| New Strategies Add Markets, and Hoop Houses Stretch Production
One of the goals of the SIFT Farm in 2015 was to get into more markets to increase the profitability of the farm. The farm team explored market opportunities in a small city like Butte and identified a handful of direct and wholesale channels that might be open to buying local produce. One of our best new outlets for getting fresh produce from the SIFT Farm to Butte area residents turned out to be the Stodden Park Farmers Market, an Wednesday evening market in a mixed business and residential part of the city.>>more Season Extension at the SIFT Farm
The SIFT farm is situated in a high-elevation mountain valley and temperatures can fluctuate 50+ degrees in a given day. It is also not unusual to have a frost in almost every month of the year. Most plants do not perform well under these wide temperature fluctuations; thus, we are always experimenting with ways to lessen this gap and reduce the potential for frost killing our most vulnerable plants. >>more Scaling Up
Did you have an exceptionally good year on your small farm? Did demand for your crops outweigh your production? Are you thinking of scaling up your farm? Here on the SIFT farm, we aim to stay a small-scale farm (hence the name SIFT, meaning Small-Scale Intensive Farm Training), but even with this goal in mind, there are various ways that we have slowly worked on scaling up.>>more Selling to Grocery Stores and Restaurants
This year on the SIFT farm, we have had the awesome opportunity to sell to a local grocery store, as well as to a local distillery. Whether you are thinking of scaling up, or are just interested in different opportunities for selling your produce, grocery stores and restaurants are a good direct-marketing avenue to consider.>>more | 
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