22/01/2025
Firefly Farm, an environmental farm, presents a unique chance to lease a fully established, working, micro market farm with 3 acres MOL under cultivation. A second-generation family farm, Firefly has built an impressive reputation over the last decade as an heirloom tomato farm that uses organic and regenerative practices.
Farm infrastructure includes a climate-controlled Seed House, which doubles as the Wash & Pack and Office. The Seed House has a 96-tray commercial germination chamber; a substantial inventory of 72-cell Winstrip and 1020 trays (mesh, slotted, and solid); a 72-cell swift blocker for making Eliott Coleman’s soil blocks en masse; a paper pot system; a single-row “Jang” seeder with several different wheels to accommodate various seed sizes; a six-point seeder, and a propane “Hot Dawg” heated, propagation tunnel with five tables and an irrigation system.
There is a formal hardening-off area with several tables adjacent to the propagation tunnel. There are numerous hand-watering devices in this part of the farm to supplement the irrigation spinners. Farm lease includes access to a large seed inventory including production and cover crops. Care and sales of the established perennial vegetables, fruits, and flowers are included in the lease.
The growing field consists of eight 50’ by 50’ quadrants with 30” rows. There are raised beds and drainage swales to accommodate the heavy rains created by recent climate change that have on occasion, in the past, affected our farm. There is a water well to feed the “Netafim” irrigation system (water has been tested as approved for agricultural use as required by the Food Safety and Modernization Act [FSMA]) with two permanent lines on 6” emitter spacing for each row. There is also a one-year-old “Morgan Seed” 36’ x 100’ high tunnel with drop-down curtains and three “Farmers Friend” 16’ x 100’ caterpillar tunnels (several years old with new plastic purchased and ready to be installed) with roll-up curtains. All tunnels have shade cloth attached. There is a large inventory of Roller-Hooks for use on vertically grown crops in the tunnels. There are four+ outside grow areas, one of which, a 50’ X 50’ plot, has a productive Purple Passion asparagus program. There are enough T-posts and rebar to create Florida weave trellis systems on all outside crops. A small tool shed next to the growing field houses assorted hand tools and materials included in the lease.
The farm’s fertilization program is composed of an established leaf and grass compost system. Use of a “Walker” zero-turn lawn mower and electric w**d eaters for mowing and w**d eating of the farm’s grounds by the lessee during the term of the lease is a must for customer aesthetics and to gather the nitrogen inputs required for the compost program. There are also five thriving honey bee hives on the farm to facilitate crop pollination. The farm has been listed on Drift Watch for several years.
Use of an L33 “Kubota” tractor with a bucket is available for working and turning the compost. There is also a compost thermometer and soil core sampler available for testing the soil in this program. There is a modified manure spreader that can be attached to a four wheeler to lay the compost in 30” swaths down each row. There is a pull-behind, 30” raised row shaper attachment for use with the “Kubota” as well. Additionally, there is a “BCS” 710 walk-behind tractor, plus many hand tools, including a broad fork, tilther, “Neversink” gridder and pacifist hoes, and several other types of hoes and hand w**ders, a w**d burner, silage tarps, lots of 10-year landscape cloth (1-year-old) with anchors, and some low, home-made hoops w/frost cloth, insect netting, and shade cloth. There is a one-ton farm truck that can be used to haul various items on an as-needed basis.
There are two manual harvest carts, “Roo” aprons, a tomato bucket, and various clippers for harvesting. The collapsible harvest crates have been standardized for ease of use when figuring tare weights and there is an adequate inventory to accommodate production. The Wash-and-Pack House, includes a 3-hole sink, two certified scales, a Cool-Bot controlled walk-in cooler, and a packaging island with bags, green pulp boxes in three sizes, and two sizes of cardboard boxes. The farm has been working diligently to create a food safety program, which is a work in progress. A separate building, the Food Hub’s Tiny Market, houses coolers and shelving for contactless order pick-up by neighborhood retail customers in an HVAC controlled, attractive environment. There is a late model farm delivery van with branding available for use when driving to events, farmers’ markets, and pop-up sales.
Firefly Farm is also the home of Firefly Food Hub. The owner would like to retain ownership of this business for the near term but would be willing to funnel the farm’s products into the system for a sales fee. The system includes an online ordering and payment platform, an extensive library of product photographs, established relationships with about 30 local restaurant customers, a school system, two food banks, and a fairly new retail program. Last year, we published our first, full-color, product catalog based on projected harvest dates for all participating farms. This built-in sales program allows the lessee to focus on crop production with the assurance that their crops will sell.
A beloved, urban farm situated between Wichita and Andover, Kansas, that holds special memories for many people in the area, Firefly is home to three annual festivals that include other local vendors and draws thousands of visitors each year. There is the Earth Day Festival and Starter Plant Sale in the Spring, the Tomato Festival and Sale in the Summer, and the Sweet Potato Festival and Thanksgiving Sale in the Fall. In addition, in the past, we have held very popular monthly farmers’ markets in the farm yard and farm-to-table dinners in the barn. All of the equipment for these events are in storage and available for use by the lessee if building out an agritourism program is desired.
The Seed/Wash&Pack House also contains a small farm office with computer desk, extra keyboard, printer and photocopier, file cabinet, and shredder. The farm has focused on developing the business side of farming in recent years. Firefly is a registered Limited Liability Corporation (LLC) in good standing with the Kansas Secretary of State and has accounts in good standing with the state department of revenue and labor. Firefly has maintained a state Live Plant Dealers’ License for several years to accommodate our spring event: Earth Day Celebration and Starter Plant Sale. The farm has extensive crop plan records, production records, and sales records. We have a farm budget in place that has been created from historical data and is reviewed quarterly for course corrections as necessary. Firefly has been successful in writing and winning various grants over the years. Review of financial data is available with serious inquiries only.
In recent years, the farm has created an ordering and inventory system to keep track of assets and consumables. HR policies, job descriptions, review processes, and an employee manual have all been created and are in use today. This winter will find us focusing on documenting standard operating procedures (SOPs) and a harvest manual. The farm uses “Google Workspace” for company emails, document creation and storage, lists, calendars, etc. We have templates for employee contact lists and employee scheduling and a calendar for documenting absences and time off requests. We use an online time clock and a payroll company that directly deposits employee payroll.
In addition to the development of the business, Firefly Farm has been working steadily on our Google listing, web page, social media presence, corporate messaging, brand image, print media, and promotional materials. We have been covered in television and print news stories too numerous to mention. We have won the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) Urban Conservation Award for our work at Firefly Farm. Firefly Farm is a registered agritourism destination with the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks, a member of From the Land of Kansas, the Kansas Specialty Crop Growers Association, Kansas Rural Center, and the local chapter of the Kansas Farmers’ Union. The farm has a social media presence on Facebook and Instagram with more than 3000 followers and high levels of engagement.
If you choose to utilize the built in brand recognition of Firefly Farm, you will have access to an established logo and highly functional website. This is a unique, turnkey opportunity to assume the full responsibility and all the rewards of farming nutrient dense, organically raised, local food.
Property owners Leah and Ron Garcia plan to continue living in their home on the farm’s five acres. The house, garage, and motorcycle shop are considered private buildings and are not part of the lease. The big barn, farm shop, and tractor shed may be considered shared spaces depending on how the lease is drawn up. The remaining buildings will be considered property of the lessee. A healthy respect for one another and a good understanding of expectations will ensure a positive working relationship.
Serious inquiries only to [email protected] 316.305.6609
fireflyfarmks.com/farmforlease/
