The approaching spring makes another promising type of small business relevant: greenhouses.
The greenhouse business can give a quick return on financial investment — literally within one season. That is why greenhouses have become the first step towards entrepreneurship for many people.
The high profitability of the greenhouse business is due to the fact that the yield and quality of products grown in the greenhouse are usually much higher than those grown in the open field. In addition, demand, and hence prices, for early crops is much higher. That is, the profitability of greenhouse products is higher than the profitability of simply growing and selling vegetables.
Moreover, with skillful greenhouse management, you can get several crops of various crops per year from one area, thereby increasing the turnover of your business.
Agriculture is characterized by seasonality, with the possible exception of animal husbandry. But the greenhouse business allows you to generate income all year round, if, of course, you equip capital greenhouses and provide heating.
The types of products that are grown in greenhouses can be very different. The most profitable are the cultivation of greenery and flowers. According to some estimates, growing flowers and herbs (lettuce, parsley, dill, etc.) is at least 4 times more profitable than growing vegetables. However, to sell these products, you need to have good enough channels. For example, these types of greenhouse businesses are profitable when greenhouses are located near cities.
Methods for growing products in greenhouses can also be very different. The most cost-effective method is hydroponic, when nutrients are fed through tubes directly to the roots of plants planted in artificial soil. The yield of such greenhouses is very high, the plants practically do not get sick. However, the taste of such vegetables is also “plastic”, they are extremely reluctant to buy such products.
Growing, say, vegetables in natural soil is much more labor-intensive, and therefore lower profitability.
The main problem of running a small business in greenhouses is heating. This is the most important part of the cost to consider when conducting market research on greenhouses .
However, there are other problems, which we will talk about in a separate article .
Nevertheless, the experience of creating a small business based on greenhouses speaks of the promise of this direction for start-up entrepreneurs, especially in rural areas.
