Growing vegetables as a business. Features of this direction

Modern city dwellers prefer to relax at their dachas: only a few of them are willing to spend the whole summer in their gardens in order to please themselves with fresh cucumbers and tomatoes in the fall. Indeed, it is easier for a working person to buy vegetables, fruits or herbs at the nearest supermarket. However, it should be noted that the fashion for healthy eating is becoming relevant again, and with it the demand for environmentally friendly domestic products is returning.

Any entrepreneur familiar with agriculture can make money from people’s food needs on a regular basis: to do this, he just needs to draw up and implement a business plan for a greenhouse for growing vegetables all year round. Such products will definitely have an advantage over imported analogues: the fact is that foreign suppliers, in order to simplify transportation, collect fruits in an unripe state, and then treat them with special compounds to ensure safety and increase shelf life.

Business Features

Implementing the idea of ​​a greenhouse business first of all requires clarifying market needs and searching for types of vegetables that are underrepresented in the region or are in high demand. For example, in the southern regions, the same cucumbers or tomatoes grow excellently without greenhouses, and therefore their price most year remains quite low: in such conditions, the prospect of returning significant investments in the enterprise becomes doubtful. On the other hand, the cold northern climate also makes the process of growing many types of heat-loving crops unprofitable, since the cost of heating a greenhouse complex significantly exceeds the cost of delivering similar products from other regions.

To take these features into account and turn the industrial cultivation of vegetables into a profitable business, an entrepreneur needs to do some preparatory work:

• Study the range of competitors. It is hardly advisable to sell products that are in abundance on the market at dumping prices;
• Develop a detailed project. In this case, it is necessary to take into account all the parameters that affect profit - from electricity consumption for lighting to the cost of delivering products to customers;
• Build a quality greenhouse. The annual costs associated with replacing damaged covering material or painting the frame can be quite significant;
• Choose the right culture. When growing vegetables in a greenhouse, it is necessary to select varieties taking into account local climatic conditions and the growing season of plants in closed ground;
• Find suppliers and choose the type of planting material. Seeds are much cheaper than seedlings, but their use complicates the production process and leads to a significant increase in the growing season;
• Select cultivation technology. Growing in beds is accompanied by the need to install soil heating systems, and the taste of vegetables obtained using hydroponics is not always liked by consumers. For some crops, a compromise may be to use multi-tiered racks;
• Control the composition of the soil. In greenhouses for growing vegetables all year round, the soil is depleted very quickly, and therefore its top layer must be completely replaced at the beginning of each cycle.

When developing a project for an agricultural enterprise, an entrepreneur must first familiarize himself with the main advantages and disadvantages of a greenhouse business in order to draw the right conclusions about the prospects for this type of activity.

The main advantages include the following factors:

• As a business, growing vegetables does not require large plots of land - for the construction of an industrial greenhouse, an area of ​​6–10 acres is sufficient;
• Pouring the foundation and erecting the frame takes only a few days - in fact, within two weeks you can plant the first seedlings in the beds;
• Despite the high price, a greenhouse for growing vegetables pays for itself in just one and a half to two years;
• This type of business is directly related to agriculture, which simplifies the procedure for receiving grants from the state;
• Vegetable crops can be planted in a greenhouse in almost any climate without fear of frost, rain and other weather disasters.

However, this type of business is characterized not only positive sides. When growing vegetables in winter, one cannot help but notice that:

• Heating a greenhouse requires a huge amount of energy;
• The profitability of the enterprise is affected by seasonal fluctuations in market prices;
• An entrepreneur must always have a certain supply of working capital for the purchase of soil, seedlings, fertilizers, fuel;
• There are significant fluctuations in the level of demand on the market - if tomatoes sold well last year, this does not mean that they will be sold out just as quickly this season;
• There is always a risk of crop loss due to some mistake by the farmer or a combination of unforeseen circumstances.

What can you grow?

In Russia, growing vegetables, whenever possible, should involve the use early varieties and hybrids of domestic selection, adapted to local climatic conditions. These types of plants are characterized by high productivity, a short growing season and the ability to self-pollinate.

In addition, novice farmers should remember that simultaneous cultivation of various vegetables in the same room is not only impractical, but also technically impossible due to large differences in optimal temperature conditions and light levels. Therefore, for each crop it is necessary to allocate its own greenhouse.

What can be planted in the garden beds:

• Zucchini. This type of vegetable is rarely found indoors, but farmers who grow zucchini in greenhouses note increased yields and a special delicate taste of the fruit. With a growing season of 40–60 days per year, you can harvest up to five harvests, receiving an average of 12 kg per square meter;
• Eggplant. The crop is extremely demanding in terms of temperature and quality of fertilizers. However, when growing eggplants in a greenhouse, the plants reach two meters in height and bear fruit much more intensively. The growing season is up to 120 days: in a year you can harvest three crops of 10–16 kg per square meter each;
• Tomatoes. Growing tomatoes is a classic type of greenhouse business. In closed ground, plants begin to bear fruit two weeks earlier and produce 2.5 times more tomatoes than in a regular garden bed. With a growing season of 120 days, three crops are harvested per year in the amount of 16–20 kg per square meter;
• Cucumbers. Greenhouse structures make it possible to grow cucumbers even in cold regions, including Siberia. Thanks to the high average cost fruits, the possibility of obtaining three harvests per year and a productivity of 18–22 kg/m², the crop is considered one of the most promising for farmers;
• Bell pepper. A fairly heat-loving type of vegetable - when growing bell peppers indoors, it is necessary to maintain a temperature of 25–26°C. Due to the growing season of 120 days, 15–18 kg of fruits per square meter of bed are collected three times per year;
• Cauliflower. Despite the fact that this type of vegetable is cold-resistant, prolonged exposure to low temperatures can destroy the seedlings. Therefore, greenhouse owners practice growing cauliflower from seedlings and then replanting them in open ground. The growing season of 110 days allows for three harvests per year, but the productivity of the crop is low - no more than 5–6 kg/m²;
• Pumpkin. The crop is also not a greenhouse crop, also due to its low planting density, therefore, when growing pumpkin indoors, only young shoots are planted, which are subsequently transferred to the beds. Productivity is within 10–12 kg/m², growing season is about 120 days.

Business registration

When starting the industrial cultivation of vegetables in a greenhouse all year round, the business must be registered, since corporate clients prefer to cooperate with legal SOPs. In addition, having official status somewhat simplifies the procedure for obtaining various quality certificates and other accompanying documents.

An aspiring entrepreneur in the process of creating a greenhouse business can use one of the following forms of ownership:

• Personal subsidiary farming. Formally, for this option there is no limit on the number of greenhouses, but the total area of ​​the site should not exceed 2.5 hectares. In addition, the owner of private household plots does not have the right to use the labor of hired workers, which turns growing vegetables at home into a family enterprise. The legislation does not provide for any official registration, except for the need to obtain a certificate from the administration stating that the farmer owns the corresponding land plot;
• Peasant farming. For peasant farms there are no restrictions on the area of ​​the plot, the number of hired workers and the annual turnover of the enterprise. An enterprise is a collective form of ownership of citizens united by family ties - spouses, their parents and children, brothers and sisters. Head of the household, designated for general meeting, must obtain an entrepreneur’s TIN and register with the tax authorities, and in the process of work regularly transfer contributions to the appropriate funds;
• Individual entrepreneurship. By analogy with peasant farms, there are no restrictions for individual entrepreneurs, which makes it ideal for a large greenhouse enterprise with a large number of hired workers. If there are several owners, it is more advisable to choose an LLC and form an authorized capital of 10,000 rubles.

In the process of registering a peasant farm, individual entrepreneur or LLC, the entrepreneur must choose the Unified Agricultural Tax system with the payment of 6% of profit, and also indicate in the application the corresponding OKVED code for growing vegetables in protected soil (01.13.12).

Site search and preparation

The correct choice of location for greenhouses determines the efficiency of organizing production processes and the amount of costs associated with ensuring the successful functioning of the enterprise. Therefore, at the initial stage of construction of a greenhouse complex, if there is no own space, the entrepreneur must rent or purchase land plot, meeting several basic requirements:

1. It is advisable to initially verify the possibility of expanding the business in the future by installing additional greenhouses;
2. There must be a paved road in the immediate vicinity of the site - otherwise the process of delivering raw materials and finished products may become significantly more complicated;
3. To grow vegetables with your own hands, you need electricity and gas (except for greenhouses heated with coal and wood), so it is desirable to have power lines and gas pipelines nearby;
4. It is necessary to decide on the method of water supply, and then connect the complex to the central water supply or install your own well;
5. The location of greenhouses at any time of the year should exclude their shading by trees, other buildings or folds of the relief;
6. The permissible slope of the construction site is no more than 3–5%;
7. The greenhouse should not be located on windy hilltops or in lowlands, where frosty air lasts longer;
8. It is advisable to choose an area protected from prevailing winds by folds of terrain or a forest belt, while avoiding shading of the greenhouse;
9. Groundwater should not be close to the surface - otherwise flooding, subsidence and rotting of plant roots are possible.

Greenhouse design

Beginning entrepreneurs can build a greenhouse themselves or assemble it from ready-made structural elements offered by suppliers. The frame is most often assembled from metal profiles of various sections, and the following is used as a covering material:

• Polyethylene. The main advantages of polyethylene film are the lowest price and light weight. At the same time, the disadvantages include unsatisfactory transparency (especially in the presence of reinforcement), short service life and high vulnerability to mechanical damage. When constructing greenhouses, the material is laid in two layers (outside and inside the frame) to create an air gap inside and thereby reduce the overall heat loss of the structure;
• Glass. Due to its high light transmission, this material is ideal for the construction of large greenhouse complexes, allowing the entrepreneur to save on costs. artificial lighting. To increase strength in agriculture, tempered glass 6 mm thick is used, which is characterized by a fairly significant weight. In addition, the high thermal conductivity of the material in winter time causes an increase in the cost of heating the greenhouse;
• Polycarbonate. Honeycomb polymer material successfully combines such advantages as high light transmission, good strength and low weight. In addition, growing vegetables in a polycarbonate greenhouse in winter becomes more profitable due to the low thermal conductivity of plastic. The main disadvantage of this coating is considered to be high temperature deformation - up to 5 mm/m in the temperature range from -30°C to +40°C.

Comparative characteristics of various covering materials are given in the following table. The calculation of the glazing area and the amount of heat loss was carried out for a modular arched greenhouse with dimensions of 29.4x7.5x3.8 m:

Comparative characteristics of covering materials

Greenhouse equipment

Construction and installation work does not end with the construction of the greenhouse. At the next stage, the entrepreneur must install inside the various units necessary to create the required microclimatic conditions and automate some production processes. As part of a business plan for growing vegetables, you need to pay attention to the design of systems such as:

• Beds. Rack shelves are suitable for cultivating low-growing plants with small root systems. Tall cucumber and tomato bushes should be planted in heated beds and tied to trellises as they grow. It should be noted that in a structure with dimensions of 29.4x7.5 m, the total area of ​​the beds minus passages and vestibules is 140–150 m²;
• Ventilation. To ventilate large greenhouses, an open window or door is not enough. Therefore, in such structures, ventilation hatches with automatic control or install powerful exhaust fans. In addition, in winter, cold outside air must be heated by passing it through heat exchangers with hot water;
• Heating. To grow vegetables all year round, greenhouses must be well heated. The most convenient energy carrier is natural gas, but laying a separate pipeline usually involves significant costs. Therefore, many farmers heat greenhouses with coal or wood, burning them in hot water boilers: in this case, the power of the equipment must correspond to the heat loss of the structure, determined for the lowest winter temperature.

Comparative characteristics of energy carriers

• Heating the soil. In winter, even in greenhouses with an efficient heating system, the soil in the beds quickly cools to low temperatures, which leads to damage to plant roots. The soil is heated using electric mats or water heating circuits buried in the ground, connected to the same hot water boiler;
• Lighting. During the cold season, the length of the day decreases, as a result of which the plants do not have enough light. Therefore, additional lamps are installed in greenhouses to maintain the required level of illumination for 12–14 hours. Conventional incandescent lamps are not suitable for these purposes: it is recommended to use sodium, gas-discharge or LED lamps instead.

Comparative characteristics of lamps

Index	Sodium	Gas discharge	LED
Power consumption, W	150	150	72
Unit price, rub.	890	1320	4050
Luminous flux, lm	17500	14500	12000
Service life, hours	16000	15000	50000
Cost of equipment, rub.	53400	79200	303000
Greenhouse energy consumption, W	9000	9000	4320
Monthly fee, rub.	6480	6480	3110

• Watering. Beds in small greenhouses can be watered using a watering can. However, in a large farm, it is better to automate such processes. For these purposes, a large-capacity tank is installed on a hill, and then a system of pipes and capillaries is connected to it, supplying water and fertilizers directly to the roots of the plants.
• Additional equipment necessary for the operation of the greenhouse complex is various tools (shovels, scoops, wheelbarrows), instruments for measuring temperature and humidity, as well as large-volume refrigeration chambers designed for storing vegetables awaiting sale.

Greenhouse equipment

Name	price, rub.	Quantity, pcs.	Cost, rub.
Greenhouse design
Greenhouse frame 29.4x7.5x3.8 m	226300	1	226300
Polycarbonate 10 mm, sheet 12x2.1 m	7100	16	113600
Strip foundation 74 m	74000	1	74000
Greenhouse assembly	10000	1	10000
Heating system
Solid fuel boiler 100 kW	161800	1	161800
Polypropylene pipe	65	250 m	16250
Steel radiator 3 kW	6100	25	152500
Soil heating pipe	65	150 m	9750
Forced circulation pump	4000	2	8000
Shut-off valves	–	–	5000
Lighting system
Lamp DNat150	890	60	53400
Reflector with E40 socket	600	60	36000
Electric cable 3x4 mm²	50	250 m	12500
Automatic switch	210	5	1050
Ventilation system
Greenhouse fan 1500 m³/h	3700	4	14800
Air filter	900	8	7200
Water heat exchanger 25 kW	4500	4	18000
Drip irrigation
Plastic water tank 2 m³	32000	1	32000
Polypropylene irrigation pipe	65	150 m	9750
Tank pump	2500	1	2500
Shut-off valves	80	10	800
Drip irrigation system	1800	5	9000
Optional equipment
Refrigerator compartment 4.4 m³	57400	1	57400
garden tools	–	–	6000
Trellis 4m	10	500	5000
Thermohygrometer	900	2	1800
Vegetable drawer	30	50	1500
Total:			1045900

Sales market

Simultaneously with setting up a greenhouse for growing vegetables, the business plan must include the organization of uninterrupted and reliable distribution channels: almost all vegetables have a short shelf life, making it very difficult to avoid damage to the goods due to any delays in sales. In addition to independent sales to retail customers, which owners of large greenhouse complexes usually do not practice, there are four ways to solve this problem:

• Sales to wholesalers. Cooperation with wholesalers allows you to save the time needed to sell the goods, but at the same time the farmer is forced to reduce prices and independently deliver the goods to customers;
• Sales to resellers. Some entrepreneurs are engaged in purchasing vegetables and other agricultural products from farmers for subsequent resale. Such clients most often have their own transport, which allows them to purchase products on a pickup basis;
• Working with retail. A method that allows the farmer to get maximum profit. However, negotiating with store owners, concluding contracts and organizing logistics are labor-intensive processes that require hiring at least a sales manager and a freight forwarder with a car;
• Sales to processors. Canneries and other processing plants also need regular supplies of raw materials. The farmer can sell quite large quantities of goods to such clients at adequate wholesale prices.

Investments

As a business, growing vegetables all year round requires significant investment in preparing the production base. The entrepreneur also needs to register his enterprise, clear the site for construction, connect the greenhouse to utility networks, ensure the company’s presence on the Internet and purchase various Consumables. It is advisable to have an additional financial reserve to compensate for current costs, since the business owner will be able to make a profit only after the sale of the first harvest.

Investments

At the beginning of each production cycle, the farmer must prepare or purchase greenhouse soil, grow or order seedlings from suppliers, purchase fertilizers. In addition, in the process of work, he will have to regularly replenish fuel supplies, pay for electricity and the services of transport companies, and also bear the costs associated with issuing certificates for vegetables.

Video: How to make money growing vegetables in greenhouses

Annual expenses

Profit and profitability

The most important stage in drawing up a business plan for a greenhouse for growing vegetables is calculating the profit received from the sale various types products. To predict the amount of income, you need to take into account the crop yield, the number of cycles per year and the range of seasonal fluctuations in wholesale prices.

Greenhouse income (before taxes)

Culture	Average price, rub./kg	Annual harvest, kg	Profit, rub.	Profitability, %
Zucchini	80	9000	338520	88,7
Eggplant	65	7200	86520	22,6
Tomatoes	70	9000	248520	65,1
cucumbers	95	9900	473520	124,1
bell pepper	110	8100	509520	133,5
Cauliflower	70	2700	-192480	0
Pumpkin	45	5400	-138480	0

Obviously, cultivating cauliflower and pumpkin indoors in winter is not profitable, since overhead costs in this case significantly exceed possible income. Therefore, it is better to plant zucchini, tomatoes, bell pepper and cucumbers. You can also work on fresh herbs: for example, when growing spinach, an entrepreneur will receive a harvest every two months and will earn at least 700 thousand rubles at the end of the year.

Opening your own food production enterprise is always a profitable business if its owner is able to justify the inexhaustible interest of consumers. Growing vegetables as a business, however, has a number of features, since it is associated with such a thing as damage to goods, which is simply impossible to avoid if the products were not sold on time. We will try to figure out how not to burn out in the field of vegetable growing.

Features of this direction

When starting to produce various crops, you always need to remember some rules, non-compliance with which leads to a decrease in sales. These include sowing dates, knowledge of the principles of agriculture in general, and the peculiarities of the temperature regime in your region.

Vegetable growing has several features that may be useful in the business planning process:

• selling vegetables wholesale and retail always brings quick profits, makes it possible to sell goods in large quantities, but at the same time requires transport and time costs;
• one of the ways to sell products is to sell to visiting wholesalers, which is a very convenient, but less profitable option, since in this case pick-up is provided, which significantly reduces the price of vegetables;
• You can also offer the harvested crop to restaurants, cafes, and sanatoriums, but do not forget that the requirements for its quality will be completely different than if you sold the products on the market;
• It is possible to grow vegetable crops on an individual order, but then we will be talking about environmentally friendly production technologies;
• This direction does not require large financial investments, but it should be pursued only when there is interest and certain knowledge in agriculture.

Do not forget that vegetables are much cheaper in summer than in winter, and therefore the main profit can be expected with the onset of autumn and before the new harvest.

Selecting a site

If you don’t know where to start a vegetable business, start it by choosing a plot of land. This stage is key in the whole process. This is due to the fact that the quantity and quality of the harvest will depend on the fertility of the soil.

Finding a suitable plot of land in rural areas will not be difficult; the main thing is to coordinate all issues with local authorities.

The entire process of planning this type of business can be divided into three stages:

1. Selecting a plot of land for carrying out activities.
2. Selecting vegetable crops to work with.
3. Selection of varieties of these vegetable crops.

Having decided on a specific direction, you need to become thoroughly familiar with the conditions for growing vegetables, the type of soil that is suitable for their normal growth, the conditions of feeding, care, susceptibility to diseases and pests.

It would be nice if, along with the plot, you also purchased small house, since the vegetable care season lasts from April to October. The question of how to get to your vegetable farm should not be too pressing.

Greenhouse business

It should be noted right away that there can be two ways to grow vegetables:

1. On open ground.
2. In the greenhouse.

Each of them certainly has its own advantages and disadvantages. But if you are planning to implement year-round vegetable growing as a business, then you should think about greenhouse production.

Don't forget that producing vegetables on an industrial scale will require mandatory registration your enterprise. You can choose individual entrepreneurship or LLC. In order to make it possible to realize the result of your work, you will need to obtain a quality certificate issued by the sanitary and epidemiological service.

What you need to remember to greenhouse business did it generate income?

Therefore, if you have only one greenhouse, the maximum you can afford is 2-3 varieties of crops.

Preference can be given to the following groups of vegetables:

We must not forget about the storage conditions of the harvested crop. This is especially true for those crops that you plan to sell during cold seasons.

Profitability

To achieve your goal, you should never neglect preliminary calculations, especially when it comes to the production of something.

Expenses for a vegetable business should include the following items:

• seed or planting material;
• plant protection products;
• rental of a greenhouse or land plot, its arrangement;
• purchase and maintenance of transport and various mechanisms for agricultural work;
• employee salaries;
• public utilities.

It should be noted that profitability this direction very high, and for some types of vegetables can reach 300% (potatoes). Payback for vegetable growing usually occurs 9-10 months after the start of work.

What is the difficulty?

The business of growing vegetables has many nuances that not every novice vegetable grower knows about. The main pitfalls include the following:

It would also be a good idea to think about hiring workers who will service your site. These should be people who have already experienced agricultural work, love to work with their hands and spend time among plants. Don't rely solely on own strength. This will lead to the fact that you simply will not have time to harvest the crop on time and sell it in the proper form.

Growing vegetables in modern greenhouses: Video

The current economic situation forces everyone large quantity people become entrepreneurs. Trying to find a suitable niche, they try different options. The Internet is replete with ideas and business plans. But most projects for megacities are not suitable for people living in rural areas or the private sector of a small city. It's worth switching to available options. When choosing a vegetable growing business, you should minimize the seasonality factor in order to get stable income.

Advantages and disadvantages of growing vegetables in a greenhouse

Using greenhouses you can completely change the seasonality of your business. The main advantage of greenhouses is the ability to supply fresh vegetables to the market in cold weather. Choosing adherents as the target audience proper nutrition are achieved high performance arrived. In summer it is not difficult to find cucumbers or tomatoes, but in winter prices rise significantly, but consumers are ready to purchase the products.

Growing any plants in a greenhouse all year round does not cost much. The main costs go to renting land. The construction of the building does not require special knowledge or expensive materials. Due to this, the project will quickly pay for itself and begin to generate good profits. As a rule, the first income comes a year after the opening of the business. Farmers also consume the products themselves, guaranteeing the quality and safety of the food.

As for possible disadvantages, a lot of expenses go into constantly paying electricity bills. Greenhouses should be well lit almost all day long. During the summer months you will have to work hard to find a free market with a good price. Often, buyers cannot pick up vegetables and fruits themselves, so they often have to take delivery themselves.

The financial component of a greenhouse business

It is worth understanding how much you need to invest and how quickly it will pay off before starting any work. Keep in mind that the ratio of income to expenses greatly depends on the area occupied by the greenhouse. As an example, consider an option of 300 m2.

Initially, the question arises about the need to rent or purchase territory for a greenhouse. The cheapest option is to look for a place outside the city, because it is cheaper there, and delivery costs must be taken into account. It is important to find the “golden mean” in terms of distance from the city. Further expenses on Construction Materials and construction. Initial purchase of soil and seedlings. This includes costs for legal issues. On average, this comes out to 500,000 rubles.

When the building is ready, you can hire employees who will guard the premises and care for the vegetables. The salary fund varies depending on the qualifications of the workers. For a building of 300 m2, 3 people are enough, about 70 thousand rubles per month. Associated expenses require about 40,000 rubles. And income starts from 400,000 rubles. per month. Depending on the season, the figure may increase or decrease.

How to choose what to grow in a greenhouse

Having taken the first steps, a reasonable question arises about which plants bring more profit. It is also important to understand what is easier to start with and what requires the least amount of care. It is important to consider the shelf life of the product.

The ability to choose forces you to consider in detail all options, as well as third-party factors, in order to run your business as efficiently as possible. The level of competition in the market you are going to enter is studied. It is important to understand what entrepreneurs are now offering. Not only competitors who own greenhouses are taken into account, but also the number of plants offered from ordinary fields.

The wishes of clients cannot be discounted. At the beginning of the work, crops are selected that attract consumers all year round. The fundamental law of entrepreneurship says: “Demand creates supply.” Therefore, at the start it is better to focus on popular plants.

Assess your options wisely. Investing in a business to grow vegetables in a greenhouse all year round has an important bearing on the choice of final product. You can build a small greenhouse for unpretentious greenery. At the same time, flowers will require a significantly larger area, better conditions and careful care.

It is important to take into account the climatic features of the area. In cold areas, greenhouses are more expensive because the costs of maintaining a suitable temperature increase. It is easier to manage business in the southern regions.

Analysis of possible options

The most suitable candidates are:

Hybrid roses are popular in the flower business. These flowers are constantly in price and require minimal care. They require good soil, adequate watering and fertilizers. At good care one bush gives about 250 units of goods. Indoor flowers and chrysanthemums are also often grown in greenhouses.

If we consider working with greens, the crops here are diverse and unpretentious. At the same time, greens in peat pots sell well. They are sold with soil, so the products can be stored longer. The advantage of this option is high margins and stable interest of the end consumer, regardless of seasonality.

Growing vegetables in a greenhouse all year round as a business more difficult process from a technological point of view, also the income varies depending on the season. The cheapest way is to grow vegetables in a greenhouse all year round using hydroponics. In this case, the final product has a specific watery taste. For this reason, most businessmen abandon this technology in favor of improving the quality of goods.

Most farmers choose cucumbers. They can be easily grown from seedlings, which will reduce the ripening time. A high percentage of humidity is important for them; it should be above 80%. Cucumbers are not picky about soil. Therefore, they can be placed either using the classical method directly in the soil or in mats on special racks. The second option is preferable, as it saves space, which means the usable area of ​​the room increases.

Tomatoes can also be grown in soil and in hydroponic setups. The second option brings more profit, but the color, taste and aroma of vegetables suffers. For this reason, soil cultivation in a greenhouse is most often chosen as a business. This option is more expensive, but the product is easier to sell and is valued higher. It's important to choose suitable varieties tomatoes. It is necessary to pay attention that the seedlings are intended specifically for greenhouses. At the same time, large yields are obtained from varieties that were bred in Russia, Holland or Poland.

Another vegetable suitable for greenhouses is cabbage. Like cucumbers, they require high indoor humidity to produce good harvests. The advantage of cabbage is that it can bear fruit several times a year when grown in closed soil. You can choose almost any variety of cabbage: Chinese cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts or regular white cabbage.

To speed up the growing of vegetables in a greenhouse as a business, it is recommended to grow seedlings in advance using the cassette method. Early ones are best hybrid varieties that do not require pollination. In addition to sufficient humidity, you need to pay attention to the temperature in the room. It should not be higher than +20 degrees Celsius. This slows down the release of flower stalks.

Sweet peppers would be a good choice. It does not require special pollination and ripens quickly. It is important to focus on special greenhouse varieties. When growing them, it is necessary to constantly add minerals and fertilizers to the soil, and also monitor the high level of humidity.

If desired and there is a request from the market, other vegetables can be grown. The most profitable ones can be:

Eggplant;

• Hot peppers.

The most difficult thing is to grow and implement a business in a greenhouse, growing berries. They are more demanding than other plants, they are more difficult to transport, and they have a shorter shelf life. At the same time, such farms are often found due to high demand throughout the year. Special greenhouse varieties are purchased. They are characterized by a pronounced taste, beautiful shape and less juiciness, which simplifies the transportation process.

When growing plants in regular soil, gardeners purchase ready-made seedlings. At the same time, a more profitable option for growing vegetables in a greenhouse all year round is to prepare the seedlings yourself. It’s convenient that you can start in another room. You can also produce seedlings in the main room, but then you need to install the section with them as close to the light as possible. You can sow seeds once every two weeks, this way you get seedlings of different ages and a continuous supply of vegetables for the customer.

When it comes to soil selection, many crops require a combination of pitch, peat and garden soil. The finished mixture must be disinfected. The best option is to use copper sulfate. Then fertilizer minerals are added to the soil and loosening occurs. Watering the seedlings is done as the soil dries out. Indeed, due to lack of water, the harvest will be significantly reduced. An equally important factor is temperature.

There are three ways to grow vegetables. Hydroponic systems are almost never used due to low demand for such products. The soil method is used for most vegetables. The shelving option is good for small plants. Once every 1.5-2 weeks it is important to treat the soil and remove weeds.

Caring for some vegetables

To increase profits and productivity, it is necessary to understand that one crop is grown in a greenhouse. This is due to different watering needs and environmental conditions. Therefore, each greenhouse has a specific purpose or is divided into sectors at the construction stage.

For getting big harvest it is necessary to take care of the right conditions. If you want cucumbers to bear a lot of fruit, then you need them to trail upward. To do this, racks are built and threads are pulled. They act as a guide.

Tomatoes and peppers need more rigid support. After all, their fruits are heavier and there is a danger of damage to the plant itself under their weight. Please note that sweet and bitter peppers should be separated into different compartments. If you grow them in the same bed, the sweet peppers may become bitter. Cabbage does not require additional equipment and gets along well with other crops. It also produces fruit all year round.

Construction of a greenhouse for business

When all the nuances of choosing and growing became clear different cultures The question arises of how to build a greenhouse. In order for the greenhouse to function throughout the year, it is necessary to choose a capital type of construction. The frame is chosen either from wood or galvanized metal. Winter greenhouse always built on a foundation. Thickness determined climatic conditions terrain.

The cheapest and fastest construction option is polyethylene coating. At the same time, the film is not durable and does not transmit well. Sun rays. As a rule, its replacement is necessary every season. Due to this, the payback is significantly reduced. This type of construction can be chosen for crops that prefer a humid environment:

• Tomatoes;

In such greenhouses, greens, flowers and strawberries produce a poor harvest.

An expensive, but more reliable option is glass greenhouses. It should be borne in mind that ordinary glass is not suitable for a greenhouse. You need to purchase special industrial glass. It tolerates temperature changes and bad weather conditions well. In addition to cost, glass has another disadvantage: an increase in the amount of ultraviolet light. On summer days it will be necessary to provide shade to prevent overburning.

The most suitable choice would be acrylic or polycarbonate greenhouse to be used all year round as a business. Such materials have high strength, while it can be easily bent into the desired shapes and cut. Polycarbonate has an excellent light transmittance coefficient and performs well even in northern regions.

For large businesses you can choose single-slope structure. It will distribute the light evenly, and the snow will roll off the roof faster. Engineers recommend making the north side of wood or cinder block. An opaque surface will imitate solar battery, due to which there will be savings on heating. It is important that the greenhouse has good ventilation air, climate control and irrigation devices.

To avoid microclimate disturbances, it is necessary to equip a double door or vestibule. Due to this, there is no loss of heat. To increase heating savings best option use a combination of different types of fuel. use:

• Electric boilers;

  Infrared cables.

For industrial purposes, larger sizes are used, most often the area ranges from 500 to 1000 m2. To ensure the reliability of the structure, load-bearing columns are located in it. For beginning farmers, you can choose more modest sizes. To work with vegetables and flowers, you can stay on an area of ​​up to 200 m2, and there is enough space for greenery in a greenhouse measuring 100 m2.

Finding consumers for greenhouse products

You should look for a sales market at the construction stage. This will avoid downtime and ensure stable income from plants throughout the year. Due to the short shelf life for most vegetables, it is better to look for several options at once. As a rule, farmers refuse to sell all goods to the final consumer.

Most often, the goods are sent to wholesale centers. Through cooperation with wholesale centers, there is a significant reduction in the time when ripe vegetables are stored in greenhouse warehouses. In this case, the price decreases and you need to take care of delivery.

Another option is to work with resellers. The advantage is that such entrepreneurs have personal transport and you are relieved of the need to deliver products. You can also establish work with processing enterprises. Since they regularly produce canned products, they constantly need fresh raw materials. This makes it possible to supply them with large quantities at good prices.

The most difficult, but also the most profitable option is to sell to retail stores. In this case, you will have to spend a lot of time and effort communicating with the owners of retail outlets and following all the recommendations of retail chains to certify the facility. As in the case of wholesale warehouses, delivery is carried out by the farmer, so a forwarder and official transport will be required.

Thus, greenhouses for growing vegetables bring good income all year round. Although this business requires investment at the start, it quickly pays off. With the right approach, you can make large profits without repeated investments.

Our interlocutor is Gafurov Rasul Usmanovich. He works as a surgeon in a regional hospital in a small town in the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic, but at the same time he also manages to conduct own business– grows vegetables in the fields. How does he do this?

Main points of the interview:

• Type of activity: growing vegetables
• Business location: Russia, Kabardino-Balkarian Republic
• Occupation before starting a business: surgeon (business is conducted in parallel with medical activities)
• Organizational and legal form of doing business: individual entrepreneur
• Initial investment amount: 50,00 rub.
• Source of initial capital: personal savings, help from relatives
• Payback period: within the first season of operation
• How we started the business: by planting potatoes on one hectare of land
• The first harvest was 18 tons of selected potatoes (3 tons were planted).
• Formula for success: “The most important thing in business is to have a good attitude towards what you do - there will always be results!”

Hello! Tell our readers about what you do?

In general, by profession I am a surgeon, I work at the Prokhladnenskaya regional hospital. But I also have my own business - I grow vegetables in the fields.

How did you come up with the idea of ​​doing business in parallel with your work as a surgeon?

In general, it is quite difficult to combine your main job with running your own business. But when there is not enough money, you have to look for a way out of the current situation. That is why I decided to try to open my own business.

I was prompted to do this by talking to a friend who started growing potatoes. According to him, he earned 9 times more than he invested. I planted 500 kg and harvested 5 tons. Such a profit could not leave me indifferent!

Why did you decide to pursue farming rather than something closer to medicine? Where did you get your knowledge about growing vegetables?

In our small town, I did not see any prospects for doing anything related to medicine. It is too difficult to open a private clinic; there are already many pharmacies.

My father was a war and labor veteran, and back in Soviet times he was allocated a plot of land (1 hectare). There we worked as a family, planting vegetables. Therefore, I have been familiar with farming since childhood; I know and can do a lot.

Nowadays I just need one look at a potato and I can tell what variety it is and in what region it was grown.

How did you start your business?

I rented 1 hectare of land and planted potatoes. The harvest turned out to be 1 in 6. I planted 3 tons and harvested 18 tons. This was a very good result! After that, I firmly decided that next year I would continue growing vegetables.

How is your case registered?

How is the land you work on regulated?

I rent land.

What taxes do you pay?

Does your main job allow you to devote time to business, or do you take time off and vacation during the harvest?

In this sense, I was lucky - according to the law, we, surgeons, have a vacation of as much as 45 days. I divide it into two parts - I take 20 days when vegetables are being planted (in the spring), and 25 when the harvest is in progress, in the fall.

Where do you store the harvest and how do you sell it? Have you tried selling your products through online stores?

I don’t store the harvest anywhere, I sell it straight from the field! I sell wholesale, all at once. Of course, I set the price lower, but then I don’t have to decide where to store it all, how to sell and transport it, and so on. I don’t have a huge barn or a spacious, dry basement at home. So I sell it straight from the field on the same day we collect it.

But it all depends on what exactly you are growing. For example, one day I planted beets. Its harvest occurs in November-December, and prices were low. I wanted to earn more money, and I found a place where I could store it. It sat nicely in the basement for several months, and we sold it for a good price later.

I didn’t even think about chain stores, since the problem was with storage space.

Now you have grown a product, but before you sell it, do you need to certify it or obtain any permits?

We take a certificate from the collective farm from which we rent land. It is needed for carriers who pick up products from our fields. That’s what we call it, “traveling”. I have not heard about the need to certify grown vegetables.

Does the state help you?

They offered me help - to take out a loan at a reduced rate interest rate. But, to be honest, I don’t even have time to delve into the terms of this offer - I’m in the hospital all week, and on the weekends I’m on the field. For now I'm making do on my own.

How will joining the WTO affect your business?

I don't think so. I have a small business, this will only affect large suppliers.

What mistakes can you warn those who want to start growing vegetables from?

Even 20 years ago it was possible to give some advice. Now farming is becoming unprofitable and very difficult, so I don’t even know what to advise.

One of our main problems is the appearance of a large number of pests: potatoes have their own, cabbage has its own... This never happened before. You need to treat the plants all the time, otherwise insects will simply eat up the entire crop. And all the chemicals that destroy them are very expensive.

Therefore, now I cannot give any guarantees to those who want to do this. I can’t give an accurate forecast - you plant this much and you get this much. If you have money, invest it, you won’t end up in the red, but the amount of profit can fluctuate greatly due to such costs. One year I get 1 in 6, the next - 1 in 4...

Are you planning to open a vegetable processing plant? Why?

No. I consider this unprofitable. And in general, this is a completely different direction, you need to thoroughly understand it. It is necessary to make places for storing vegetables where humidity, temperature, and so on will be maintained.

Why do you think some people are able to do business and others are not?

If you treat what you do well, there will always be results! In principle, farming is profitable in any case, you just need to have time, finances and special knowledge. You need to consult with those who understand this.

Personally, I even took soil from my field to the laboratory for analysis, where they told me what was missing in the soil and what needed to be added. Others don’t do this, they think that they can just unload a truck of manure onto the field and not think about anything else. And here, too, problems can arise - if you add a lot of it, the field will be overgrown with grass, which will have to be poisoned with expensive reagents... In short, you need to figure it out and run your business competently!

Your parting words to our readers who want to start their own business.

Acquire knowledge in the area where you plan to open your business.

Food production can be called one of the most promising areas of business. According to economists, this type of product will only become more expensive. In this light, growing vegetables as a business looks quite attractive.

1. With space – you need to find a suitable plot of land with fertile soil. The soil should be analyzed for the presence of contamination with nitrates, heavy metals, pesticides, etc.
2. WITH vegetable crop– study market conditions for the most popular vegetables suitable for growing in the selected area.
3. With varieties of vegetable plants best suited for growing in the conditions of the selected area.

At the stage of choosing a variety, you need to take into account the availability and quality guarantees of seeds, and the manufacturer’s recommendations for plant care.

Deviation from the conditions for growing vegetables leads to a decrease in varietal potential. Next, you can and should begin learning the basics of vegetable growing. Ignorance of the principles of agriculture, reluctance to learn and persistent adherence to the stereotype “this is how our grandfathers did it” has led to the generally accepted opinion that agriculture is unprofitable. For example, taking into account the ripening time of different crops and temperature conditions in the region, it is possible to grow vegetables in two harvests per season. Grown vegetables are sold different ways, each of which has its own pros and cons:

• selling on the wholesale or retail market brings good profits, fast turnover, the possibility of large deliveries, but requires transport and time;
• selling products to visiting wholesalers will save time and transportation costs, but loses in price;
• shops, supermarkets, restaurants offer excellent prices, but also require high quality products and regular supplies;
• growing vegetables to order for a specific buyer - most often this concerns environmentally friendly growing technologies associated with high labor costs.

Expenses and income

The quality of any purchased product is its main criterion. In vegetable growing, this trend is becoming increasingly stronger over time. Interested buyers are willing to pay 20-25% more for high-quality vegetables without substances harmful to the body. Main cost items in vegetable growing:

• planting (sowing) material;
• plant protection products;
• fertilizers;
• rental, construction of structures, repairs, improvement;
• costs for the purchase and maintenance of transport and machinery;
• payment of utility bills;
• hiring workers.

The cost of production is determined by the ratio of the sum of the costs of growing vegetables to their weight (harvest). Calculation of the economic efficiency of vegetable growing is somewhat different in the case of cultivation in open ground and in closed ground. In the first case, it is defined:

• the amount of gross output produced per 1 hectare of land (expressed in cash and in kind);
• cost of vegetables (1 c.);
• labor productivity;
• total profit;
• relative profit per unit area.

In vegetable growing in protected soil economic efficiency depends on the output of goods per 1 sq.m., the cost of 1 c. vegetables, profit margin per 1 sq.m. and for 1 frame.

Methods and technologies for growing vegetables

There are two main ways to grow vegetables locally:

• Open ground – fields, beds;
• Closed ground - greenhouse, greenhouse.

One of the best ways is to grow vegetables in a greenhouse. After all, thanks to it you will be able to get a harvest throughout the year, and if you decide to do this business for business, then in winter the prices for any vegetables are usually higher.

If you are interested in technologies for growing vegetables, then there are quite a lot of them and each vegetable has quite a few methods, especially potatoes. We list some for all plants:

• Hydroponics is growing vegetables without soil.
• Potatoes under straw - the tubers are not planted in the ground, but are simply covered with a layer of straw, thanks to which they receive nutrients when it rots. The advantage of this technology is the quick harvest, and a very clean harvest, because the potatoes do not need to be peeled from the soil.
• Growing according to Mittlider is a technology for potatoes when loosening and hilling are abandoned.
• Combined crops are a method when several crops are combined, i.e. they are planted together. This is done so that one culture helps another. Here you need to know which vegetables and plants help each other in this.
• Other. There are a lot of them.