Cut flowers can be one of the most lucrative crops on a small farm, but building an efficient and financially sustainable farm can be a challenge when trying to grow every available crop and sell through every channel. Lennie Larkin’s forthcoming book from Chelsea Green: Flower Farming For Profit, teaches new and aspiring flower farmers how to strategically build the business behind the blooms. This presentation will focus on methods for increasing profitability in cut flower operations, starting with data-driven crop planning. Lennie will share the methodology and some results from her cut flower crop cost of production research with ten small farms, funded through Western SARE, and share actionable strategies for getting in touch with your own cost of production. She’ll be joined by two of the project’s farmers.

Equal parts flower farmers and educators, B-Side Farm and Floral Design is an Oregon flower farm and education hub started by Lennie Larkin. B-Side Flower Farm grows unique flowers and designs wild, artful bouquets and hosts floral workshops and farm dinners. Lennie also works with new farmers on their business skills and in this session, she will provide an overview of how to evaluate a cut flower operation for profitability. Attendees will leave with new ideas and strategies to apply to their own farms.

I presented the keynote at the 2023 Slow Flowers Summit in Seattle.