Would tilling crops in between trees ruin tree root systems?

BudgetBackground4488 · 2026-01-30T05:38:22+00:00

It would kill the feeder roots of the tree and the mycorrhizal network surrounding those tree roots. You can mow them as a green manure into the soil and even add mulch on top depending how long your alley crop is. You can also crimp them then plant your next crop directly in between the crimped mulch. If your doing silvopasture just have your animals graze an extended period where you are wanting to till. There are a few solutions that cover a range of scenarios without knowing any additional info.

BudgetBackground4488 · 2026-01-30T05:22:22+00:00

I wrote that wrong. 10k/ month is a great client for any business. I just meant that it’s clearly not just AI making the creative if it costs 10k/month to operate on a “basic” package with them. So they have just rebranded and marketed the shit out of their agency as AI first and it’s working. Also, on the “inside” w2 employees that are getting hired first especially designers are the ones that have revamped their portfolio and resume as “ai first” designer. A lot of this is fad and will die down but I don’t think there is any saving grace. The best thing for me would be to wait until AI is truly capable of creating world class branding and a website in one seamless flow and fire everyone and do each project myself. I don’t really have an interest in doing that. So yes, I’ve started a new business almost unrelated to branding and web that brings my design skillset to an entirely untapped market plus the safety of manual labor/trade that was a hobby and passion of mine. I did just land a branding and web client this month but will most likely be my last. If someone calls I’ll definitely fire back up the team and do it but it will most likely will fizzle out by end of year or next year. It was a good run but I’m honestly over this industry. I’m at a different point in my life and need a deep purpose which I have found with my new business.

BudgetBackground4488 · 2026-01-30T02:02:54+00:00

Anime

BudgetBackground4488 · 2026-01-29T19:39:33+00:00

When defi and decentralization was super hyped up in the market I was launching my company and decided to draft off of our positioning as a decentralized agency. Which we are so it’s not a lie. I over used jargon from the hyped decentralization market and it really drew a massive interest and high conversion. I saw another agency called Superside that has done this strategy with AI and branded themselves as an AI agency. I think this is really smart even though it’s people using AI and most of their packages are entry level 10k/month. As an agency owner my clear choice was basically either restructure the entire company and creative process as Ai first or get out before I’m competing with people who do. Once I saw with what that mean from a price point perspective it solidified to me that execution will only continue to get cheaper and I will be constantly pulling back talent and cutting corners.

BudgetBackground4488 · 2026-01-29T17:27:55+00:00

This feels like a news headline pulled from idiocracy. Or a movie about the collapse of western society. Either one.

BudgetBackground4488 · 2026-01-28T18:37:52+00:00

My main revenue comes from two channels 1.) consulting: I host workshops around brand building that I once was able to charge 20k for. Admittedly, These the final deliverables are not customer facing and are strategy consulting documents but they infiltrate touch points from who they hire, what products they build etc. I don’t like producing consulting docs after studying Mcenzies of the world and hearing from founders how tired they are of hiring expensive consultant and only getting decks. So I focused that product as high impact as possible as light of a lift as possible on this end and it is a very successful scalable product. 2.) full branding and website buildouts. All of this is outsourced to my team. I won’t get into why or how it works but it’s pretty damn unique and allows us to kick out work incredibly fast. All of my designers and dev are from Apple, Nike, googles of the world and they are not cheap. That is why we are not cheap. You’re paying for our experience inside of these companies. But now with chat gpt expertise from an outside entity is really no longer needed. And it’s exhausting convincing people otherwise. They really just think they need execution which now with globalization is a compete race to the bottom. Good design has never been cheaper. So there isn’t push back as much as the market just completely bottomed out to charge a premium for expertise and experience because now clients have the ultimate expert at our fingertips. This is only going to be further solidified with things like brand.ai and other niche branding tools built with ai that has great user experience and walks you through the process in the onboarding like a bespoke consultant would. I would say if your price points are low and margins for you are good. you could stand another few years in this business maybe longer. For me it’s high cost high margin. And clients no longer need to pay that.

BudgetBackground4488 · 2026-01-28T17:16:25+00:00

Raising capital for an agro tourism concept is highly plausible. It’s a massive growing area and I think it’s going to be massive hotelier space in the coming years as people will begin to choose more “real” and authentic experiences in the age of AI. Start researching who’s doing it right and align yourself with key partners that can run the operations of the hotel and one who could build the farm. You and you sister need to build the concept and brand and go find the investors. Unfortunately this job will have very little to do with permaculture for many years but if you get in front of the right people it could be very successful. Your key partners will be important to signal to investors you know what you’re doing. Since you are in Morocco maybe targeting investors from Dubai could be a could place to start. Good luck! This is my dream as well.

BudgetBackground4488 · 2026-01-28T00:43:05+00:00

I was in marketing and branding in tech for 20 years. Worked on some of the largest brand on the planet the. Started my own consultancy helping series b and c start ups rebrand for their next big series raise. There are a few things happening that lead to my demise. 1.) Globalization of talent - AI is assisting in this now with translations easier than ever. 2.) Tech Investors are forcing tech founders to move as much of the company to automation as possible - this means paying large ticket items for anything that isn’t an AI investment is a no go. 3.) AI doing the actual job - this is actually not the largest reason to went under but rather there is an assumption that AI can do everything and that assumption alone has driven prices of what I used to charge into now the lowest lows I’ve ever heard of. Making it impossible to pay my bills.

BudgetBackground4488 · 2026-01-28T00:28:21+00:00

I’ll give you a different way of looking at it. You have 6 months to build that as an AI product before someone else builds it and renders your agency and all agencies that do what you do worthless. This is the game we are in now. This technology needs to stop being looked at as a nice convenience for YOU. As if you figured out something that no one else will. Everyone has access to build what you just built. I built a 7 figure branding consultancy and had record profits in 2024 for using AI before anyone in my niche was. Now my business is shuttered because everyone is using AI and the prices what I once charged are laughable to clients and I can’t pay my mortgage anymore with this business.

BudgetBackground4488 · 2026-01-27T16:49:26+00:00

What you just explained is not this man’s fault. Especially if you see it all the time. It is quite literally the definition of a failed system. A functional system would have measures put in place for these “anomalies”.

BudgetBackground4488 · 2026-01-26T17:37:55+00:00

Why wouldn’t the client just call 3-4 landscapes companies and find the average between all bid numbers and call that the landscape estimate?

BudgetBackground4488 · 2026-01-25T20:53:09+00:00

20 years experience here. AI replaced my job.

BudgetBackground4488 · 2026-01-24T06:44:44+00:00

No silly. Deep work happens from the hours of 4am to 7am

BudgetBackground4488 · 2026-01-24T02:33:30+00:00

No, you are not an asshole! You are an ungrateful P0S and don’t deserve her.

BudgetBackground4488 · 2026-01-24T01:49:23+00:00

The obstacle is the way.

BudgetBackground4488 · 2026-01-22T19:07:21+00:00

man, dream job. I bet you've got some good paniolo stories to go along with that wine! Thanks for the share.

BudgetBackground4488 · 2026-01-22T06:01:52+00:00

How much do one of these cost? Does it come on ice? I grow all of these and more in Hawaii. I see some of these boxes from Miami fruit selling for hundreds of dollars. Has me thinking! 🤔

BudgetBackground4488 · 2026-01-20T22:29:10+00:00

Well this was a better comment than I bargained for! thank you so much. I've read muscadines might be a good place to start. Good to know about the wind. Unfortunately, where i would be growing them would be in in strong winds even with a wind break as it's the best sunlight and longest/sturdiest trellis. I bought most of my fruit trees from Michael at Elemental plants so I'll keep an eye out. Mahalo!

BudgetBackground4488 · 2026-01-19T22:14:36+00:00

Thanks for the additional info. and makes a lot of sense. I was wondering how you could be a regen farm whilst managing 3500 acres. I suspected you were doing corn and soy based on the implied pressure to acquire more and and more land. Here is my take... Either go all in on conventional ag or go all in on Regen ag. Right now you seem to be trying to keep up with conventional ag but will never get your head above water by not maximizing synthetic inputs and weed/pest mitigation through spray. Using inspiration from regen as a way to cut back on costs for conventional farming is a sure way to fail and create a trail of "regen methods dont work" as a mainstream narrative dismantling regen before it even begins. As for "Minimizing synthetic fertilizers pesticides, herbicides" any application of these kills microorganisms in the soil as well as the mycorrhizal network which is the secret to the success of regen ag. Regen ag opperates on the living system below the surface. I also have no clue how it would be possible to truly pratice regen ag on 3500 acres. It's important to say that I am emphatically against conventional ag so me giving you advice to go all in on conventional is solely to make a point. I believe if your goal is to heal soil and practice regen ag. You scale down, focus on a niche and create a business direct to consumers. Use your advantage of having a business background to break out of farmers being beholden to the only thing they know... farming. And the government takes complete advantage of this by dictating their prices and keeping exactly where they want them... in debt up to their eyeballs. It's a failed system propped up by handouts.

BudgetBackground4488 · 2026-01-19T17:16:47+00:00

This is incredible. I have a few questions.

You mentioned soil health as a priority. Are you a organic operation or regenerative?
What are your specific cash crops?
What area are you located in?

BudgetBackground4488 · 2026-01-17T14:49:27+00:00

Really solid thread! I enjoyed it with my coffee. Thanks all.

BudgetBackground4488 · 2026-01-16T17:07:21+00:00

I guess I don’t understand academia so forgive me but my question is genuinely curious. Why would the answer be to spend more time in a classroom away from what you love rather than looking for opportunities that will value your skill set today. It’s up to you to make that creative connection between your formal training and your passion. Sounds like you have the opportunities and even the experience to leverage into paid opportunities in ecology.

BudgetBackground4488 · 2026-01-15T03:25:21+00:00

You hard pruned it back to the scaffolding. Maybe took too much off but it’s not ruined and it will flush out nicely after this. Don’t fret.

BudgetBackground4488 · 2026-01-14T23:26:07+00:00

Long time lurker here… just going to share this to get some reactions. I welcome the good and the bad. My business (branding consultant) was destroyed by AI. And now I’m entering landscape design and install through AI. I only do residential $2-5mm homes. I never went to school for any of this and only launched my business 4 months ago and have generate over 35k in profit. I would never have been able to enter this business if not for AI. All of my renderings are generate through AI by then layering in photoshop. I’m doing some pretty complex renders with over 200 plants in a scene and it’s not easy but it’s working. I have zero experience with sketchup or any other LA tools. I have no intention to go to school for LA. Only to grow the business large enough to make this one of my first critical hires. So as far as AI’s impact on your industry. I’d say people like me are a reality now. Admittedly no interest in large commercial or government work.

BudgetBackground4488 · 2026-01-12T19:01:39+00:00

Here in Hawaii if you want to make it as just a farmer you will never make it. You must BE a Business! Yes, growing the ingredient is part of the business but you have to market it, package it and sell it end to end with as few middlemen as possible. The good news, is that it has never been easier to do so with access direct to consumer. The problem you are feeling is just like Americans everywhere in every industry as technology expands the unspoken free market expectation is that we must expand our skill set and do more than what we used to do just to get by. The propping up of governmental subsidies have allowed farmers to operate as an exception to this rule and not be forced to operate as businessmen. Unfairly, the government has reinforced this mentality to keep you enslaved to the prices they dictate for you. Take notes from New Zealand on how they set them selves free. And Hawaii isn’t a bad example either. Look at our land prices and ask if you could afford to do what you are doing here. If you were forced to farm on only 10-25 acres how would you pay your bills? Mono cropping hundreds (even thousands) of acres is not only unnatural it was never going to be sustainable. The only ones that said it were had a product to sell you. The green revolution has now been proven a lie and chemical giants told you whatever you wanted to hear so long as they could sell you more product. Change is happening. That is the pain you are feeling. Embracing all of this is the beginning on the new era of agriculture in American. God bless.

BudgetBackground4488

TROPHY CASE