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Calling all enthusiasts! Need advice for a buddies business in north Tejas!

  • Thread starter Gigantea
  • Start date
I have a buddy in northern TX who has recently started a business primarily with vegetables and chickens. He hasn't had a lot lot of success so far, and I've been doing what I can to help out, primarily doing research to see what might bring the most bang for his buck. I suggested sago palms because they have wild deer up there, and I know the deer eat a lot of plants and can be a real problem. Also other pest sort of critters as well up there, like coyote. He lives near Texarkana and I was hoping some of you on here could help on rounding up a list of plants he could focus on to possibly turn the tides in his favor. He's not greedy, not looking to get rich, just looking to supplement income as much as possible. I'd like to move him away from vegetables and more into traditional plants (such as sago palm which I think should do well up there), but not sure he is ready to tackle carnivores yet (though I think those would also do well there). Afaik he has an outdoor grow set-up. Whatever advice ya'll can offer is appreciated! In the meantime, I will continue to do some research and figure out what might be desirable for his area.
 
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Tough call.

If there is an active farmers' market in his area, and if the competition is not too stiff, then he might be able to make some cash with the veggies and eggs. However, if you're the new kid on the block trying to break in to the market, it can be an uphill battle. Once folks find a vendor they like, they tend to stick with that one. Also, the bigger vendors generally get the lion's share of the take as they have more to offer and are hard to beat on prices. (Not to mention that folks are more likely to do all their shopping at one vendor if they can.) So he really should check out the competition before he gets too invested. Even non-veggies can be tough to break into. Again he should research carefully any other options before launching the enterprise. The best cost to benefit ratio would be plants that grow easily in his area with a minimum of upkeep. However, then you run into the issue with too few folks wanting to pay for an easily obtained plant. Selling to overseas customers can be lucrative but, of course, that has its own costs and headaches. Currently, the Asian market for Echeveria is insane. There have been numerous issues with poaching of Echeveria in the US and, I suspect, Mexico to feed this obsession (HUGE in Korean and China). There have been poachers from China and other Asian countries who have come over here to do their poaching, in addition to local poachers. Now, true he wouldn't make nearly as much as a legit Echie peddler as a poacher would, but he wouldn't have to worry about jail time either.

 
Thanks for the reply... yep. Was afraid I'd get something like that! I've pretty much given him the same advice: go to markets (especially flea market) and see what is available and what it goes for. I kind of owe him this favor... I honestly thought I'd be a lot easier than it has been so far! I still think palms is a good option for his area, I'm probably going to send him a bunch from my own plants to test the waters to see what happens! Anything else you stumble upon, we'd both be grateful... he's a bit shy so I'm trying too do whatever I can! But I've been trying to pound it into him that he may need to branch out pretty radically to actually turn a profit cause it's not an easy business as we all fully know.
 
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