Let’s Diversify: Small Business Ideas for Vacant Land
The Farm Business Innovation show is all about inspiring you with small business ideas for your land! Get a taste of the potential of your holding, right here...
In 2018 alone, 54 percent of farmers introduced a significant change to their land, and one-third of landowners said they were considering doing the same over the next year! This demonstrates that diversifying your land is no longer unique - it’s the next step to improving your livelihood, and boosting profits.
At the Farm Business Innovation Show, discover the array of opportunities your land offers. For a small taste of what you can expect to see, read on, and get your FREE tickets to meet the people who can bring these ideas to fruition.
On our blog site, we’ve already discussed numerous diversification ideas to think about. That said, there is still so much out there that you may have never thought of - check out this small business ideas list to get inspired...
Crafts and Skills
We’ll begin by discussing some of the more creative small business ideas. A lot of these ideas, above all, require passion and skill. Otherwise, your farm should already have a lot of the base equipment required, as well as the raw materials, like wood, milk, and crops, needed to take the ventures on, making it a great option.
Ironmongery, carpentry, and furniture restoration are some of the great ways you can utilise your equipment, and use up the wood your land offers. At the Farm Innovation Show, we’ll be welcoming a number of furniture restoration and carpentry companies, who could inspire you to take up a new skill, including:
- Quan Garden Art
- Unique Tables
- Core Lighting
- A P Leisure
- Blueprint Carpentry & Construction Ltd
- Green Mile Trees
Some other creative examples of ways to utilise what your farm offers, whilst boosting revenues too, includes:
- Cake making
- Making soaps or candles
- Floristry or wreath creation
- Weaving
- Wedding stationery
- Ice-cream making (Antonelli Bros Ltd. and RSS Hereford Ltd. are some of our exhibitors who already to this!)
Attending the Farm Business Innovation Show will allow you to meet companies who have branched out in this way themselves. They could also be the connections you need to take on some other new ventures, that we’ll go into now...
Health and Activities
Your land offers a large expanse of space, that could be utilised for all sorts of activities. For example, team building has always been a popular activity, for both schools, families, and groups of friends.
At the exhibition, a number of companies, including Blue Sky Experiences, will be showcasing their fantastic team-building ideas, for you to get inspired. They could be the ones to help you take the step to opening up your very own team building experience on your land!
Fresh Air Fitness will also be exhibiting, showing us how outdoor fitness classes and equipment can be utilised to draw in visitors, and boost profits. Think exercise, physio, massages, and so much more, to bring more customers through your doors.
Finally, the show will be welcoming Caddy Cars, who provide fun vehicles for getting from place to place across your land, as well as a number of children’s entertainment companies. These include Play Zest, Air Bouncers Ltd, Timber Play, who could all help you in designing your very own children’s play areas on your land.
Renewables and Environmental
Some small business ideas for small towns could include renewable energy. Your land offers up a lot of vacant space and, although renewable energy sources may be a large expense at first, they’ll make up the money in no time! This is because the energy generated from these sources can be sold to the national grid, as well as providing energy on your own land.
Some fantastic renewable energy ideas to diversify into, which our show can help you bring to life, include the following (we’ve also listed the relevant exhibitors alongside these ideas):
- Biomass
- Anaerobic digesters
- Wind turbines - FuturEnergy Ltd
- Solar energy - Intuitive Renewables, Public Power Solutions, Anesco
- Ground source heat pumps/geothermal energy - Hydratech, Kilfrost
- Energy/battery storage e.g. barns / containers - Energy Solutions, Immersa
- Hydropower
- Irrigation - AutoPot Global Ltd
Alternative Livestock and Crops
When you think of farmland, you think of wheat, barley, oats, milk, cheese, and eggs. These have always been the traditional farming methods, but your land offers so much more potential than these basic commodities.
Think bigger, at the Farm Business Innovation Show, whilst also not moving too far away from traditional farming methods! Some fantastic ideas for alternative livestock and crops include:
- Hemp growing
- Wine and beer
- Christmas tree growing
- Alternative feed for animals
- Seeds for scents and oils, like lavender and rapeseed
- Cut or growing flowers for drying, e.g. confetti
- Colourful vegetables like black garlic and purple carrots
- Goat, venison, wild boar, game produce, like meat, eggs, and milk
- Edible flowers and herbs for cooking
- Edible insects
- Bee keeping
- Vertical farming
- Container Farms - Kroptek, Premium Crops
- Beautiful crop fields, filled with plants like lavender and sunflowers, for visitors to take photos and model against
- Growing seasonal fruit, and opening up your land for fruit picking
On-Farm Events and Attractions
Some of the most successful small business ideas, which many of our Farm Innovation Show visitors have diversified into, are on-site events and attractions. These are a great way to use your land, as many of these ideas don’t require your plot all year round. Insead, you can open up your land to guests once a week, once a month, or even once a year, and reap the benefits!
Some of the top 10 small business ideas within this category include:
- Festival
- Wedding venue - Mar-Key Group
- Conference venue
- Children’s activities, like petting zoos
- Café, tearoom, restaurant, or bar
- Art gallery
- Craft centre
- Antiques / furniture - Dawson's Auctioneers
- Doggy day care, or a plant nursery - Bruce’s Doggy Day Care
- Outdoor cinema
Interested in These Small Business Ideas?
As you can see, the Farm Business Innovation Show, on 6th & 7th November at the NEC, Birmingham, will be welcoming hundreds of useful exhibitors to help you out. Whether it be a fantastic product to use on your land, or an amazing service to take inspiration from, the opportunities we offer for networking are truly unmissable.
If you’re looking to diversify your land, getting your FREE tickets to the show will give you the chance to meet the people who can take your business idea from start to finish. Don’t miss out, and get your tickets today. We’ll see you there!
