Is this idea for raising money legal?

growing plants.....

legal....

I wonder what's growing in the greenhouse :-)

LOL...WOW...now that's covering your carbon footprints! What a great idea, and a wonderful goal to have!

Don't know whether it's legal or not, but i say go for it...can't see it being a problem!

Well, it seems like it's similar to selling a plot of land with the promise of some returns in the future. This model has been used before to sell oil and plantation to end users / consumers.

for example in the case of a plantation...this is how it works;

A plot of land is bought in bulk by service manager. It is sectionalized / zoned into smaller plots. Then it is sold to investors. The returns from the smaller plot belongs to the investors. The service manager handles everything else, from planting, to watering, to harvesting and eventually selling the products off to the market. The service manager is also paid a service fee for this.

But of course a lot of legal paper work need to be done and marketing it may be tricky.

All the best to you.

hari
NicheALot.com

I think you need to find out a lot more about your local, state, and federal regulations.

How will you get your customer/investors? The shipping of food items, especially fresh food items, is probably highly regulated at different levels.

I would start at the local level. Do you have a farmer's market in your town? I would go there and talk to some vendor's as well as whoever runs it, to get anidea of the licensing and regulations involved in the sale of fresh food items.

Elliott

A real world farmville..... lol


I think it's already been done with lobsters.
catchapieceofmaine.com

Is this a joke or are you really going for the Nobel Peace Prize?

Sumit.

If you hold a land your idea is legal! Like in a real estate business people sell new houses and shops in advance on a specified owned land but its delivery is made after its completion according to the agreement.

Instead of sending the food to the original people, tell them that a certain portion of the food grown will be given to a local food bank or similar type of institution.

I don't see anything illegal with what you're talking about in principal. As someone else mentioned, you're looking for investors. Rather than pay them their investment bank (with interest) in money, you'd do it in food. The shipping of food might be problematic, so let them know they're helping feed some hungry people. Instead of this being a 'for profit' sort of venture, it sounds more like a 'non-profit' type of thing, which would probably do better in a fund-raising or investment-seeking atmosphere (really just a hunch there, though - no evidence to back that up).

Good luck!

sounds like an awesome idea!
good luck and i wish you success!

Having no idea which country your in..i can't advise specifics. your local district gov/state and federal government sites will have sections on regulations.
You may need permits if your providing food to commercial interests. (ie restaurants)
I know here in australia we need a permit if the size of a certain activity is large enough. (like growing yabbies )

I like the idea about a non profit. I think what your trying to do is inspiring. I can't wait for the day when i own my own acreage. I'd so love to learn permaculture.

Anyway,
Last night they showed a jamie oliver tv series where he travels the US. He went to this underground restaurant. They call them supper clubs. (google it for more info).

I was thinking,if you made it into a non-profit you could then donate the food to the supper clubs/homeless shelters. Your 'investors' could then get a tax deduction(so as a selling point when asking for donations-not only is it tax deductable but they're reducing carbon emissions,oil usage and helping those in need all in one go!)

As administrator you'd earn income as well.

hope that gives some ideas..

edit: 3 new posts before i had a chance to post.
I have a question- Do you have a huge acreage for this venture? Curious,becuase if your looking to go large scale then a backyard or 1 acre might not be large enough.

You might want to look into the model of "community supported agriculture" (CSAs). A good resource for finding local CSAs in the US is:
Local Harvest / Farmers Markets / Family Farms / CSA / Organic Food

In CSAs - customers buy a subscription to a farm for the growing season (often called a "share"). In return, they get weekly boxes of fresh fruits/veggies from the farm. Farmers usually set up "drop off points" in the city - there is a specific day/time window you must pick up your box, or it gets donated to charity. Some farmers include recipes too to help you figure out what to do with odd vegetables

The idea is that the local community helps give the farmer a more stable income so that they can focus on growing. If they have a bad season (poor crops, alien monkey invasion, whatever) it affects them less... customers know that the farm might do well (and they benefit with lots of produce) or poorly.

The key here is the customer pays up front for the whole season, at the very beginning (I'm unsure of how it works for people who want to join mid-season. I think farmers may also have limits to the # of people they can accept in any season.)

Some CSAs also require people to come work X hours on the farm! (But I think most do not - it's mostly the economic stability).

Could something like that work for you? If you got the $ upfront, would that give you enough time to get settled and actually produce something for that season?

Good luck, at any rate. I think it sounds like a great idea, more fresh produce is always good

I will respond to your question of the legality of your proposed endeavor with the following statement:

You have a milkshake, and I have a straw. And my straw reaches acroooooooss the room, and starts to drink your milkshake.

I... drink... your... milkshake!

I DRINK IT UP!

so, it's basically a veggie time-share.......... er, grow-share?

jendoe has your answer. That is what I was going to tell you , but Jendoe did a much better job.

Just wanted to mention that there is probably an info product here. If you haven't already built a prototype keep track of the materials and take pictures along the way. With growing interest in all things green there's likely a market for a related product for both the backyard gardener as well as larger projects.

This is an interesting idea... You need to be seeking advice from an attorney on this. If you cannot afford an attorney, you do not need to be doing this... not trying to be negative, but it is what it is.

Additionally, many attorneys offer a free consultation. Start there. Good luck!

I think it's a great idea!

The only problem would be whether your area has laws about this type of thing.

Sometimes an idea might sound fabulous and you would not be able to fathom any laws or restrictions getting in your way. But some cities and counties have laws that just don't make sense.

Where I live, there is a big "urban gardener" movement. People are planting their own gardens, and a lot of them are interested in selling their surplus at farmers' markets. But the city does not allow anyone to sell produce from their gardens. It is to be for the consumption of the homeowner.

Sounds like a perfectly fine thing to do -- grow some veggies in a safe environment without adding pesticides to them, share them with others in the area, and make a little money for your efforts.

But it can't be done here.

So it is definitely worth discussing with someone where you live, before you dive in.

Like someone else mentioned, you probably have some fabulous knowledge that could be turned into an info product.

Organic gardening is so hot right now. Anything related to sustainability is hot, really.

Good luck!

Unlimited ways and ideas to setup little mini pieces of land, selling, renting, sharing or whatever! Just give it a nice little "twist" along with a good chat with your local, legal and tax buddies...
How to Make an Income From Your Little Piece of Land gardenandgreen.co.uk - garden and green website
Homestead Income Ideas!
Apartment Therapy Chicago | Would You Buy Land Strictly For Gardening?
Land Sharing is a New Trend : TreeHugger

Dave

Hehe...I was just kidding..however I do think it might be a bit more profitable!!

Anyway, to tell you the truth, I've got a 40 gallon fish tank hooked to 120 gallons of aquatic plants. Doesn't 100% keep me from changing the water, but it goes quite a while.

As far as the website, check your PM's.

Todd

Great idea,but to be honest,I'm not sure whether it's credible.Do you think guys would like to purchase that things?Maybe you will have a tough course to promote your idea.
Well,wish you good luck.

Regardless of the barriers that you visibly see right now, you're on the right track.

You create your OWN reality through your beliefs about YOU.

If you believe it can NOT happen, it will NOT happen. If however, the belief is strong and the rough persistence is there for you to stick it out long enough. It's more than possible.

You see, as a human being, you've been given quite possibly the best gift of all: The ability to project your thoughts outward into physical reality. The essential power that built our civilization up to where it is now!

So others have come before you. Remember that. You CAN make it happen.

The only HURDLE in your way is YOU. Generally whether you decide to COMMIT and MARRY the idea. Or DIVORCE and LEAVE it for that younger hottie. It's you and whether you take the action steps or not that are the only thing that stand in your way.

The basic action steps would consist of: Raising the Capital, putting together your Team, and ultimately figuring out how much TIME this is all going to take.

Money and People are important but, the TIME component is much much more important.

Now, when you're in the position where you have NO money, or a PRE-EXISTING product to sell. All you are really have left to go with is YOUR IDEAS. So, you need a medium to convey what's in your head to other people. The resources for this project will inevitably come from OTHERS. Ask yourself if you are COMFORTABLE WORKING WITH OTHERS.

Next to TIME. Working with other people is of the utmost importance. All resources in the economy are a derivative of OTHER PEOPLE anyway. So, you'll have to get used to it.

You need a well written plan which you can make copies of to lever your ideas.

Personally, I have spent years sowing the pieces of this great puzzle together. The one we call: "Turning an IDEA into REALITY."

If anything, I'd say that our whole existence here hinges on learning that basic principle. The ones who master it become very free, rich, and happy. The ones who don't end up miserable, poor, and unhappy.

I don't want to get to METAPHYSICAL on you here so I'll go into some result based solutions for you.

The core-fundamentals you will need to learn and thoroughly understand is 1. THE CORPORATION. 2. OTHER PEOPLE. 3. RESOURCE AND TIME MANAGEMENT.

You yourself need to operate as either the CEO of your own Corporation. Or as the SELLING-SHAREHOLDER.

The only way you're going to do this is if you LEARN-HOW-TO-RAISE-CAPITAL-THROUGH-THE-CORPORATE-ARCHITECTURE.

The corporation is the key because after you've created your plan and established the members of your team... you can begin creating shares and exchanging them for the MONEY or NECESSARY RESOURCES.

You can raise FEDERAL RESERVE NOTE based capital through three primary means:

A. Selling Shares of Corporate Venture. Creating PROPERTY that Investors will want to OWN. A Corporate Stock Certificate is pure ownership interest.
B. Using Corporate Debentures. Putting the Corporation IN DEBT.
C. Pre-Sale of your Product/Service. Promising a PRODUCT or a SERVICE at a later date.

Now, I've covered the basic building blocks of raising FEDERAL RESERVE NOTES. But, Federal Reserve Notes are only one form of resource. The EXCHANGEABLE kind.

The OTHER FORMS would be the Capital Goods actually used in the PRODUCTION of your PRODUCTS. For example: A. LAND B. BUILDING MATERIALS FOR THE GREEN HOUSES C. SOLAR-EQUIPMENT D. OTHER RAW GOODS LIKE FERTILIZER & SEEDS E. ALL OF THE ABOVE

The next important resource is TIME. Whose responsible for all this?

Will you need employees, salesmen, lawyers, accountants, insurance agents, bankers, stock brokers. What is the "HUMAN CAPITAL" aspect of all this.

You're NOT going to be able to get to big doing it all by yourself. Also when you take into account the fact that you're trying to feed the whole planet. Well, that's going to require A LOT OF PEOPLE and RESOURCES.

So overall... you need to learn AND understand the Corporation, People, and Resource/Time Management.

Some great places to interactively learn how to DEAL WITH PEOPLE would be to:

a. Join a TOAST-MASTERS CLUB: TOASTMASTERS (dot) ORG
b. Start going to your Town or County Meetings.
c. Join a local church.
d. Go to seminars.
e. Go to PLACES where there is PEOPLE.

FREE advice... you can get that from either SCORE: SCORE (dot) ORG or the SBA: SBA (dot) GOV.

Score is OVERLY helpful and wants to see you succeed. Find one near you.

The biggest issue you're going to probably face is the "PEOPLE" issue. But, keep in mind... if you can get over the "PEOPLE" issue, you're gaining a skill only half a percent of the population truly has and why 1/10th of a percent of the population HAS as much income as the bottom 47% of the population.

All wealth, ideas, money, and other resources come from people.

Hey Matthew. What a creative idea! This sounds like a new twist on an old concept,- the co-op. People pay a membership fee, (okay you can say they are buying a spot of real estate if you want, but it's not necessary,) and in exchange, they get reduced prices when purchasing produce. There is a grocery store in Tallahassee, Florida that operates that way. Co-op "members" get a discount, the rest of us pay retail.

This way, you're not worried about making sure that what they are getting is from a specific square foot of property. Sheesh! Gives me a headache just thinking of how you would track that.

Good luck. This is an exciting concept and your timing is perfect!

the legalities depend on your local bylaws so check those out but as already mentioned above, the concept is [in my opinion] legal.

When developers build houses/apartments, they take deposits on them before they are completed which effectively pays for them to actually be built and then once built they collect the balance from the buyers. you could do a similar thing with your potential customers

Matthew, as Jen mentioned above, what you're talking about is similar to a CSA (community supported agriculture) setup, except that a CSA normally just raises the running costs for the year up front, not the capital costs for something large like a greenhouse.

How about different ways of getting this started. Can you rent greenhouse space? Can you build just one or two of a projected range of greenhouses, and expand gradually? Can you find a partner locally who has land or greenhouse space they are not using? Can you partner with an existing non-profit or co-op to make this happen?

Partnering is probably key to this project. Very few people have all the skills required - selling the project itself at the start, buying/building growing space, actually growing the food, harvesting and and packing the food (this is non-trivial!), selling and delivering the food, managing the business - etc.

You should be getting involved in your local agricultural community ASAP because contacts will be extremely important.

I grew a small scale market garden for a few years, outdoors and in a hoophouse, and sold at the local farmers market. The biggest challenges were not the growing or the selling, but the time involved in harvest and post-harvest, and in actually being present at the market to sell.

From the Peak Oil and sustainability point of view, greenhouse growing has some definite question-marks. A plastic-covered hoophouse, which is the cheapest form of greenhouse (I have one), is obviously not sustainable in the long run - you have to buy new plastic covering every few years. Lowest embodied energy and least regular replacement of materials would come with a glass greenhouse built from recycled materials. Such things do exist, even on a large scale: old greenhouse ranges which are no longer being used have been disassembled and re-assembled in new locations before now. Additional heating in the low-sun months can take a huge amount of energy, but there are ways to store heat from summer to winter - I've seen one greenhouse built so in the summer, hot air is blown through a LARGE rock reservoir underneath, and then in the cold months, that heat is used to warm the greenhouse.

I never thought I'd be discussing this stuff on the WF!

Edited to add:

Several people have suggested you consult a lawyer. For business information it should be easy to find a lawyer who knows the answers to your questions, though there are probably business-startup-support entities in your area (in Canada it's the local Community Futures office) who can give you that kind of advice too.

But for advice about food-growing and food-selling regulations, you want to talk to people who are doing what you plan to do (farmers, market sellers, CSAs, aquaculturists) and the government agencies who support them - Agriculture Canada in Canada, your local extension agents in the US. You might also get information from your local makers of health regulations, whether federal, state/provincial, or local. These things are all EXTREMELY location specific, even within a country, and most lawyers wouldn't have a clue. You might ask local farmers who they use as a lawyer, to find someone with some knowledge of the food production industry and its regulations.

One big stumbling block is often processing regulations: you can sell your home grown veggies as long as you don't process them at all, but as soon as you start processing (which can be as simple as washing and bagging salad greens) a whole slew of regulations and requirements kick in - some from health authorities, some from agricultural authorities, and probably some transport ones too. It's a real jungle.