A 28-by-95-Foot Farm
Nine years ago, Susan and Howard Anderson moved from Maine to Siler City, North Carolina, reconstructed a used greenhouse, and started a farm business growing seed ginger. Despite their hard work, the economics of the business failed and they lost tens of thousands of dollars over three years.
At the time, Susan asked herself, “Do we turn the heat off and close it up, or do we try something else?”
When they worked at Johnny’s Selected Seeds in Maine, Susan and her husband had observed that there was no microgreens grower in the Southeast. During the week that they closed the ginger business, Susan had this information in the back of her mind while she seeded 30 trays with four varieties of microgreens and started cold calling chefs. Microgreens grow quickly; after two weeks, she brought samples to chefs and began selling.
When Susan studied horticulture at Virginia Tech, she was taught to calculate costs and inputs based on square footage, but at East Branch Ginger, she thinks in inches, not acreage. The farm’s entire growing space is a 28-by-95-foot greenhouse, run with the help of four staff. Even in the middle of winter, the warm greenhouse is a vibrant patchwork blanket of green cilantro, purple basil, and red amaranth, accented by edible orange nasturtiums and pink begonias.
East Branch Ginger grows microgreens in soil trays with natural sunlight, rather than artificial lighting. Susan’s chef customers tell her, “your stuff lasts forever.” The inconsistent climate in the greenhouse creates many challenges, but the real sunshine and soil makes the plants stronger. “Our microgreens taste flavorful because they see the light of day,” Susan says. “It’s hands down a different product. For that, I’m willing to take the knocks on the chin from the weather.”
Susan is taking slow steps to grow her business without going into debt. She makes difficult decisions, such as choosing to pay employees well instead of improving infrastructure. “If you’re going to put the time into training someone, you need to invest in them,” Susan believes, “they are an asset to your business.” In the meantime, the farm relies on used refrigerators and a low-tech greenhouse where they currently use valuable growing space to plant, harvest and pack.
Susan is a one-woman sales team for her microgreens and edible flowers; she sells them to restaurants not with flashy marketing tools, but through genuine conversations with chefs where she talks passionately about the quality of her product. The success of her farm business is built on these chef relationships. Susan asks chefs about their cuisine and engages them in a conversation about whether they are using microgreens as a garnish or to provide flavor.
Before she began, Susan was warned by another farmer that growing microgreens can feel like a Mack truck coming at you; you are running all the time. “Literally every day you have to harvest or plant something. Every single day, seven days a week,” Susan describes. The work is constant, but the farm is succeeding; with their new focus, Susan and Howard have accomplished the difficult task of creating a profitable small farm business.
