A Deep Dive Into Profitable Market Gardening

• John McCormick on marketing: “You’ve got to create windows to the world to allow those who want to buy organic to know you’re there.”
• To scale up you have to have the customers. Direct marketing is key – to take the retail share of the value.
• You have to be a good grower, firstly. Be ruthless about quality control. It is very easy to lose customers, and the quickest way to gain customers is through good produce.
• Chris Dobbs says that changing to a digital platform which organises his veg box orders, picking list, deliveries etc, has been a game-changer.
• John speaks about the importance of sleeping well (at least 8 hours per night) and eating well. Face your fears – create small spaces to exhale (physically and mentally) “approach the events of life with a quiet mind.”
• The clay soils of Northern Ireland can be a challenge for growing vegetables. Timeliness of cultivations is key – you need to be patient.
• Don’t be dogmatic about no-dig – though it can work on a small-scale (up to an acre) there can be soil structure problems on heavy soils, and the use of plastics can raise your carbon footprint compared to a small amount of fuel for cultivations.
• It’s all about the soil. John says “I farm worms with veg as a by-product.” Look after the soil and the soil will look after you…“We’ve been ploughing and growing vegetables in a rotation for 34 years and our soil is still producing really good vegetables. So we must be doing something right.”

View other recordings from Fields Good 2025 here.