Business all year round: industrial cultivation of cucumbers in a greenhouse. Growing cucumbers in a greenhouse as a business

Growing cucumbers is a fairly profitable business, but it is expensive and labor-intensive. Although the demand for this product does not fall all year round. As with any endeavor, you will need to draw up a business plan for growing cucumbers in a greenhouse. Let's look at an example for reference, but every novice entrepreneur needs his own plan in accordance with his capabilities.

Features of the activity

Growing cucumbers as a business has excellent prospects. Although prices drop in the summer and competition increases, in winter, on the contrary, the price of cucumbers in many regions becomes more than 200 rubles per kilogram.

Advantages of growing cucumbers in a greenhouse:

• Russian buyers try to choose domestically produced products.
• Modern greenhouses have a long service life.
• To grow this product you do not need to know any special technologies.
• A small area is enough to install a greenhouse. On 5 acres of land you can get a harvest of 37 tons annually.
• Cucumbers can be grown year-round if the conditions are correct indoors.

Registration

When planning to grow cucumbers and greenhouses, you should first decide on the registration form. An entrepreneur has the opportunity to choose one of three options:

• Personal subsidiary farming is an ideal option for a novice entrepreneur. Although private household plots are not considered a business activity, it does not prohibit the sale of products of its own production and is not exempt from taxes. To register it, you do not need to collect a lot of documents; it is enough to have a plot of land of no more than 2 hectares in lease or ownership and contact the local administration for a certificate of the availability of this land plot.
• has a more complex registration process, but with this registration form it is more realistic to find wholesale buyers.
• has the same scheme as private household plots, but is suitable if there are several co-founders of the business.

Equipment

First of all, this is a greenhouse. When planning a greenhouse business on cucumbers and drawing up a business plan, you need to decide on the choice of the greenhouse itself. There are several options:

You also need to take care of heating the air and soil. If a business plan for growing cucumbers involves producing vegetables all year round, then you need to pay attention to specialized equipment. To maintain the temperature inside the greenhouse, boilers that can operate on solid or gaseous fuel are suitable. It is not economically feasible to use electricity.

To heat the soil, there are specialized systems that are similar in design and operating principle to heated floors. They, unlike other heating methods, do not harm plants.

Lighting must be provided at least 12 hours a day. Even in a greenhouse, plants will not have enough natural light, so additional artificial light should be created. Ordinary incandescent lamps will not work - you need to buy LED lamps.

The last condition for the normal growth of vegetables is careful care. Given the large scale of production, it is necessary to take care of an automatic or semi-automatic irrigation system. You can do without it, but manual watering is a labor-intensive and ineffective process.

Sales market

This needs to be thought out in advance at the stage when a business plan for growing cucumbers will be planned. Your business will bring in approximately three tons of finished products per month (with a land plot of five acres). Accordingly, such a large volume of products will need to be sold immediately, since the goods are perishable.

There are several options for selling cucumbers:

• Retail Stores;
• Network shops;
• wholesale warehouses;
• city ​​markets;
• canning factories.

The most profitable option for an entrepreneur is a retail store or local market. You can also sell your products yourself if you rent a retail space on the market, which will significantly increase your profits.

Financial plan

• construction of a greenhouse – 640,000;
• ground heating system – 121000;
• heating of greenhouses – 70,000;
• lighting – 570,000;
• irrigation system – 30,000;
• other expenses for the purchase of seeds and fertilizers - 150,000.

The approximate amount of starting capital is 1,581,000 rubles. This does not include the costs of renting or purchasing land. Also, the amount may vary significantly depending on the region.

Growing cucumbers is a business that will not bring profit immediately, but already in the second year you will understand that you were not mistaken. Cucumbers are a popular and out-of-season product; everyone buys them at any time of the year. With a small financial investment and basic skills, you can make good money.

• Business: agribusiness, investments from 62,000 rubles, payback from 14 months, minimum area from 10,000 m²
• Business area: production

The demand for fresh vegetables is stable and does not depend on the season. Given the opportunity to choose, buyers prefer domestic products, considering them to be of higher quality. Year-round cultivation of cucumbers is, of course, a profitable type of business, but to make a profit you need a balanced and serious approach to business.

You can grow cucumbers in open ground, but then the profit will depend on weather conditions, pest attacks, diseases and other unfavorable facts. The culture is unpretentious, but the cucumber farm requires attention and care.

Land plot

You can set up a “plantation” in a country house or on a personal plot, but in this case there is no talk of a large harvest and business.

To organize a business, you need to rent or buy land in a place with running water, electricity and gas. These benefits of civilization are necessary for growing cucumbers indoors. A good harvest can be achieved by planting cucumbers in fertilized soil and providing the desired temperature and humidity. You will spend money on building a greenhouse, but will avoid the influence of natural surprises in the form of drought, prolonged rains, hail, etc. In addition, you can grow vegetables in a greenhouse all year round, and winter prices are much higher than summer ones.

Cucumber seeds are immersed 3 cm into grooves in the soil, maintaining a distance between plants of 12-15 cm. The plants will curl, they need to create conditions in the form of twines stretched between the trellises.

Greenhouse vegetables are rarely damaged by diseases and pests, but preventive measures will not hurt - include the purchase of herbicides and fungicides in your budget.

Greenhouse

The best way to get a reliable greenhouse is to buy a ready-made polycarbonate structure, in which everything is taken into account: lighting, ease of installation, watering, etc. You will need to use the instructions and connect the heating and lighting, try to use energy-saving technologies.

Planting material

High-quality seeds can be purchased from breeding companies or from trusted suppliers. Foreign companies offer seeds in beautiful packaging, but cucumbers may not sprout due to climatic differences. Give preference to local planting material of well-known varieties or reliable F1 hybrids.

For farming, seeds will have to be purchased in batches. Allow about 1,500-1,700 rubles for this expense item.

Fertilizers

Before planting, the soil is fertilized with compost and humus, and afterwards with superphosphate and potassium sulfate. Cucumbers quickly respond to the application of fertilizers to the soil; productivity increases due to rapid growth and an increase in the number of fruits on each plant. Large areas will have to be processed using technology.

Watering

Cucumbers do not tolerate drought, but excess moisture is also detrimental to them. Provide regular and moderate watering to get a tasty harvest - if there is not enough water, the cucumbers will taste bitter. Install automatic watering in the greenhouse, which can be controlled using a remote control. Modern irrigation systems provide a micro-dripper for each plant. A hectare of land requires 300 cubic meters of water.

Harvesting

In a greenhouse, the harvest is harvested all year round, so there is no point in comparing it with what can be obtained in open ground. You will sell winter vegetables at a higher price than summer ones.

Cucumbers ripen 50 days after flowering; they can be collected manually or using machinery (POU-2, PNSSH-12, UPNS-10, TNA-40). The harvest is sorted: cucumbers 14-25 cm long are sold fresh, while small ones are suitable for canning.

Staff

You can handle one greenhouse on your own, but if you expand your land, you will need help. For example, in a greenhouse with an area of ​​1 hectare, a technologist and 3 workers must work.

Implementation

You can sell your harvest through retail outlets or to enterprises that produce canned food, catering, etc. Another acceptable way to wholesale crops is through agricultural exchanges. The price of cucumbers depends on the season, the fullness of the market and the quality of the product.

Documentation

To start a business, you should complete the paperwork; in this case, you can choose from several types of business activities:

1. Subsidiary farm. You need to pay personal income tax, but subsidiary farms are exempt from many taxes. The farm area is up to 0.5 hectares. This form is not suitable if you plan to expand your business, open retail outlets, or hire workers.
2. Individual entrepreneurship. The area of ​​land is not limited; hired labor can be used.
3. Peasant farming. Business with the formation of a legal entity, tax benefits are provided.

You have the right to choose the unified agricultural tax - a 6 percent tax, which is paid only on net income.

There is no need to license this type of business, but when selling crops to wholesalers, they must undergo sanitary control. You will receive quality certificates after analyzing the content of chemicals in vegetables. Supervisory authorities check the conditions for growing vegetables.

For heated greenhouses, permission from the fire inspection is required, but this rule does not apply to personal subsidiary plots.

Financial questions

Organizing a business in the form of a farm will require a financial investment of 62,000 rubles. Taxation – single agricultural tax (6%), it is also necessary to provide for insurance payments to the Pension Fund. With the cost of the harvest for the year being 57,000 rubles. revenue will be 67,000 rubles, that is, the break-even point will be reached in the second year of operation.

This article will be useful to anyone who wants to build their own business growing cucumbers at home or on a rented plot. A description of all the important aspects of the future business, the selection of suitable varieties of cucumbers and advice on their proper cultivation in a greenhouse.

Growing cucumbers in a greenhouse or in open ground is an excellent option for a family business. It can be either an additional or a permanent source of income. it is possible both in season and all year round, on your own country plot (for example, in a country house) or on rented land.

The peculiarity of this agribusiness is its accessibility. Starting capital is minimal. The growing process is simple. There is demand for cucumbers all year round. With good yields, you can achieve a net annual profit of more than 2,000,000 rubles.

Advantages and disadvantages of business

The cucumber growing business has a lot of advantages, but also some disadvantages. The first includes:

• Growing cucumbers in greenhouse structures allows you to harvest crops all year round. At the same time, there is always a choice of cucumber varieties. That is, you can grow universal, salad or canning varieties.
• The price for seedlings is minimal. You can grow it yourself, which can significantly reduce costs.
• Cucumbers are vegetables that store well and are not damaged during transportation.
• Growing cucumbers in open ground will cost less than using greenhouses.
• The market for vegetables is huge, and finding reliable buyers is not difficult.
• Grown cucumbers can be sold both through shops, bazaars and independently (by renting a trading place at a vegetable market).

Among the disadvantages it is worth noting the following:

• Growing cucumbers in a greenhouse requires a large initial investment. Maintaining greenhouses in winter is expensive (heating is too expensive).
• Cucumbers require regular watering. To do this, there must be running water on the site. The organization of irrigation systems may also require a large sum (it all depends on the area of ​​the plantation).
• In the summer, prices for cucumbers drop and competition increases. In winter the opposite happens.
• In order for the business to be successful and profitable, it is necessary to devote time to learning vegetable growing (for example, reading relevant literature).

From all of the above, you can draw the first conclusions for yourself - should you start a business growing cucumbers or better?

Main business risks

Any business has its pitfalls. And you need to know about them. Otherwise, you may end up with losses and debts.

So, the first thing you need to pay attention to is the locality where the grown vegetables will be sold. If it is a small town, then the competition will be very high. Indeed, in small towns, many grow cucumbers themselves on their plots. Therefore, for trade you will have to consider another region. And these are the costs of transport and transportation of vegetables.

It is also worth noting that in small towns prices for cucumbers are low. This is due, again, to high . It will be difficult to make a big profit.

In summer, prices for cucumbers drop significantly. This is due to seasonality. And you must be prepared to reduce the cost of vegetables, since your competitors will do this in any case.

Another risk for business is vegetable disease and crop loss. Such troubles appear when plants are not properly cared for. Therefore, you will still need to spend time learning vegetable growing.

Otherwise, there are no difficulties in growing cucumbers. If you run your business competently and properly care for the plants, the yield will be good, which will have a positive impact on profitability.

Briefly about business profitability

It is difficult to provide any specific figures to calculate the profitability of growing cucumbers. After all, everything here will depend on the area of ​​greenhouses and land, as well as on the varieties of vegetables themselves.

We can only say that the choice of variety is the main aspect when... After all, each type of cucumber has its own cost, which you set yourself.

The profitability of this business is high and can reach 91%. After all, the financial costs for starting are not so great. And the crop itself is well grown indoors. You can recoup the initial costs in the second harvest.

Business expenses

The amounts listed below are approximate to clearly demonstrate what you will have to pay for. The final costs will directly depend on the scale of the plantation and yield. That is, each case is individual.

So, it will take approximately $50 to purchase seeds. In the future, they will cost about $500 per year. It is better to choose hybrid varieties of cucumbers, as they are very fertile and resistant to diseases.

Fertilizers will cost about $100. A greenhouse complex is the most expensive “pleasure” from $3,000 to $10,000. You will have to spend up to $3,000 on equipment for heating a greenhouse. Fuel for a heating system – from $300.

A prerequisite for growing cucumbers is the presence of high-quality lighting, the organization of which will cost approximately $500-$1,000.

Other incidentals may range up to an additional $1,000.

Let us repeat that the amount of investment at the start will directly depend on the size of the plot and the volume of the harvest. Therefore, you can start a business with $5,000. Moreover, if there is already a ready-made plot of land, which only needs to be equipped with greenhouses and the necessary communications.

The optimal amount to start would be $20,000 or more. Such investments will pay off after just a few harvests. The business will pay off in 6-12 months.

Future costs will depend directly on a number of factors. For example, do you rent a plot of land or is it your property. Will you hire staff who need to be paid or not? Seedlings will be purchased or grown independently. Will other vegetables or herbs be grown?

Business registration: paperwork

Registration of an agribusiness is a fairly simple procedure. Time and money expenses are minimal here.

To grow cucumbers or other vegetables, you need to choose one of the forms of activity.

Individual entrepreneur

This form is convenient because you will not have restrictions on the area of ​​land (farm) and you will be able to hire additional workers. You must understand that hiring people is only advisable on large plantations. On a modest estate, you can handle all the work yourself and save a lot - you don’t have to pay wages.

Personal subsidiary plot

In this case, you are exempt from a number of taxes. However, you will have to pay personal income tax on the sale of grown vegetables. There are also some restrictions on the area of ​​subsidiary farming - up to a maximum of 2.5 hectares. If you need to attract additional labor (hired workers), then this form will not suit you.

Peasant farming

There are some tax benefits here too. In this case, you will be a full-fledged legal entity and will be able to conduct business with the involvement of partners.

Taxation

Once the type of activity has been selected, it is necessary to decide on the taxation system. In this case, the ideal option is the Unified Agricultural Tax. You will only pay 6% of your net income. There is no need to pay property and profit taxes.

Do you need a license?

You do not need a license to grow and sell cucumbers. The only thing that may be required is to obtain some permits from the sanitary control. But this is only necessary if you plan to work with large wholesale buyers. In this case, you will need to send several product samples to the SES laboratory, where they will be tested for the presence of prohibited chemicals. The conditions for growing cucumbers are also subject to verification.

Since vegetables will be grown in heated greenhouses, it is necessary to obtain permission from the fire inspectorate. But this is only necessary if you have chosen the form of an individual entrepreneur or a peasant farm. When registering as a personal subsidiary plot, you do not need to contact the fire inspectorate for permission.

What variety of cucumbers should I grow?

Now the range of varieties and hybrids of cucumbers is huge. You can grow either a specific variety or several at once. Moreover, the last option allows you to get more profit.

The main task of a cucumber growing business is to obtain good yields. Hybrid varieties of vegetables will help you quickly complete this task. And that's why.

1. Cucumber bushes are dominated by “female” inflorescences.
2. The vast majority of hybrid vegetables do not require pollination.
3. Such varieties are very fertile. The average number of cucumbers per bunch reaches eight. Not bad, isn't it?

You must also understand that all varieties have different taste qualities. Therefore, you should not specialize in one variety. It is better to offer the market several varieties at once - classic, hybrid, salad, etc.

And remember that you can grow cucumbers in a greenhouse all year round. And it’s worth considering options for varieties that are intended exclusively for pickling. They are also in good demand among the end consumer.

A variety of vegetables such as pickles has become quite popular in recent years. In simple terms, pickles are small gherkins (miniature cucumbers). They are very tasty both fresh and pickled. At the same time, the pickles are very fertile.

Which place is suitable for growing cucumbers?

Having decided on the varieties of vegetables, you need to choose the ideal place to grow them.

You can grow cucumbers right on the plot of your country house or dacha. You can also rent a plot of land, but this is an extra financial cost. At the same time, there is no guarantee that at one point, at the very peak of the harvest, the owner of the plot will not demand the return of his rightful lands. The harvest will be lost and you will suffer losses. It is better, of course, to buy a plot outside the city and become its full owner. But this is only provided that there is such an opportunity. If not, then only rent.

There is an even more economical option - growing cucumbers at home. Not the best, but still has a right to exist. Yields will be small. But as they say, something is better than nothing at all. Not a bad way to earn extra money.

Soil and growing conditions

Cucumbers are very demanding vegetables. Firstly, they need fertilized and fertile soil. Sand and clay are not the best soil for growing. The ideal option is black soil. Moreover, the black soil must be very fertile, since we are considering the option of growing cucumbers in a greenhouse.

There is another interesting growing option. Instead of soil, turf in the form of cubes is used. They must be made a year before sowing. At the same time, you will not suffer from your infertile soil on the site.

Some people use ordinary barrels without a bottom to grow vegetables. This allows you to significantly save space in the greenhouse, but at the same time maintain good yield volumes.

How to grow seedlings?

There are two ways to grow cucumbers:

1. Buy seeds.
2. Buy seedlings.

However, there is another option - to grow seedlings yourself. Then you will not only be able to save a certain amount, but also sell additional seedlings, for example, to summer residents. That is, in the end you will remain in the black.

Seedlings are grown as follows:

• Seeds are planted in pots. You can use the “grandmother’s method” and use jars of sour cream, yogurt and other dairy products instead of pots. The jars should have a diameter of 8 cm (for ground varieties of cucumbers - 12 cm).
• The first days it is necessary to constantly monitor the temperature in the greenhouse - from 25 to 30 degrees. Humidity should be at 75%.
• The seedlings are watered daily with warm water (at least 25 degrees).
• For two weeks, the plants are fed with special additives and fertilizers. The compositions must be selected for specific varieties of cucumbers. This ensures that the seedlings do not die.
• After a month, the seedlings can be planted in open ground. You can tell that the seedlings are ready for planting by the presence of leaves (usually 4-6 pieces).

In this way, you can get high-quality seedlings, which will later be used for personal purposes or sold to gardeners.

Cucumber market

And the last point that needs to be considered is where to sell the crop and to whom to sell it.

At the initial stage, you can independently enter the vegetable market and offer customers your products at competitive prices. At the same time, you must try to adhere to the prices of competitors. It's better to make it a little lower. Dumping at the initial stage will not be superfluous. Moreover, in a month you can increase the price.

To make a good profit from selling cucumbers, go to the market before the start of the season and after it ends. During these periods, your competitors already or do not yet have fresh vegetables. Accordingly, the demand for them increases sharply.

Cucumbers can be sold to wholesalers. Then you won’t have to stand at the market yourself in the heat, in the cold, in the rain. Moreover, you will save money on transportation.

An excellent option would be to sell cucumbers to shops, catering establishments, educational institutions, restaurants, etc. In this case, you will always have the opportunity to conclude a long-term contract for the supply of vegetables.

This is approximately what a cucumber growing business looks like. There is nothing complicated or supernatural about it. It's quite simple. And if you are afraid that you do not have the proper experience in vegetable growing, then it will come with time. Fortunately, there is now plenty of literature on the subject.

Greetings, dear readers of Startupoff!

Growing greenhouse cucumbers is not a new, but promising business idea. The volume of imported vegetables has decreased; large agro-industrial enterprises in the agricultural sector often offer products whose quality leaves much to be desired. This means that the time has come for budding small entrepreneurs.

Growing cucumbers in a greenhouse - a business idea that works

Growing cucumbers is a promising and profitable business.

Judge for yourself:

1. The demand for cucumbers is great all year round.
2. To open a business you do not need large plots of land. You can start your own business in your own garden or summer cottage.
3. Abundant harvest of vegetables in a short time throughout the year.
4. Greenhouse cultivation produces more products than soil cultivation.
5. High profitability with good sales organization and well-established production.
6. There are many distribution routes: markets, supermarkets, catering establishments, processing plants.
7. Sale of fresh and processed products.

To open a business, you will need a business plan, installation of one or more greenhouses (depending on the size of the start-up capital and the scale of production you are aiming for), equipment, seedlings, and feeding.

3 ways to grow cucumbers

Cucumbers are grown in different ways: by sowing seeds in open ground, planting seedlings. They are planted in barrels and sown along fences so that the climbing stems of the plants themselves are fixed to the mesh. We offer you three effective cultivation methods that guarantee a quick and abundant harvest.

Let's consider the advantages of each option.

Method 1. In a barrel

The main advantage of the method is space saving, as well as simple organization of watering and maintenance. This method is more suitable for a small garden plot. Vegetables need to be planted in a pre-prepared barrel.

Small twigs for drainage, a layer of soil from a compost pit, and a fertilized fertile layer are placed in it. Seeds are placed in the prepared soil. The barrel warms up quickly, so the fruits ripen in it faster than in open ground. You can grow early cucumbers in it without a greenhouse. Fruiting lasts from May to October.

Method 2. In bags

The advantages of planting in bags are loose, well-heated and ventilated soil, favorable for the growth of cucumbers, which is difficult to achieve in open planting. The yield with this method of planting is higher than in the ground.

Fertile soil is placed in plastic bags and seeds are sown. The bags are inserted into a shallow trench. A rope or metal “string” is stretched over it for a garter. Poles are stuffed along a row of bags. They will hold the bags and plants.

The method is used for growing on a personal plot and greenhouse production. How it is used in a greenhouse can be seen in the photo.

Method 3. On a trellis

This method prevents plants from contracting powdery mildew. With trellises, the space of the site is rationally used. The method is suitable for open ground and greenhouse production.

Advantages: easy harvesting, high yield, easy plant care, good lighting. The plants are planted in a row, a metal string is pulled (the second option is to install a strong plastic mesh along the row) and the vines are tied up.

Growing technology - where to start?

The key to a high yield: favorable conditions for growth, loose soil, good seeds, timely harvesting.

Now about each of them in order.

Step 1. Create favorable conditions in the greenhouse

Cucumber bushes love light, good ventilation and “privacy”. Densely sprouted seeds need to be thinned out so that both male and female inflorescences form. The optimal temperature for fruiting is 22-26 degrees Celsius.

The plant does not like sudden temperature fluctuations. Lowering the temperature to 14 degrees deprives it of its ability to take moisture from the soil. Cucumber beds do not like waterlogged soil. They grow best in sandy loam soils enriched with organic matter.

Step 2. Select suitable varieties of cucumbers

The optimal varieties for greenhouse sowing are parthenocarpic and self-pollinating. These are hybrid varieties that produce year-round harvest. Their fruits are juicy and dense. Used for fresh sale, as well as for pickling and salting. The fruits of these hybrids do not turn yellow from overripeness. They do not lose their freshness, taste and presentation for a long time.

The selected varieties must provide three harvest cycles: from May to September, from October to the end of January, from February to May.

Step 3. Prepare the soil

Optimal soil parameters for greenhouse cucumbers:

• mechanical properties: loose, breathable;
• humidity: constant, without drying out or waterlogging;
• temperature: above 13 degrees at a depth of up to 25 centimeters;
• soil acidity: up to 6 hydrogen units, neutral;
• high humus content;
• high microbiological activity.

Step 4. Grow cucumbers and harvest

Cucumbers love moisture. Make sure that the root zone is always moist, but that water does not stagnate at the roots. Loosen the soil near the rhizome, remove dry leaves and ripe fruits. Don't wait for the fruits to gain more mass. This slows down the fruiting of the bush. Timely removal of ripe fruits stimulates the growth of new ones. Don't forget to add fertilizer to the soil.

Monitor the condition of the plants. The appearance of yellowness, dry stems and leaves is a sign of improper care and disease.

What equipment might be needed?

To set up your own production, you will need a greenhouse, a lighting, heating, irrigation system, as well as gardening tools, soil fertilizer, and containers for harvesting.

The approximate amount of equipment and its cost for the installation of one greenhouse complex is given in the table:

Equipment	Amount	Cost, rub.)
Polycarbonate greenhouse 200 square meters	1	90 000
Soil heating system in the cold season	5	4 500
Heating boiler	1	30 000
Lighting lamps	14	5 000
Drip irrigation kit	2	4 500
Water tank 500 liters	1	10 000
Hose for supplying water to the container	1	2 000
Twine for tying tops	25	100
Harvest containers (boxes, buckets)	10	150
Fuel for the boiler (wood)	1 cu. meter	6 000
Total:		152 250

Ready-made business plan for growing cucumbers

A detailed business plan is needed to assess the profitability of an enterprise, take into account all expenses and income, develop a strategy for finding clients, and analyze competition. This document will insure you against mistakes and unplanned expenses.

Stage 1. Study of technology

To choose a technology, you need good theoretical and practical preparation. Gain knowledge from agricultural forums and exhibitions, on specialized online forums where agronomists and amateur gardeners communicate. There you will find information about varieties, growing methods, and plant diseases.

Visit agricultural complexes and greenhouses. Here you will see the principles of greenhouse arrangement, plant growth, and imagine the scale of production.

Stage 2. Site selection and greenhouse placement

It is best to master the agricultural industry in the suburbs of a small town. There, renting a plot is cheaper and it is easier to enter the local market than in a metropolis.

To open your own greenhouse complex, a plot of 6 acres is enough. Do you have a dacha? Use your own hundred dollars to reduce the start-up costs of starting a business.

If you rent a plot, choose land close to communications: centralized water supply, highway lines, electricity, internet. This way you don't have to install them at your own expense.

Stage 3. Equipping the greenhouse with equipment

Installation of greenhouse equipment begins immediately after completion of the greenhouse. For a stable harvest in winter and summer, you need heating and lighting, soil heating, and installation of a ventilation system.

In industrial vegetable farms that grow cucumbers, tomatoes and other vegetables year-round, a lot of money and effort are spent on creating optimal growth conditions. If you are focused on year-round work, do not skimp on purchasing equipment. Purchasing equipment is the lion's share of expenses when starting a greenhouse business.

Stage 4. Purchase of seedlings

For year-round cultivation, you need not only early ripening varieties, but also late or winter varieties. The most popular varieties are parthenocarpic hybrids that produce a stable, rich harvest: good salad and pickling cucumbers.

They are planted in the ground as seedlings and seeds. Seeds give the plant a stable root system, and planting seedlings gives an early harvest.

After the first harvest, you will be able to breed your own seeds. Remove the seeds from overripe fruits and dry them at room conditions.

Buy seed material from trusted sellers: in specialized stores or agricultural complexes.

Stage 5. Registration of an enterprise

You don’t need documents to grow cucumbers at home and sell your crops to neighbors and friends.

If you are focused on selling on the market and finding regular customers, open a peasant farm (peasant farm). To do this, you need your passport, a decision to create a farm, a certificate from the settlement administration about the start of your work, and ownership of the land. OKVED code 01.13 - cultivation of melons, root crops and other crops.

Stage 6.

Market your grown produce in a variety of ways:

1. Sales to private entrepreneurs straight from the greenhouse.
2. Retail sales at the vegetable market.
3. Wholesale sales at vegetable warehouses.
4. Transfer for sale to grocery stores and supermarkets.
5. Sales to catering establishments.
6. Sale of products in pickled or salted form.

Don't forget about advertising! Look for buyers directly by visiting stores, supermarkets, and using the Internet. Thousands of entrepreneurs advertise their services on Avito and other trading platforms, and on social networks. Focus on taste, affordable cost per kilogram of products, and their naturalness.

How to calculate business profitability

The basis for calculating profitability is the annual yield of the greenhouse and turnover. Under the right conditions, in a 200 square meter greenhouse you can harvest 14,000 kg.

From selling 14 tons of cucumbers you will receive a profit of about 1 million rubles. From this profit you need to isolate net income, subtracting start-up investments, utility costs, purchase of fertilizers and other costs.

The calculation of the cost part is presented in the table:

№	Cost type	Amount (rub.)
1	Purchase of seeds and seedlings	35 000
2	Purchase of fertilizers, feed	40 000
3	Payment for heating, lighting, water	100 000
4	Fare	30 000
5	Gardening tools	50 000
6	Unified agricultural tax 6%	40 000
7	Miscellaneous expenses (packaging, garter twine, incidentals)	50 000
Total:		345 000

By subtracting the amount of costs from 1,000,000 rubles, you will see how much the net profit will be. For the example given in the article (1 greenhouse of 200 sq m), its size will be 655,000 rubles, provided there is an established sales system and stable yields throughout the year.

Guarantees and risks

Factors that could jeopardize your earnings:

• breakdown of greenhouse equipment;
• low yield due to erroneous choice of varieties, poor quality of seedlings, non-compliance with growing conditions;
• high competition in the industry;
• poorly organized sales of products.

Guarantees - high customer demand. If you do not sell all your products fresh, they will readily buy them salted or pickled as preserves. Delicious chemical-free cucumbers are readily sold out in the greenhouse complex itself.

Your task is to develop the technology, establish sales, and make a name for yourself. Once you have recouped your initial investment, look to expand your production.

Inspiring video about a millionaire farmer who chose the cucumber business:

When starting any business, first of all, you need to take into account the natural advantages. It would never occur to anyone to build an elite hotel in a godforsaken village, or to plant melons at the North Pole. This is exactly the case with greenhouse business. It is stupid to build a greenhouse in an open field, even if renting land there costs a penny, or high in the mountains, etc.

Ilya Nikolaevich Odintsov categorically began his story with this statement. He is from the Rostov region, lives in a small industrial city. He is fifty-six years old, an automatic engineer by profession, and during Soviet times he worked at a large chemical plant. In the first years of perestroika, Odintsov “raked in money” in a cooperative at the plant - he packaged washing powder in bags, then “drove” used cars from Germany, then repurposed himself as a “shuttle driver”, and is currently growing cucumbers and radishes on his personal greenhouse farm. He calls himself a “greenhouse millionaire.”

So, we are visiting him. Behind a high corrugated fence you can see a small mansion made of Italian brick, covered with blue metal tiles. There is a brand new crossover in front of the gate. One feels that the owner is firmly on his feet. He invites you into the yard, and the first thing that catches your eye is the absence of trees on the site - only greenhouses. Between them are concrete paths and intricacies of metal-plastic pipes.

— How did you come up with the idea of ​​starting a greenhouse business?

— It all started in 1998. Then I brought clothes from Turkey. Like in a bad dream, I remember that August when the dollar tripled in price. To pay off his debts, he sold a new foreign car and gave away all his savings. At that time, only imported tomatoes were available in stores, and they also tripled in price. This hooked me, and the idea came to organize a greenhouse farm, fortunately, the house had six acres of land.

— You still have greenhouses on the plot in front of your house...

“I’ve been growing cucumbers in greenhouses for twelve years now and I’m sure that you shouldn’t get involved in this business if you don’t have your own plot at home.” In this case, the game is not worth the trouble, except for pleasure.
***
Next, Ilya Nikolaevich showed his farm. Greenhouses he built two types - frame, long, about twenty meters, right up to the fence; width - 2.5 meters, and single-pitched, with a recess.

The first, about a quarter of the total area of ​​greenhouses. They are located right behind the mansion. Ilya Nikolaevich uses them to grow early varieties of cucumbers. A steel wire frame, 0.9 meters high above the ground, is covered with film. At first glance, it seems that this is an ordinary greenhouse, but this is not so. The entrance to the greenhouses is wooden, triangular, like a cellar. So it is, the steps lead down into a meter-deep trench dug lengthwise and reinforced with boards, along which you can walk without bending. Ilya Nikolaevich goes down into the passage and easily, sometimes from the right, sometimes from the left, reaches the outermost seedlings to pull out weeds and barren flowers.
***
— Why did you decide to make such a deep trench, and not increase the height of the greenhouse, for example, to two meters?

— Building a greenhouse two meters high is not very profitable - you can’t heat it in winter, the volume is large. The wind can also tear it, and you need a lot of film. And the highest income is in winter and early spring.

— Are you planning the harvest for the New Year?

- No. I just plant it in January, otherwise there won’t be enough light for normal growth. Nowadays, seedlings in pots are in fashion, but I have adapted to growing from seeds, which is much cheaper. If the soil is good, new, disinfected, then the seeds will germinate well, the main thing is that they must be well protected from weeds.

— For normal growth, you need not only light, but also warmth, especially in winter.

- You see, - Ilya Nikolaevich pointed to two pipes laid at the edges of the greenhouse, - this is heating. From a home boiler. Cucumbers are very capricious, like ladies. They germinate at above +18 C, but ideally for them +25...+28 C. At this temperature, seedlings appear after three days, and at +16...+18 C - only after a week. Then, however, the range is wider, from +18...+26 C. If the temperature is below +12...+14 C, then the fruits do not ripen at all. It is quite difficult to maintain such a regime when the temperature outside in winter ranges from minus 15 to plus 15. I, as a former Kipovite, (a specialist in control and measuring instruments) installed a relay alarm with a bell in the house. I monitor the temperature carefully, like I do with small children.”

— How do you water your plantations?

— I water it constantly, cucumbers love water ( Ilya Nikolaevich pointed to the transparent tubes through which water flowed). At first I use hoses with millimeter holes, then I change them to those in which the diameter of the holes is three millimeters. Water is supplied to the hoses after turning on the corresponding tap located in the house, and then through these holes it flows strictly under the stem of the plant.

— There are no tomatoes visible. Why? After all, they are the ones who pushed you into this business.

- Fuck them. I tried it. Tomatoes do not like it when it is very humid, maximum 60%. They need to be ventilated, and regularly. What if the frost is minus twenty? They'll freeze right away. If you don’t ventilate, they will get sick. True, there are varieties, apparently genetically modified, that grow without problems, and are even beautiful to look at. It's just that the taste is disgusting. There are many of these at the market. But for me the most important thing is quality and naturalness. This is precisely why my customers respect me, so I am not going to grow such dubious tomatoes. Well, to close the topic of choosing a crop, I’ll say this, life itself will tell you what to grow. It's like choosing a wife. One likes a smart woman, another likes a beautiful woman, and the third likes his wife like he changes gloves. Apparently, my love affair with tomatoes didn’t work out. Although, to be honest, it's about me greenhouses, they do not have convenient ventilation, this, I think, is the main problem.

- But another red, or rather pink, vegetable has taken root with you.

—Are you talking about radishes? This culture is very undemanding to heat, but loves light. I grow it under glass frames. Radishes germinate at +3-4 C, although they “love” +16 C. An ideal winter crop that does not die even if the temperature in the greenhouse suddenly drops to -6 C. Another advantage of radish is its short growing season: it ripens in 25- 35 days (round varieties) and 30-40 days (long varieties). Considering that radishes are not picky about soil, growing this vegetable is not a labor-intensive agricultural technology. In winter and early spring this product is in demand.

— Is the greenhouse business profitable?

- Let's figure it out now. Look, from one square meter I remove 100-150 cucumbers within two months. This is approximately 10-15 kilograms, which I sell to wholesalers at a price of 80 rubles per kilo. It turns out about a thousand rubles per square meter, or 40 thousand per greenhouses. Ten greenhouses bring in “dirty income” of four hundred thousand rubles. Minus the costs of fertilizers, soil, seedlings, heat and water, and as a result, two hundred thousand rubles remain “clean” for February-March. In spring, income is approximately half as much. In summer and autumn, my profit from cucumbers is at the level of fifty thousand per quarter.

— Do you plan to modernize your greenhouse farming in the future?

— Of course, I will modify it. I’ll slowly start buying greenhouses made of cellular polycarbonate, and I’ll remove the frames under which I grow radishes. I have already planned one new greenhouse this year. I will do this comprehensively, simultaneously with the introduction of drip irrigation, as well as modern lighting and heating. I will also equip greenhouses automatic temperature and humidity control systems, fortunately I gained fat. I'll try tomatoes again. There is a great demand for them. My goals are quite ambitious: to bring the winter harvest to four hundred cucumbers per square meter.

— Ilya Nikolaevich, many of our readers will clearly be “hooked” by your experience, and they will also decide to try their hand at greenhouses. What parting words would you say to them?

— First of all, you need to understand that in this business there is no universal formula for success, because each region of our huge country has its own climatic characteristics, which determine the policy of the agribusinessman. Well, in general, in Russia, agriculture and livestock farming will be the responsibility of the new Russian farmers. Look, the world can no longer live without Russian grain. If you had said this twenty years ago, they would have laughed. The same thing will happen with potatoes, then with meat. Remember what Pyotr Arkadyevich Stolypin said: “Give the state twenty years of peace, internal and external, and you will not recognize today’s Russia.”