He Thought Farming Would Be Easier in 5 Years (He Was Wrong)

Here's what seven years of growth looks like.

$100,000 in vegetable sales, another $50,000 in eggs and chicken and outside product.

They recently relocated to Maine.

They're on three quarters of an acre.

They have a high tunnel, a farm stand.

They sell wholesale, two employees, two kits.

By every visible measure out there, their farm has grown.

And yet, Troy can't pay himself.

Troy's always had the math right.

$100,000 in produce with just two of them, that can work.

But then they had kids.

And kids means somebody always had to be with the kids.

So they had to hire seasonal employees.

And those paychecks come directly out of the margin that would have previously gone to them.

Every addition came with a matching cost.

More acreage meant more labor.

Kids meant employees.

New land meant new infrastructure.

In Troy's words,

as we've done more and got bigger and busier, it hasn't put more money in our pocket.

Not that we're really all that big.

As

we've done more and gotten bigger, it hasn't put more money in our pocket.

Growing bigger did not mean earning more.