The Top 7 Challenges for Small Farms in Florida
August 26, 2018 
Farming is not easy. Indeed. For smaller operations, challenges can mount in a hurry.
If you take a ride down the rural roads of Florida, chances are you will see the bumper sticker “Farming Ain’t For Sissies” stuck on the rear bumper of a pickup or two along the way. That saying is true for all growers, but for small farms, the challenges they face can be magnified due to the scale of their operations.
To get a better feel for the biggest challenges facing small growers, the UF/IFAS Center for Public Issues Education, in conjunction with Florida A&M, recently hosted six focus groups with small growers (59 growers in total) in Marianna, Sarasota, and Gainesville.
The groups were asked open-ended questions to guide the discussions. Based on analyses of all focus group meetings, seven major categories of challenges were identified. Here’s what small growers had to say about their biggest challenges.
1. Cost of Expendables/Economics: The cost of items that go into everyday farming like fuel, power, seed, and crop inputs are ranked high among the challenges. In some instances, input items might be priced for larger operations and what they can bare. As one grower noted: “These are all things that are out of our control.”
2. Grants and Funding: Small farms can especially benefit from USDA grants, but it was noted the paperwork and application process is very time consuming and complicated. One participant said: “If you are a small ‘mom and pop,’ and you do everything, and are running 16-hour days, it is difficult to have time to sit down and [write a grant].”
3. Regulations: Growers noted regulations are often not right-sized for their operations. One farmer said: “The biggest, most aggravating problem I’m working with right now is wrong-size regulation. A lot of regulations that farmers deal with are written for large-scale operations, and there’s a mismatch.”
4. Organic Rules/Guidelines: Some small farms seek to differentiate their production by offering organic produce. But, the practice is very labor intensive, which is stepped up by dealing with the pest pressure that comes with it. Some growers expressed concern about getting clear guidance on what can or cannot be applied to organic crops. One grower commented: “You have lots of pests … and you have to read the labels to find out if the product can be used for those pests. And, sometimes everything in it [the product] is organic, but it won’t be approved for you to use.”
5. Weather: Mother Nature is a challenge for all growers, but it can have a more dramatic impact on the ups and downs of a small farm. One grower said: “The last two years, the weather has been an extreme challenge, and we are going more to protected agriculture. We are in Pinellas County, supposedly in Zone 10 [climate zone map], but we have had some extreme winter conditions here the last two years.”
6. Marketing: Getting in front of customers and buyers is a challenge for smaller operations, especially those trying to sell to traditional retailers. One participant said: “The big fish always eat up the little fish. Small farmers don’t have good access and cannot get in on a lot of the larger, good markets.”
7. Competition: Growers brought up lower-priced competition as a concern. While small farms do take advantage of consumers’ preference to “buy local,” lower-priced competition can cut into their bottom line. One citrus nursery grower noted: “With everybody buying local, that is an opportunity. And they are willing to pay more. It still doesn’t stop the cheap competition. We don’t face imported competition, but we do face it from large, mega-nurseries that sell to chain stores.”
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