How to Make Money as a Worm Rancher - Part One

Selling earthworms is a perfect small business endeavor. You can start small and cheap with the knowledge that your stock replenishes itself. It's good money for teens needing spending money, for retirees seeking to supplement their fixed income, or for someone looking for a sideline with expansion potential.

You can do what we did as kids, gather earthworms on the lawn or under leaves for an extra $500 over a summer or, like a lady worm rancher in Grafton, Illinois does, raise the worms in a garage-type building in big 10'x5' beds.

I will assume for the purposes of this article that you want to launch this for pocket change, which is a perfectly plausible option, then reinvest to build the business.

THE MARKET

Fishermen buy this many worms? Absolutely. Many anglers won't use anything but live bait. But people getting ready for an outing often don't want to dig up the worms or raise them. They'd rather pay a buck or so and save themselves the bother..

But it isn't just fishermen. People are becoming increasingly aware of the other potentials.

Gardeners like earthworms because they aerate and enrich the soil. Some people want worms to feed their small animals or pet fish. The Grafton worm rancher I mentioned has a bird refuge as a client, where they need worms to feed their winged charges. Worms are invaluable in land restoration and I imagine someone is making some money at that somewhere. There's even a little device for kids that is the earthworm version of the famous Ant Farm.

Start with the more obvious options. You can sell worms retail to fishermen. You can also wholesale them at half-price to retail bait dealers, the advantage being that they buy a large lot at half-price rather than just one or two cans of worms at retail. As you expand, you can offer earthworms through the mail to people who want to set up their own bait business.