Do you want to start an organic food business with low investment? If YES, here are 50 best organic food business ideas to start from home with no money.
The term organic refers to the way agricultural products are grown and processed. With organic regulations varying from country to country, the united states has it that organic crops must be grown without the use of synthetic pesticides, bioengineered genes (GMOs), petroleum-based fertilizers, and sewage sludge-based fertilizers.
Organic livestock that are to be raised for meat, eggs, and dairy products must have access to the outdoors and be given organic feed. Additionally, they may not be given antibiotics, growth hormones, or any animal by-products.
Why Start an Organic Food Business?
The organic food industry is one of the fastest growing sectors of US agriculture. Consumer demand for organic food has continued to grow at a steady pace of 20% or more annually since the 1990s. About 73% of conventional grocery stores and 100% of natural food stores carry organic products, accounting for approximately 2.5% of total food sales in the United States.
It has been discovered that of recent, the demand for organic produce is increasing faster than supply, resulting in expanding trade gaps between imports and exports. The organic sector of the US agricultural system is demanding increased attention from producers, retailers, consumers, and policy makers interested in environmental and health issues within the food system.
The organic food production sector is getting increasingly popular and profitable. If you want to be part of this sector, here are 50 organic food business ideas that can kick-start you in this niche.
Best Organic Food Business ideas
-
Start an organic farm
Organic farming is a safe and healthy method of growing agricultural produce. Organic farmers use sustainable techniques to produce nutrient dense farm produce while conserving soil and water at the same time. Farming practices include using natural fertilizers to maintain soil fertility, using crop rotation, green manure, organic waste, biological pest control, and mineral and rock additives.
One of the most popular ways you can get into the organic agriculture business is to grow organic produce. Because organic farm produce are highly valued, you would make a lot of profits after each harvest.
Organic dairy production is a system of farm design and management practices for producing milk, yogurt, cheese, cream and other dairy products without the use of pesticides, synthetic fertilizers or antibiotics. This then means that the cows that would produce the milk would only be fed organically certified forages and grains with vitamins and minerals, in addition to pasture during the grazing season.
Additionally, the cows would not be treated with artificial growth hormones or antibiotics. People value organic dairy products, so you would not want for market for your products.
-
Start an organic farm to table restaurant
Farm-to-table, which may in some cases be called farm-to-school, is a social movement which promotes serving local food at restaurants and school cafeterias, preferably through direct acquisition from the producer. People always love to eat very fresh food items that are just coming straight from the farm.
You can start an organic farm to table restaurant where you get to serve meals made from only organic farm produce. This kind of restaurant would be naturally more expensive than a non-organic restaurant.
-
Start an organic farmers market
A farmers market is a physical retail marketplace intended to sell foods directly by farmers to consumers. You can bring together vendors who offer a wide variety of locally produced organic vegetables, fruits, beef, dairy products, grains, and baked goods.
This is one profitable organic related business idea, and you can charge the farmers token fees for using your space. You have to however ensure that you admit only certified organic farmers offering farm fresh organic produce.
-
Run a livestock organic feed production plant
Livestock that are produced under organic management are mandated to have their total ration that is comprised of agricultural products including pasture, forage, and crops that are organically produced and handled.
Being that it might be difficult for some farmers to access large quantities of organic food for their livestock, you can start producing organic livestock feed to complement demand, but you have to make sure that your feed meet up with established standards of organic feed production.
-
Manufacture Organic Bath and Body Products
With the huge awareness of the dangers of using synthetic body products and creams laced with artificial hormones, people are increasingly turning to organic body care products. You can start an organic bath and body care product range.
You can also grow various plants like lavender and aloe to add to the bath and body products that you can then sell, though this is not a must as you can always access these raw materials from reputable organic retailers.
-
Make and sell organic cleaning products
Cleaning products can be full of toxic chemicals that affect the health of both humans and pets. Because of this knowledge, people are now turning to natural cleaning products that are devoid of chemicals. You can start making cleaning products from natural, vegetable sources that would contain no chemicals.
You can make toilet and bathroom cleaning products, anti-bacterial spray cleaners for kitchen worktops, bathroom tiles, windowsills and just about anywhere else in the house. You can also start on a small scale by using organic items like lemon juice or olive oil to create natural cleaning products that appeal to health and eco-conscious families.
-
Start an organic supplement production business
It is believed that certified organic vitamins and dietary supplements provide important nutrients in their natural form. This belief is the reason for the high profitability of the organic supplement market in recent time. You should make sure to utilize ingredients, materials and manufacturing methods that are environmentally responsible, sustainable and safe for consumers. You can manufacture capsules, softgels, liquids, pill, powders, tablets etc.
Organic juices and smoothies are the rave today for health and wellness conscious people. They are believed to contain an abundance of vitamins, minerals, enzymes, phytonutrients and antioxidants that increase the micro-electric potential of the cells.
If you want to start a business in the organic range, you can start an organic fruit and vegetable juice production business.
-
Start an organic gardening service
If you are looking to start a service business, you could offer gardening services to people who want to grow their own vegetables or other plants without the use of unnatural materials.
With people now transitioning to eating organic farm produce, they would naturally want to have organic vegetables, fruits and herbs in their gardens. If you are quite knowledgeable with organic farming, you can start a business that helps people set up their organic gardens.
These days, it seems like everyone is jumping on the organic bandwagon, and for the savvy entrepreneur, this is a good opportunity to start a business.
Among other businesses, you can decide to start and organic food truck vending business. Starting a food truck is one of the best ways to enter the organic food industry because of the low risk and investment. You can offer wedding, production, festivals and even private catering.
-
Become an organic farm consultant or inspector
Organic farming is cultivation of crops without chemical fertilizer and chemical pesticides. As an organic farm consultant, you should be qualified to provide advice on best practices for certifying organic operators. You can as well become an inspection agent on behalf of certifying bodies in your city or state.
Note that you would need to have some certifications and a lot of experience before you are qualified to be an organic farm consultant or inspector.
An organic home delivery service is another organic related business you can start and make good profits from. If you have the right connections, you can start a business that partners with hundreds of local farmers and artisans to deliver fresh, organic produce, farm-fresh milk and dairy foods, humanely raised meats and chicken, sustainable fish and seafood and more local, natural foods to the doorstep of people. To further maximize this niche, you can start an organic food subscription service.
If you are a chef, there this is still a viable business in the organic line. You can prepare and deliver organic, gluten-free, fresh, and ready to eat meals directly to people’s doorsteps without waiting for them to come to you.
To succeed in this business, you should be passionate about using the very best all-natural ingredients to make sure your meals always taste fresh. You can package your meals in microwave and oven safe containers so that your customers have the convenience of eating them whenever they want.
-
Write an organic cook book
According to the anti-cancer society, eating organic foods is by far one of the most important things a person can do to reduce exposure to toxic chemicals, herbicides, pesticides, antibiotics, colorings and waxes all of which have negative impact on healthy immunity, brain function while increasing the risk of diseases such as multiple sclerosis and many cancers.
Because of this, many people are embracing organic eating, but not many know how to prepare organic meals to maximize the nutrients in them. You can start writing organic cookbooks that teach people how to prepare various organic meals.
-
Make and sell organic snacks
Snacking is a bad habit that people have grown used to but what makes it worse is that finding healthy snacks is really hard. Nearly every snack in the supermarket is made from artificial flavors, additives, colors, GMOs and more.
You can take advantage of this need to start making and selling organic snacks. You should make sure to sell healthy certified-organic snacks that are free of GMO ingredients so that you can easily gain the trust of people. You can market your snacks in your local Supermarket and grocery stores.
Meat is very important in every diet as a lot of people cannot do without it, even those who have gone organic. With consumers always looking for healthier alternatives to everything, you can start an organic livestock farm. You could start a livestock farm where you also use natural materials and processes to raise your livestock.
There’s some debate about how organic farmed fish can really be. But you can stay away from pesticides and artificial hormones and follow the guidelines from the USDA for organic seafood farming.
-
Become an Organic Grocery Wholesaler
Whether you grow one type of organic food item or have a whole farm, one option for selling those items is to be a wholesaler for large chains like Whole Foods or WalMart. You can become the go between for the farmers and retailers.
-
Start an Organic Market
If you live in a farming community where you can readily access organic farmers, you could open up your own organic food market where you sell organic items directly to consumers. You can start with a small roadside market and you can advance to bigger markets when your business grows.
-
Start a Niche Organic Store
Instead of opening a store that sells all things organic, you can set up a store that sells particular organic products or produce that appeals to you and is well accepted in your community. You can set up a specific niche like an organic tea and coffee shop, spice and sauce store or a health food store that sells organic Mediterranean inspired options. This business is very good for a self-starter who has very little startup capital.
-
Start a Roadside Farm Stand
If you have a small farm, you could also sell your products directly to consumers with a roadside farm stand that you can set up during busy seasons. This small business idea would enable farmer sell their produce at a price they see fit, and it would stop them from entrusting their produce in the hands of middlemen for distribution.
-
Farmers Market Vending
If you are an organic farmer, you can choose to sell your produce by yourself instead of using middlemen. To do this, you can rent a space in a farmers market. There are also plenty of farmers markets around the country that you can rent space from to sell your organic foods.
-
Start growing organic herbs
If you have a smaller space to work with, you can grow herbs and package them for sale to consumers or retail outlets. If you do not have the ability to grow your own herbs, you can retail herbs grown by other farmers.
-
Start canning organic produce
If you grow fruits or vegetables organically, you could create jams, salsas or other products that you can package in cans or jars to sell online or in stores. This is a way to preserve your produce and as well get people to notice your brand. Having a good marketing strategy would serve your purposes very well in this.
-
Organic Baby Food Sales
Not only adults get to benefit from the health benefits of organic produce, babies get to benefit too. To profit from this not-so-popular niche, you can start a line of baby products that are made from organic farm produce. You can sell these to health conscious parents who would gladly buy from you.
-
Organic Dog Food Sales
A lot of pet parents are really conscious of what they give to their pets, and they would rather give them organic than synthetic pet foods. You can start using organic meat, fish and other produce to make dog or cat food or treats to sell in specialty pet stores or even online.
-
Organic Compost Sales
A lot of organic farms regularly need organic compost for their farms. You can start a business of supplying them with organic compost and fertilizers. You can also collect the leftover organic foods from organic restaurants, farmers and supermarkets etc. and make them into organic compost.
Once you have gotten your organic materials properly composted, you can now sell them to organic farmers. For you to maintain your business integrity over a long period of time, you have to ensure that your organic compost is 100 percent organic.
-
Start an organic Urban Rooftop Garden
Whether on one-story structures or on skyscrapers, rooftop gardens are the ideal solutions for farmers who have no farming space. Rooftops provide private worlds in which people can grow plants and escape the bustle of city life.
All this, of course, is made possible with soil brought in and carried to the top of the building for the pots and boxes that comprise the rooftop garden. You could utilize this method to start an urban garden on a rooftop and then sell the resultant fruits and vegetables to visitors or nearby businesses.
-
Start brewing organic beer
Yes, beer can be made with organic produce; some people have already started working on this niche. According to the Organic Trade Association, organic beers grew from $9 mil-lion in 2003 to $19 million in 2005, and the segment is still growing.
If you have a craft brewery, you can start using organic produce to manufacturer your beer. You would definitely get a lot of health conscious patrons.
-
Start making and selling organic candy
Candy making is also another niche in the organic industry. It is a fact that a lot of people cannot do without candies, and what is more, children would always love their candies. You can make nutrient dense candies from organic produce that is much more nutritious than the normal candies in stores. You can sell your candies in organic health stores.
-
Start selling organic condiments
Food condiments have also gone organic. You can take advantage of the ever increasing health conscious consumer base and start selling organic condiments. You can grow your own herbs to make sure that what you are marketing is truly organic, then you can harvest your herbs and make them into condiments. Organic food stores are where you can sell your products.
A food bank is a non-profit, charitable organization that distributes food to those who have difficulty purchasing enough food to avoid hunger. Instead of sending leftover organic foods to landfills, an environmentally friendly way of dealing with food items that are in a good condition is to donate them to food banks or charities prior to their expiry dates.
Food banks are usually started as nonprofit organizations. Here, you get to contact organic stores and food vendors telling them that you are available to receive unsold foods from them. After collection, these foods are typically sold very cheap to consumers, and sometimes they are given away.
-
Start an online organic produce sale
Starting an online store is a good way to market your online produce. First, you need to get an SEO optimized website. The second step is to create and distribute a catalog featuring all the organically grown food products that the business sells and delivers.
Additionally, be sure to develop a website that lets clients place food orders online. You may also consider accepting food orders via e-mail and fax. The profit potential for a business that sells and delivers organically grown fruits and vegetables is outstanding as the products can be marked up by 30 to 40 percent.
-
Start an organic aquaponic garden
The simplest definition of Aquaponics is that it is the combination of aquaculture (raising fish) and hydroponics (the soil-less growing of plants). This basically means growing fish and plants together in one integrated system.
Here, solid fish waste is turned into vermicompost that is used to provide food for the plants. Aquaponics is a revolutionary system for growing plants and you utilize this method to produce your organic plants and sea food such as such as snails, fish, crayfish or prawns.
The skin absorbs whatever product that is put on them, and that’s why people easily develop skin cancer because of all the carcinogenic ingredients in creams. This is why a lot of people are now switching to organic skin products. You can start retailing skin-friendly cleansers; pure, natural supplements; and gentle, cruelty-free body care products.
An organic bakery is a profitable niche in the organic industry. With people loving their breakfast pastries and desserts, you would never go wrong with this business. You can start one in your neighborhood, but if you cannot afford a full bakery yet, you can bake in your home and send your products to an organic store, or you can sell to neighbours.
-
Start an organic cafe
Organic coffee is coffee produced without the aid of artificial chemical substances such as certain additives or some pesticides and herbicides. Organic cafés are popping up all over, and you too can start your own.
-
Start an organic food subscription service
Subscription services have become popular for both children and adults. Subscription boxes are becoming great gift options for friends and family, but they are also becoming a great way for people to try new products – even organic food. To ease into the organic food niche, you can start an organic subscription box.
To start off, you need to get a website with good following, then you pick what you are going to be delivering. You can choose to deliver snacks, vegetarian diets, organically produced meat, dairy products, fruits and vegetables. You need to equally have different sizes of boxes so as to satisfy different tastes.
-
Retail organic breakfast cereals
Breakfast cereals do come in organic versions, and since it’ll take a lot of capital to start producing breakfast cereals, you can start retailing organic breakfast cereals. You can target families that buy organic produce and sell them your cereals.
With the improvement of living standard, people pay more and more attention to their health, and the organic food industry has presented a flourishing situation.
Even though a lot of people want organic food, but it is a fact that not all areas produce enough organic food to satisfy their citizens. If you are an entrepreneur, you can start importing or exporting organic food produce to ensure that they go round to everyone that wants them.
-
Start an Organic training center
Quite a lot of people are looking for where to learn the basics of organic farming. If you have a lot of knowledge in this, you can start an organic farming training center to provide a robust learning platform for those who are committed to owning their own farm business.
You can teach your students through a mix of lectures, readings, written assignments, hands-on demonstrations, hands-on activities, farm walks, and visits to other farms that build participants’ knowledge and understanding of organic farming principles and practices.
-
Start an organic food blog
Organic farming has a lot of aspects, and the niche as it concerns business just keeps growing. If you are an expert, you can start blogging about organic farming and the businesses inherent in it.
You must ensure that you are consistent with your blog, and be sure to do a lot of research so as to bring your readers constant updates. If you build your blog to start getting the required followership, you can start running affiliate marketing of organic products in it.
-
Organic Restaurant Wholesaler
For businesses that want to sell organic foods on a wholesale basis, you could actually sell right to restaurants rather than retail stores. Another option would be for you to grow food on a rooftop or nearby farm and then use those organic items in a farm to table restaurant menu.
Vermicomposting is basically the rearing of worms to use in composting. If you are quite familiar with the ways of these tiny earth savers, then you could start a side business rearing the worms. You can sell your compost and your worms to gardeners and fishermen.
Compost, especially organic compost, is really expensive to buy in home improvement stores. Your neighborhood gardeners would love to get the compost off your hands too for their gardens. You could also hold classes in order to teach others how to get into vermicomposting.
With a lot of people looking for healthy body products, organic soap making is really the way to go for business. Making soap isn’t as hard as a lot of people think, and the great thing homemade soap is that you can make it really unique. For example, you can make goat’s milk soaps, organic soaps, herbal soaps, aromatherapy soaps etc.
You can sell your homemade soaps at farmers’ markets, crafts fairs, and online through marketplaces like Etsy and eBay.
Did you know that traditional candles often release harsh or even toxic chemicals into the air? Soy and beeswax candles are natural, especially when they are scented with essential oils. They also burn slower and purer than paraffin wax, and they don’t leave any smoke residue on your walls or in your ventilation system.
If you love candles, then making soy or beeswax candles could be a fun way to earn some extra cash on the side. You can sell your candles online at Etsy or eBay, or at your local farmers’ market.
-
Become an organic/non-toxic makeup maker or seller
Because of how in demand these products are, quite a number of people have started their own non-toxic makeup lines. Many people go this route because they haven’t found anything in the make-up market that works for them. They start small, making batches of products out of their kitchens, and sell online or via word of mouth until they get more product demand.
If you want to sell safe organic makeup but not make it yourself, consider working as a sales agent for a company like BeautyCounter.
Businesses that are into the organic food business are always having organic wastes in their hands which they usually don’t know how to deal with. Cafes have coffee grounds, breweries have spent grain, restaurants have food waste etc. Being that a lot of other businesses utilize these wastes, you can start lifting these wastes and distributing them to businesses that need them.
If you play your cards well, you can charge your fees at both ends, that is you can charge a fee for lifting the waste out of the hands of the producers, and charge the users a fee for the service.
-
Start an organic agriculture research institute
Organic agriculture research institutes work together with farmers to develop innovative and cost-effective solutions to boost agricultural productivity while never losing sight of environmental, health and socio-economic impacts. If you have the capital and wherewithal, you can start a research institute with the aim of advancing cutting-edge science in the field of organic agriculture.