When someone invests in soilless farming (hydroponics or aquaponics), the first thing they worried about is the returns. Are the returns high enough to sustain the operational cost? How can I get higher returns? These are the questions that came in everyone's mind who invest in soilless farming.
Today, we are discussing how soilless farming is better than traditional farming and provides a higher return on investment.
Grow Crops Year-Round: In soilless farming, you can grow crops year-round as it is not dependent on the external climatic conditions. Through year-round growth, we get a larger harvest quantity, which helps in generating higher revenue than traditional farming, having a restricted growth period.
Effectively uses the nutrients: Traditional farming uses a large quantity of fertilizer and nutrients, which adds more cost to the input. Soilless farming effectively uses the nutrients, and there is no wastage of them, this efficiency in the use of nutrients and water will help you get a good return in soilless farming.
Pest and Pesticide free growing: As soilless farms are covered and are not in contact with the outer environment that is why there is no need for the application of pesticides. It reduces the operational cost of growing crops. Pesticide-free crops have premium pricing in the market, and they have the potential to generate high revenue.
Grow More with Vertical Farming: In Soilless farming, with the help of vertical farming techniques, we can grow more crops than the traditional farming method in the same area of land. Investing in vertical farming is trending in the world of agriculture.
Save the High Irrigation Cost: The money spent on irrigating crops in traditional farming is high, while the soilless farming requires up to 80-90 percent less water, which saves the high irrigation cost. Investing in soilless cultivation will help you reduce the input expense of growing crops.
High Productivity: Better productivity reflects better returns in agriculture, and we can comfortably get 2-3 times higher yield in soilless farming than conventional farming by managing the operations of the hydroponic farm well.
Reduced Harvesting Time: Unlike traditional farming, crops grown with soilless farming techniques mature much faster, and the harvesting gets reduced by weeks. The quick maturity of crops is due to the optimal use of nutrients and a controlled micro-ecosystem.
Less transportation cost: Traditional farms are situated far away from the city in villages from where the harvest gets transported to the market, and there are incidents of crop damage during transportation. The soilless farm built in the city saves the high transportation cost.
How to market your soilless farm produce?
Due to the increasing population and growing interests of the buyer in healthy pesticide-free food, the demand for hydroponically grown food will increase every year.
Having a marketing strategy is crucial in the hydroponic (soilless) farming business. There are things that you should consider while making your marketing strategy:
Develop and Promote your Brand Name
Branding is necessary for any business in many ways. When a person is choosing between two products, it is the brand value that they trust helps to make the final decision. By having a well-managed advertising campaign will help you in branding.
Identify Your Possible Customers
Identifying or finding the right customer for your healthy farm produce will help you in expanding your business. Your customer could be a hotel, local restaurants, vegetable stores, a supermarket, a fast-food chain, a catering service, and the list goes on. Get in touch with the businesses around you and understand their demands to grow the most suitable crop for your hydroponic business.
Give priority services
Customers are more willing to pay for priority services than before. You can provide a subscription for delivering healthy produce directly to a customer's home. The customer trusts more in your brand if you have such premium services to offer them.
Competitive pricing
Competitive pricing will help you stand in the market with your competitors well. Competitive prices with unique products can make you a tough competitor for others. Offering products with occasional discounts will help you more to build strong relations with your existing as well as new customers.
Unique offerings
Unique products and offers will make you stand out in the market. Customers will pay more if you have a unique product to sell. Exotic Vegetables and fruits are examples of these unique offerings. Other services like your own curated recipes that you can offer will show your expertise in the field of organic food.
Digital Presence
Digital presence is very crucial for growing a new business. The customers get an idea about the brand by its website and social media platforms. Having a strong digital presence will also help you in getting new customers. Beautiful pictures of your fresh farm produce on your social media page will make them click on the buy button.
We at BartonBreeze, are always ready and happy to guide you in your path of a flourishing hydroponic business.