circa 60 Kg per hive. Whilst I do not sell any of my honey, the current rate for organic honey is $10 Kg at markets, stalls etc. You do the sums! Each two (2) box hive costs circa $115 + cost of bees.

The hives are robbed twice per year and, I put minimal effort into them through out the year.
 
Thank you everybody for great replies :)

How about cut flowers, as in protea, Australian natives like Grevillea etc....and then grow some wattles and gums for fillers.

GG
 
Get whatever you grow certified as organic to value add.

No one has said Saffron which I understand is a high return crop grown in Tasmania and Spain . Look into the slae price.:eek:
 
organic certification on such a small farm would be nearly impossible if the farms around them aren't organic. We have 5 acres and looked into it but because we are surrounded by pineapple and strawberry farmers (lots of chemicals) we would only be able to farm about .5 acre in the middle of the block once we adhered to the boundary recommendations! Then "pot" would be the only viable alternative!:eek:
 
Hi GG,

How about cut flowers, as in protea, Australian natives like Grevillea etc

The above need acidic well drained soil and do best in sandy soils. Is this what you have??

I think you are approaching this the wrong way around, you need to look at what you have got, in terms of climate, soils, water availability, markets, then list what does well in your environment. Think brainstorm. Then from your list of possibles narrow down to what could be profitable and suits your lifestyle.

bye
 
Hi GG,



The above need acidic well drained soil and do best in sandy soils. Is this what you have??

I think you are approaching this the wrong way around, you need to look at what you have got, in terms of climate, soils, water availability, markets, then list what does well in your environment. Think brainstorm. Then from your list of possibles narrow down to what could be profitable and suits your lifestyle.

bye

Good point.

Why not see what your neighbours grow and sell successfully?

Use the cluster principle.
 
Purple Carrots

Hi Guys,

What about purple carrots. On TV tonight they said how they had amazing healing properties, antioxidants etc. People were shown drinking some concentrated juice and I thought maybe growing them would be good. I wonder how you get some seed.

This post has inspired me to look at creative things to do with our own 4 acres so thanks.

Seaside
 
you could probably get the seed from diggers club or eden seeds, any heritage seed company I imagine. I might do it myself yet! we could have a somersoft carrot co-op.

We are looking at doing something with our 5 acres as I am kinda sick of the shares- they feel a bit hollow at the moment. We already have an acre of lychees and about .75 acre of mangoes. We also have a huge hydroponic set -up so we might do something with that (it was here when we bought the place) depending on which pipes we use it has between 6000 and 9000 growing holes...... it's out in the open though so pot is out of the question lol.

I like the idea of flowers of some sort.
 
We already have an acre of lychees and about .75 acre of mangoes......

Droooooool........ can only dream of those things in Melbourne.....

If I had your weather, I'd be putting in Black Saopte, Rambutan, Soursop, Custard Apple, and a Jaboticaba just for show! :D

Cheers,

The Y-man
 
ugh! we have 2 Jaboticabas and I am sick to death of them! We have sooo much fruit that we freeze kilos of it every year. We also have a house orchard with lemons, limes, oranges , mandarins, apples, peaches, grapes, native raspberries etc etc always adding to it!:D
 
ugh! we have 2 Jaboticabas and I am sick to death of them! We have sooo much fruit that we freeze kilos of it every year. We also have a house orchard with lemons, limes, oranges , mandarins, apples, peaches, grapes, native raspberries etc etc always adding to it!:D

Awesome! What types of apples and peaches have you got? I thought they needed chill hours / frost points.

Cheers,

The Y-man
 
Awesome! What types of apples and peaches have you got? I thought they needed chill hours / frost points.

Cheers,

The Y-man

the apples are tropical anna I think and the peach and nectarine are both low chill tropical varieties too. We didn't plant them though they were here when we bought. We have a tropical plum that hasn't fruited yet but we had one at our last place that always had heaps on it.

We seem to be in that perfect spot that it gets cold enough for stone fruit to set but not cold enough to kill the tropical stuff. about 1k up the road is a commercial raspberry farm in the middle of a bunch of pineapple farms - go figure!
 
There are many crops which people grow- many of which are new to the market.

A friend investigated truffles. That didn't quite work so he's now on maple syrup. A long term crop but he's done it for quite a few years. Payout should be son (on a very larg property).

Maybe ginger, or even turmeric. 90% of turmeric comes from India- and it's almost always in powdered form- and supposedly good in cholesterol reduction.

Any fruit you have ever seen in a shop? Depending on climate. Plums? They drop off the trees in Canberra unwanted but still sell at a reasonable price.

Blackberries? Fresh olives? Blackberries?

Herbs? Sage? Rosemary? Parsley?

Chillies? Some local markets grow them and create products.

It doesn't even have to be vegetable.

Yabbies are common around Australia and taste great. But they need good marketing. Perhaps that's an option.

Just a few thoughts.

Thanks Geoff, lots of great ideas. I need to have a good look at my property, soil, water etc....to see what suits :)

GG
 
Good point.

Why not see what your neighbours grow and sell successfully?

Use the cluster principle.

Well, he actually grows Aussie natives, Proteas etc............sells the flowers wholesale and at markets.

Maybe i could go into business with him.....hmmmmmm

GG
 
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