Dear Editor,
Re: “Micro farm won’t pay,” Letters, Nov. 8.
Once again, Paul Edwards has brought his plight to the letters to the Editor section and is suggesting that his personal experience is somehow credible data that proves all small farm plots are doomed to fail because his did.
But Edwards’ experience is just that, and it doesn’t represent others.
Who knows if he even did things right? Maybe he just wasn’t cut out for farming?
Did he do his research prior to starting a nursery a mere seven years ago? (By the way, seven years isn’t long for a new business. It could take more than that to get off the ground and there aren’t many get-rich-quick schemes in farming).
If he did do his research, it appears it didn’t support his current stance or he likely would have avoided purchasing this farm. Instead, he bought in.
A few years of giving it a go doesn’t make him any more of an expert than the “activists” are. The fact that he tried and failed suggests he likely isn’t an expert.
And just because he may not be cut out for farming, it doesn’t mean others won’t be. Many people try things that don’t work for them, but we don’t necessarily scrap the idea as a result.
He tried to grow Japanese maple trees, but when that didn’t work, he declared it a bust.
So now all small farms tie in to that? To his failed nursery business?
Maybe location was a factor. Maybe his prices were too high. Maybe he was inefficient or lacked basic business skills.
There are so many things to consider.
He said his farm was open from April to September — half a year — and he earned $12,000. There’s a saying about what you put into something is what you get out of it.
People starting their own business can expect to grind it out at first and it’s a gradual success that comes over time.
There is pride in seeing that eventual growth and knowing the blood, sweat and tears that went into it.
Again, there could have been factors influencing the success or failure of the business that had nothing to do with the viability of small-plot farming. It may be about customer service or something else entirely.
Activist is not a dirty word, nor is failure. Most learn and grow from failed attempts....maybe not Japanese maple trees, that’s all.
D Wilde
Richmond
