👩‍🌾 Urban Farming: the trend no one is talking about

GM and welcome to the latest edition of "Work After Work". Your go-to source for business trends and insights. You know what they say, "One newsletter a day keeps the doctor away."

Dr. FQ that is

It's Friday, let's boogie:

• 👩‍🌾 Urban and rooftop farming

• 😂 Meme of the day

HOW TO MAKE IT RAIN ON FOOD DESERTS

This week, we're excited to explore the growing trend of urban and rooftop farming. With more and more people living in cities and urban areas, there is a growing demand for fresh, locally-grown produce and sustainable food options.

"What is urban and rooftop farming?" It's where people use small spaces, such as rooftops, balconies, and community gardens, to grow their own fruits, vegetables, and herbs. Like this:

One of the main reasons for the increasing popularity of this trend are food deserts - areas where it is difficult to buy healthy or nutritious food at an affordable price.

You may be thinking "Can’t people just travel a little further to get their food?" And the answer is: not exactly.

Since these food deserts usually occur in impoverished communities that means low access to transport.

If this is your first time hearing about food deserts - they're more common than you may think especially in big cities like Chicago.

Chicago has 22 communities officially declared as food deserts with 500,000 people living in an official food desert and 400,000 people who only have access to fast food restaurants and no access to high quality grocery stores (leading to obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease).

Remember when Covid hit? Finding toilet paper was more difficult than finding a pair of matching socks.

Let’s be honest, this is how we all looked at the grocery store during the pandemic - at least I did!

When the toilet paper roll aisles were completely empty it made everyone realize just how dependent we were on our supply chain.

For this reason, it’s no surprise the interest in home-grown vegetables and fruits is increasing.

Source: Google Trends

Here are two interesting businesses you can build from this trend:

1. A rooftop farming business

If you have access to a rooftop or other suitable space in an urban area, you can start a business that grows and sells fresh produce to local customers.

You can grow fruits, vegetables, or herbs, and sell them directly to customers at farmers markets or through a community-supported agriculture (CSA) program.

If you have an unutilized space aka: your balcony, you might as well grow healthy foods and get paid for it. Plus, you're helping the community - who can beat that?!

I know a family that rakes in ~$1,000 every time they go to the farmers market, and they sell salsa. Don't sleep on farmers markets!

2. Urban farming education and consulting business

Another way to profit from this trend of urban farming is to offer education and consulting services to people who want to start their own urban farms.

You can create a website, online course, or YouTube channel that teaches people the basics of urban farming and offer consulting services to help them plan and set up their own gardens.

You can also offer resources, such as seedlings, soil, and gardening tools, to help people get started.

MEME OF THE DAY

gotchya 😂😂 now that's two punches

That's all I got for ya today folks! Enjoy the weekend!

DISCLAIMER: None of this is financial advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. Please be careful and do your own research.