I come from at least three generations of cattle farmers. My dad had to work a tool and die job, because unlike his father, it was already not possible to raise a family via family farm.
I actually think the trend is starting to reverse. At least in the area where I live in Ashland, OR where I have a 10-acre farm.
What I'm seeing is products are becoming more and more niche. Kind of like how craft beers became a thing. I think it's easier than ever for a farm to create specialized products and sell them directly to consumers. Before this way of ecommerce tools, it was nearly impossible for a small farm to sell without a broker or distributor or wholesaler. These people consolidated to give pricing power ie Tyson Foods which then forces farms to consolidate in this race to the bottom.
By eliminating middlemen, direct to consumer sales is better for the consumer. It's cheaper and products are better and more specific. In my industry distributors want to make 15% and retailers want 40%. Paying for the shipping is almost always cheaper than buying it in a store. You'll also generally get better products.
Really the only reason to buy from a store is convenience.
In the short or medium term, do you think going niche can be a viable family business 2.0? Has it been challenging having to manage the customer side of things?
No. I made a hemp business called Plain Jane (https://tryplainjane.com). We started living on someone else's family hemp farm and selling their hemp. We then started sourcing from other family farms in the area and got our own manufacturing facility. We now source from 12+ family farms. For many of them, growing hemp is their sole income.
We started our own farm a few months ago to meet the increasing demand. In general, this is how I see it playing out in rural areas. Brands will be able to start in rural areas and then sell direct to consumer while sourcing locally. I know a winery and a smoked meats company that operate similarly in my county.
It's really brutal.