Farm diversification: 6 ways to tap into new income streams
18th August 2025
When accounting for inflation, the average UK farmer’s income has remained stagnant since the 1970s.
Cheaper food prices (largely fuelled by competitive supermarkets) and a rise in people eating ultra-processed foods have made it increasingly hard to earn a stable income from what you grow.
Fortunately though, selling your food to third parties isn’t the only way to earn a living wage.
Farm diversification is a smart strategy to tap into new income streams, making the most of the land you have and what you grow on it. Get inspired with these ideas from SumUp for clever diversification in farming.
1. Start producing value-added products
Value-added products turn what you harvest into more expensive goods (sometimes with a longer shelf life, too).
By creating your own value-added products, you cut out the middleman to become your own processor and, potentially, retailer, while boosting the price of your raw agricultural ingredients.
This is a particularly smart idea if you have an off-season period, when nothing’s ready to harvest and your income drops.
By preparing products in advance, you can continue selling during these weeks or months, maintaining a steadier cash flow throughout the year.
For instance, you might grow cherries at your farm. By turning a portion of your harvest into jams, sauces, and cherry wine, you could see your financial return on the crop increase.
These products also have a long shelf life, so you can continue selling them long after the other cherries are picked, sold, and eaten.
2. Sell directly to customers
It’s well-known that supermarkets don’t pay well for the products that farmers produce. Often, selling directly to customers can increase your income while providing a space to tap into new income streams.
For example, you could get a table at a farmer’s market. Alongside your raw produce, you might sell homemade cakes and jams, as well as skincare products infused with your farm-grown lavender. You could also add a coffee machine to your stand, selling high-margin hot drinks to boost your income.
Get ready to sell directly to customers by making sure you have branded packaging, the proper licences in place to become a food vendor, and a payment terminal to take in-person card payments.
There are also online routes to selling directly to your customers. You could create your own website, for instance, with local delivery.
There are also platforms like CrowdFarming, which reports that 90% of farmers see an increase in margins when selling directly to customers through their website.
3. Host educational tours and school trips
We’ve already explored glamping as a form of farm diversification, but there are plenty of other branches of agritourism to explore.
You could cash in on visiting guests, for example, by hosting educational tours and school field trips.
Consider developing a tour for children that takes them through your farm, looking at how you take care of your animals.
Hands-on interactions, like feeding the lambs and collecting chicken eggs, would give your experience a competitive edge and create a unique, exciting trip for the kids.
Once your guests are at your farm, maximise this new income stream with an on-site cafe and gift shop.
Use these as opportunities to sell your raw goods and value-added products, and highlight other tours or workshops.
4. Rent out your equipment
Farm machinery is often in demand. When your tractors, combine harvesters, and diggers aren’t in use, consider renting them out for a fee.
This doesn’t have to be solely to other farmers, either. Post drivers, for instance, can be used by a variety of industries, including construction crews, landscapers, and fencing contractors.
Small-scale builders might also rent your skid steers or trenchers for one-off projects.
Your tractors, too, could be an untapped income stream for events. From proms to weddings, you might find there’s an audience who are willing to pay a good price to rent your tractors.
Why not offer to drive them, too, and keep a close eye on your equipment while boosting your farm’s profits.
5. Sell wonky veg subscription boxes
Almost 80% of UK shoppers are willing to purchase imperfect fruit or veg. The issue for farmers is that many of the middlemen, including supermarkets, won’t say yes to wonky carrots and oddly-shaped apples. But there’s a clear market here that you could tap into.
One method of selling wonky veg is to offer discounted boxes on a subscription basis. This provides your customers with a cheaper way to buy fruits and vegetables directly from the farmer, with the added convenience that it’s delivered to their door on a regular basis.
For farmers, you reduce the amount of produce you throw away while establishing a regular cash flow.
The subscription model encourages repeat orders, too, helping you build a loyal customer base that supports your farm week after week.
You can tailor boxes by season, size, or dietary preference, and even include recipe cards or occasional value-added products like homemade preserves or chutneys. Promote your box through social media, your own website, or at local community events.
6. Create a woodland
The government want to support the creation of new woodlands in England, and is offering great incentives to do so.
Under the England Woodland Creation Offer, you could receive up to £10,200 per hectare of new woodland created, as well as further payments for projects that benefit society, the environment, and nature recovery.
In terms of an income stream, the agricultural diversification of a new woodland is a hub of potential, with ideas including:
- Earning money from selling sustainably felled firewood
- Turning your farming skills to foraging and selling wild mushrooms, garlic, and berries
- Growing and selling Christmas trees
- Renting out areas of the woodland for events, like weddings
- Incorporating your woodland into your farm tours and workshops.
You can also use your woodland to highlight your farm’s sustainability, giving you a unique selling point (USP) to boost your brand image and entice new customers to your gates.
Final thoughts
Staying financially afloat as a farmer isn’t always easy, but there are solutions out there.
Hopefully, this article has tapped into your business-savvy side and inspired a few new ideas to turn your farm into a profitable and future-proof income stream.
