PRO
Marilyn Batzel Ison
I am an Agricultural Marketing Strategist
Female from Springfield, United states and speaks EnglishAvailable for Collaboration, Interviews in Remote Formats
Individuals and families interested in pushing their gardening and farming skills to make a part-time or full-time living selling what they grow, raise, or manufacture from those products. Developing and entrepreneurial spirit and lifestyle.
Interests
About Marilyn Batzel Ison
My name is Marilyn Batzel Ison, and I am The Farm-to-Table Lady™, I am an Agriculture Marketing Strategist and I teach people just like you how to turn your backyards, acreages, or small farms into part-time or full-time income, as market farmers or market gardeners.
I share my knowledge and recommendations for those interested in learning from my many years of farming experience and sales.
I turned our five-acre farm into six streams of income, and I share what I did along with teaching how you can do that too.
I have been gardening and helped with farming on my grandparents’ farm since I was very young, even though I was raised in the city.
My parents put out a huge garden every year and every summer I spent summers on the family farms where I learned how to milk cows by hand, and by milking machines, care for chickens, and all things done on a farm.
Then 50-years ago I married a farmer.
We farmed over 1,000 acres of soybeans, corn, Milo, and wheat.
We raised about 300 head of beef cattle and farrowed 30 head of sows three times per year.
Our family partnership farmed with a neighbor and we had a custom silo filling operation and custom hay operation.
Farming was in my blood and I loved it!
It costs a lot of money to farm that big, and we struggled for thirteen years with low pay for the grain, cattle, and hogs, high bank interest rates, and weather.
We didn’t see a good way for us to keep throwing money in with little return, so we sold our part of the large farm operation and moved to the city where I was raised.
After a few years of working jobs, we found a sweet little five-acre place and decided to see if it would pay the mortgage payment by market gardening.
Even though we had a terrible drought the first year we tried it, we made our investment money back plus more by selling at two local Farmers’ Markets.
It made a firm believer out of me that I could really make market farming work.
And it did when I was downsized from my job in town, so I dove right in.
I diversified each venue of the farm and ended up making a very good income.
It wasn’t easy, but I learned how to make it work.
I want to help simplify your desire to make money from your garden, acreage or small farm.
I dearly love farming and selling the products I raised.
However, I chose my selling path in the wholesale business end.
I have always been good at sales, and even though I enjoyed my retail customers, I very much enjoyed the wholesale part.
I am an author, and public speaker.
My Availablity
Monday, Friday from 10am to 3pm America/Chicago
Interview & Promotion
- Guest Form
- Pre-Interview Call
- Share Episodes
- Email Subscribers
My Target Audience
Individuals and families interested in pushing their gardening and farming skills to make a part-time or full-time living selling what they grow, raise, or manufacture from those products. Developing and entrepreneurial spirit and lifestyle.
Why Invite me?
I will be publishing my book, "Backyard Gold How To Begin Selling What You Grow" in 2025. I have over 50-years experience with many types of farming, gardening, marketing, and selling retail as well as wholesale the products we raised, and products raised by other farmers that I brokered their produce to my commercial accounts. I teach that there are numerous ways to make a good living raising and selling produce, eggs, meat, etc. I began with 30 laying hens, and 4 acres of gardens. I developed the egg business so that I was wholesaling over 600 dozen eggs per week from my small farm to a chain of grocery stores, upscale restaurants, and health/natural food stores. I raised specialty salad mixes and micro-greens for upscale restaurants and health/natural food stores, and raised fresh cut flowers, specializing in hybridized tulips to the local flower shops. I help newbie growers learn the first steps it takes to research if they can raise and sell what they grow legally. I also developed Springfield, Missouri's first successful Community Supported Agriculture Farm (CSA), where families hired me to grow their fresh produce and eggs for 6-months of the year. I walk them through everything they need to run a great business. I am a retired insurance owner, agent, broker, so I explain all of the insurance coverage they will need each step of the way to protect their businesses and families. I tell stories of my own experiences and most find humor in my stories, so, yes, I can make people laugh. I have done public speaking for the Missouri Extension Service at their conferences, so, yes, attendees were interested in how I made my farm work very well. I shared everything I knew. I rather imagine from the questions they asked, I helped them change what they were doing for the best.