Part 1 | Four Challenges for New Farmers | Length 17:11 Eric outlines the four main challenges that new farmers typically face: access to land, soil health, knowledge building, and connecting to markets. He then shares how no-till methods and direct marketing can help small-scale farm enterprises.

Part 2 | What to Grow and How to Sell It | Length 21:49 Eric describes how he and his farm co-owners evaluated their 2020 growing season in their diversified vegetable operation, followed by a discussion on the farm’s multi-channeled marketing strategy, including online sales and participation in St. Joseph Mercy Ann Arbor’s multi-farm CSA.

Part 1 | Why Seeds? Why No-till? | Length 26:01 Eric describes his career transition into farming and why he chose seed cultivation to start. He details his transition into no-till practices as a way to reduce costs, mitigate risks, and improve crop performance, and how he and his fellow farmers at Green Things Farm Collective are scaling up.

Part 2 | Better Together | Length 14:49 What’s it take to build a farm operation based on a partnership model? Short answer: Trust. What are the tradeoffs, challenges and potential advantages? Eric discusses how and why he and his farmer co-owners came together to merge three different farms into one business entity.

Part 3 | Community is Key | Length 11:53 Community is essential to successful small farm operations, from knowledge sharing and networking to marketing. Eric describes the role of community in his own farming experience, and the ways Green Things Farm Collective overcame the challenges of 2020 to meet a surge in demand.