Who Benefits from Worm Farming

As seen on : The Benefits of Worm Farming

Worms have been a benefit to mankind and nature long before worm farming became well-known.  Worms provide food for other animals, help create and maintain healthy soil and plants, enhance gardening efforts, provide fish bait, and help teach our children about pets and other valuable lessons.

Worm farms are a part of natural science.  A nature museum or a zoo would benefit from a small worm farm as a display and to help feed the animals kept there, as well as keeping the scenery bright and fresh because of the benefits to the earth.  A petting zoo could make a worm farm part of their hands-on attraction.  You might start a worm farm as a science project with a class or with your own child.  It would also make a good FFA project.  A small gardening club may want to invest in worm farming. 

A person who raises birds could start a worm farm or buy from a worm farm to provide treats for their birds.  Pet shops could buy from worm farms to feed their fish or reptiles.  Parents could benefit from a worm farm as a way to teach their young children about recycling, their first pets, compassion, the natural food chain, gardening, and about business.

Worm farms are a way to help the economy by buying and selling.  They provide a useful service by increasing the health of soil, they provide a useful product, and they encourage equipment sales.  They increase the sales of the supplies needed to maintain the farms.  They provide an extra income for the seller as well as jobs for any workers needed on the bigger farms.

Catfish farms would benefit from worm farms by starting their own or buying from one for their fish food.  Fishermen benefit from worm farms by using natural resources to fish to help keep down the sales of artificial lures, which cause extra trash along and in rivers, lakes, and ponds.

People who run chicken houses would benefit from worm farms because of the large amounts of food the chickens need.

So, who benefits from worm farms?  We all can.  Even if you never touch a worm, you still eat vegetables or fruit that come from the plants produced in the soil that worms helped make healthy!  Gardeners have known the benefits for years because of the benefits to their compost piles and the results of their flower beds or vegetable gardens.

Worm farms can help a person open up conversations, which creates more acquaintances and possible friendships.  They can bring people together who are nature lovers, fishermen/women, gardeners, recyclers, teachers, and even business owners.

People can learn to respect the hard-working little worms even if they never quite get over their squeamish reactions to them.  Many worms are nature's friend.  For those who aren't squeamish, worms can even be an exotic treat.  They are well-known in other lands as a source of human food.  Then again, many of us found out as children taking dares that eating a worm is a fun way to gross out our peers!

Advertising Your Worm Farm

Image by nancybeetoo via FlickrAdvertising can be the most expensive part of many small businesses.  But without the proper advertisement, your business will struggle.  Although word of mouth is and will continue to be one of the best sources of advertising for a worm farm or any business or service, you must consider other options as well.

Air time for radio stations can be expensive, as can newspaper or magazine advertisements.  You may be limited in how often you can invest in either one.  Start-up costs can be demanding in any business.

The sign for your worm farm business should be colorful, easy to read, informative, large enough to readily notice, and in the right place to be seen easily.  Although a plain, small sign can still work, it is the bigger and more attractive one that will draw more interest.  Think about it from the consumer viewpoint.  If you saw a small, plain, black and white sign on one side of the street, and a big, colorful, sign on the other side of the street.......which one would be more likely to snag your interest?  You want to be welcoming to the public with your advertisement.

Another means of advertising your worm farm is flyers or bulletins.  Many people will make up a huge stack of them and place them on every car they see until they run out.  But you want to get the most out of every cent you invest in your advertising.  So, before you run out and start shoving those flyers under windshield wipers, consider placement.  Is the mom shopping with her two year old child in the toy store as likely to buy your fishing worms or your fertilizer as the person shopping in the hardware store or sports store?  Grocery stores, Laundromats, your local Wal Mart, convenience stores, and even large construction businesses may be better places to distribute your flyers.  You could ask store owners about posting your flyers in their windows.  Try the local video stores, flower shops, and so on. 

You could consider holding a demonstration about the benefits of your worm farm at the local library.  They have story times and guests visit during the summer months to entertain the children.  These children have parents and grandparents who garden and fish and own reptiles or birds who might need worms.  Be sure to hand out color pages or bookmarks or something similar with a small bit of information for your business, including your phone number.

Magnetic signs that attach to the sides of vehicles have become more popular in advertising.  There are thrift newspapers that have lower cost advertising.  A booth at your local farmer's market or in the local flea market may help get your worm farm noticeable with the public.

Make sure you check out your tax laws and your business license requirements for your area.  Even if you have your worm farm at your house, you may be required to get a permit to sell your worms or the things you are able to produce because of your worms (like the tea, compost, fertilizers, etc.).