Podcast Episode 14: Should I Grow and Sell Organic Microgreens?

Episode Description

Did you know that becoming a certified organic microgreens grower isn’t as difficult as you thought? In this episode we look at the upside and downside of becoming a certified organic microgreens grower. What it takes to gain certification and how it’s not as difficult as it’s made out to be.

In this episode you’ll learn:

  • How to grow microgreens organically.
  • The process of becoming certified organic.
  • How you can market your microgreens as organic, without calling them organic.
  • Reasons why becoming certified organic is beneficial.
  • The cons of becoming certified organic.

Mentioned in this episode:
Microgreens Business Beginners Guide (free ebook): https://microgreensentrepreneur.com/ebook

True Leaf Market Discount Code: MGE5
https://trueleafmarket.com

Ask a question by voice note: https://microgreensentrepreneur.com/ask
Ask a question by email: brian@microgreensentrepreneur.com

Episode Transcripts

Microgreens Entrepreneur Episode 14: Should I Grow and Sell Organic Microgreens?

You’re listening to The Microgreens Entrepreneur Podcast, where the aim is to help you start, grow, and improve any microgreens business. I’m your host, Brian, owner of a microgreens business that I operate out of my own home. Stay tuned and welcome along.

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[0:27] Hello, there, and welcome to another episode of The Microgreens Entrepreneur Podcast. I hope you’re having a good week, and thanks a million for being here with me. On this week’s episode, we’re going to look at how to grow microgreens organically, how to become certified organic if that’s something you want to do, and whether or not it’s worth going through that process. Then, stick around until the end of the episode, where I’m going to give you a couple of hacks that are going to help you promote your product as organic without actually saying you’re organic certified.

[0:54] Before we get started, I want to give a shout out to TrueLeafMarket.com. True Leaf Market stocks a vast array of really high-quality and well-priced microgreen seeds and equipment. Since starting the podcast, I’ve been able to create a close relationship with the guys there, and I’m really confident in recommending their microgreen seeds and equipment. They’ve been generous enough to create a special offer for all of the listeners of The Microgreens Entrepreneur Podcast. That offer is a 5% discount. All you have to do to avail of this is enter the code MGE5 at the checkout. The code, again, is MGE5.

[1:29] I mentioned on the last solo episode that I did that the restaurants here in Ireland had opened up again. Well, last week, the pubs did too under the condition that they sold a substantial meal. So, alcohol could only be sold with a meal that had to be over the price of €9, and that was deemed substantial. There was a picture of a receipt going around on Facebook or WhatsApp, I think it was, and on the receipt was a bowl of chicken wings for €9 and 31 pints of Heineken. So, that’s a little insight of what’s going on here in Ireland at the moment. All right. So, we’ll get going.

[2:02] I suppose the topic of organic versus non-organic microgreens is an easy one for me to talk about because I’m currently in the process of becoming certified organic. I also did a module on organic growing back in college. Now, when I say it’s easy to talk about, I’m not claiming to have all the answers on it, but it’s something that’s on my radar at the moment.

[2:22] Let’s first have a look at what it means to be an organic grower, and we’ll focus specifically on what it means for a microgreens grower. It means that you don’t use any synthetic fertilizers. You don’t use any herbicides or pesticides. You use organic seed and organic soil. So, those seeds and soil wouldn’t have been grown or come from anywhere that wasn’t also operating under organic standards too. So, for microgreens growers, that’s it. It is fairly simple.

[2:49] If you’re also a conventional farmer, there’s a lot more you need to look into and think about, like not using insecticides, not using antibiotics or growth hormones. If you have cattle or other animals, you’ll need to apply natural fertilizers like manure and rotate your crops, so the nutrients in the land have a chance to be restored naturally; hand-pick weeds. But for this podcast, we’ll keep it simple and just focus on a microgreens farm.

[3:15] I’ve heard and read that it’s difficult to become a certified organic microgreens grower, and that it’s a lot of hassle, and that it’s time-consuming. Well, to be honest, that hasn’t been my experience of the process, so far, but there is an assumption that becoming a certified organic microgreens grower is a lot of hassle, and it is time-consuming. I suppose that could be seen as a con.

[3:38] Another con of growing microgreens organically is that the seed and soil is a little bit more expensive. But there really isn’t that much in it, though. I must mention actually that I’m speaking as a person that grows microgreens in soil. When I say soil, the growing medium that I use is 80% coco coir and 20% organic compost that has natural nutrients in it.

[4:00] If you’re growing hydroponically, and you’re adding in nutrient solutions to your water, it might be more difficult, or you might find that becoming certified organic is something that you’re not going to be able to do. If anyone listening has more experience in growing in an organic way hydroponically, I’d be interested to hear from you and learn more about it.

[4:22] But let’s just say for this example that you’re growing in an organic soil mix. You’re not adding any additional fertilizers. I’ve experimented in the past using added fertilizer on microgreens, and I’ve seen no added benefit – nothing to note, anyway. If you’re using a soil that has a little bit of natural nutrients in it, you’ll get a really good yield from your crops just from the power and nutrients that are already in the seed alone, and in that little bit extra that’s in the soil.

[4:46] The majority of microgreens don’t need added nutrients. We’re only growing them for a short period before harvesting them, and like I said, there’s a lot of power in the seed alone that will help them get to where they need to be before we harvest them.

[4:59] Let’s also say that we’re not using any chemicals on our microgreens either, which we 100% shouldn’t be. There are options for organic food-grade hydrogen peroxide if you’re inclined to use that. But there’s definitely no need for any other chemicals. We’re growing inside, so pests won’t be a problem, bar maybe some flies or a fruit fly, maybe. So, as a microgreens grower, there’s really not a whole lot to growing organically.

[5:22] Let’s talk about becoming certified organic. Becoming certified organic has a reputation of being a long, arduous task. It gets this reputation because if you’re a normal or average farmer growing corn or rearing cattle, say, for example, and you want to become certified organic, that conversion process takes roughly about two years.

[5:43] In those two years when you’re converting, the output of your farm is going to be lower because you’ve stopped using synthetic fertilizers or antibiotics or hormones. Your labor costs are going to be increased because you can’t just spray an herbicide anymore to kill weeds. They need to be pulled manually. And maybe there are some capital costs of new equipment that you might need to do these processes that you didn’t need before, or you didn’t have to do before.

[6:10] So, during this two-year conversion period for the average farmer, their costs are higher, and their output is lower. Then, on top of that, during those two years, even though they’re doing everything in an organic way, they’re not allowed to legally market their produce as organic, meaning for those two years, they can’t charge the price they would be able to if their product was labeled organic. They’re not able to do that until the two years are up, and their conversion process is deemed complete by whatever organic governing body they’ve chosen to go with.

[6:42] So, you can see why it would be really off putting for a farmer to change over to being organic. For them, it is a long, arduous task. But unless you’re growing microgreens as a small part of a bigger farming operation, becoming certified organic is actually quite easy.

[6:58] I just use my own operation as an example. It’s a small room in our house. We don’t grow or sell anything else, so it’s just the microgreens. I’m already doing it in an organic way. I spoke to the organic governing body that I’ve chosen to go with, and really all that’s involved is filling out an application form. That took about an hour.

[7:16] I had to laugh, actually. One of the questions on the form was: what is the size of your farm in acres or hectares. I think it worked out as something like 0.004, or 0.005, or something like that. But I have the form filled out, and I’m waiting on an inspection of the grow room from the organic governing body.

[7:38] I’ve been told that because I’m already doing everything organically, I’ll get the license pretty much straight away. It is going to cost a bit. It’s going to either cost €200 per year for the license or €350. It’s €200 for an organic license that would deem you as a primary producer, and €350 for a license that would deem you as an organic processor.

[8:01] They haven’t decided yet which one I am. I thought it would have been a primary producer, but because I cut and package the microgreens here, too, it looks like I might have to be classed as a processor.

[8:12] So, let’s just say it’s €350 a year, and that’s not to be sniffed at. It’s a nice chunk of money to pay each year. To be honest, I don’t know if there’s going to be a return on investment on it. But the process itself, of becoming certified organic, was actually very easy if you’re just growing microgreens.

[8:29] So, why should you become certified organic? The majority of my business is selling to restaurants. The next step that I want to try is to market to the public more. I feel that by being certified organic, it’s going to help with that.

[8:44] Now, I will admit that it’s going to be hard to know if being certified organic will help in getting people to buy the product, but it’s something to have over a competitor, and people are very conscious of eating healthy nowadays. And whether it’s true or not, there’s a perception that organic food is better and more nutritious for you than non-organic food.

[9:05] Another reason to be certified organic is for environmental reasons. Look, everyone has to make their own minds up on this, and I’m not telling anybody what to do, but personally, I feel a little bit better knowing that the seeds that I’m using didn’t cause waterways to be polluted by synthetic fertilizers being used in the growing of the plants that produced them, or didn’t cause any harm to bees or other pollinators by pesticides being sprayed on them. So, each person to their own on that.

[9:34] I know costs might be an issue when you’re first starting a microgreens business. It is a little bit more expensive to use organic material, but maybe it’s something that you can transition into later when you’re making money at it.

[9:48] So, I said at the start of the episode that I’ll give you a couple of hacks to start being able to promote your product as organic now, without actually saying it’s organic. One thing to note is that if you call your product organic without being certified organic, even if you’re doing everything in an organic way, you leave yourself open to the possibility of being prosecuted. So, that’s definitely not something I recommend.

[10:10] What you can do, though, and this is what we’ve been doing since we started selling microgreens, and that is that you can say your microgreens are locally grown. So, locally grown is kind of like a code word for farm produce that’s organically grown but not certified organic.

[10:28] You can also use terms in your marketing like grown with organic seed, in organic soil, with no added pesticides, or no added fertilizers. So, you’re getting your message across there that your product is organic without breaking any rules and leaving yourself open to prosecution.

[10:45] Another thing to note, though, and it really goes without saying is that you should always be doing what you’re saying you’re doing. If you’re saying you’re using organic seed and soil, make sure that you are. We should always be honest with our customers.

[10:57] So, that is organic microgreens growing. I don’t have a proper conclusion for you yet on whether it’s worth going ahead with becoming certified organic or not, but I will let you know in the future how it works out.

[11:11] I hope if you’ve gotten anything from this episode, is that it’s not as hard as it’s made out to be to become certified organic if you’re just growing microgreens. If you’re listening to this and you’re already certified organic, I’d be interested if you feel it was worth doing it or any thoughts that you have on it.

[11:25] So, that is it for this week. Thanks a million for listening all the way to the end. I hope you enjoyed the episode. If you do have any feedback, please get in touch with me at brian@microgreensentrepreneur.com.

[11:37] If you’re interested in starting a microgreens business, and you’re wondering what the first steps are doing that, I’ve written a free ebook for you, A Beginner’s Guide to Starting a Microgreens Business, which goes through all the steps you need to take from ordering your supplies all the way to making your first sale. You can get that at microgreensentrepreneur.com/ebook. I will also leave a link for that in the show notes.

[11:57] If you did enjoy the episode, I would really appreciate it if you left your review on your podcast provider. I really do appreciate them. It just helps with the show’s ranking and lets people know it exists, so thanks in advance for that.

[12:10] That is it. Thanks again for listening. Have a great week, and I’ll see you on the next episode.

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[End of episode 12:49]