Practical Consulting for Organic and Market Garden Farms

I'm Ansel Bachman, founder & co-owner of Patriot Farms, LLC in Berks County, Pennsylvania — a USDA Certified Organic and Real Organic Project certified market garden operation I've been building since 2015. I'm an MGI-certified agricultural consultant through the Market Gardener Institute's CANOPY Leadership Program and bring nearly 13 years of professional land surveying experience alongside my farm background. I work with farms, nonprofits, and agricultural organizations across the Eastern Seaboard, from the Carolinas to Maine and west to Ohio, available for remote and on-site engagements within a day's drive.

What I Can Help With

My consulting work draws on real production experience — not theory. Every service I offer is something I do or have done at Patriot Farms.

Organic Certification & Compliance
Navigating USDA NOP certification, building and maintaining an Organic System Plan (OSP), input pre-approval, recordkeeping systems, and annual inspection preparation. I've worked under both Pennsylvania Certified Organic (PCO) and Baystate Organic Certifiers (BOC) and understand what certifiers expect.

Crop Planning & Succession Management
Building a realistic crop plan that fits your actual labor and infrastructure. I plan 60 crop varieties and 200+ successions annually and can help you design a system that's achievable rather than aspirational.

Individual Crop Budgeting & Profitability Analysis
Building detailed budgets for individual crops accounting for bed feet, succession timing, yield projections, pricing, and labor — so you know whether a crop is actually worth growing before you commit the space and time to it. Useful for farms evaluating new crops, rationalizing an existing lineup, or trying to understand why a high-volume crop isn't generating expected returns.

Microgreen Production & Wholesale Programs
From seeding density and variety selection to harvest, food safety, shelf life, and building a commercial wholesale account. I operate an active wholesale microgreens program and can help you build one from the ground up.

Specialty Hardneck Garlic Production
Multi-variety hardneck garlic production, scape timing across subgroups, harvest, curing, cleaning, storage, and contract production management. I grow 87 hardneck varieties and manage contracted delivery.

Agricultural Site Surveying & Farm Layout Planning
Site assessment, new farm layout, and farm plan drafting using personally-owned surveying equipment and AutoCAD software. Useful for new farm startups, infrastructure expansion, or reorganizing an existing operation.

Wash Pack Facility Design
Planning and layout of on-farm wash and pack facilities, including workflow design, water supply and drainage considerations, and infrastructure sequencing. Practical guidance for farms building new facilities or retrofitting existing space for post-harvest handling operations.

Nursery & Propagation Facility Design
Design and layout of on-farm propagation and nursery spaces, including heat mat placement, bench configuration, airflow, supplemental lighting, and staged transplant workflow across multiple structures. Built from hands-on experience running a dedicated propagation greenhouse integrated with a multi-tunnel production system.

Equipment Training
Hands-on BCS walk-behind tractor operation, implement selection, and field management training.

Experience & Credentials

I've been farming full-time since 2015 and held a parallel career as a surveying technician at Berks Surveying & Engineering, Inc. for nearly 13 years, where I specialized in agricultural and land development surveying. The consulting services I offer — from crop budgeting and wash pack design to propagation facility layout and microgreen wholesale programs — are drawn directly from systems I've built and use at Patriot Farms. Patriot Farms is USDA Certified Organic, Real Organic Project certified, and a member of Buy Fresh, Buy Local — Greater Lehigh Valley. I serve as Board Secretary for the Emmaus Farmers' Market and host annual farm tours for Rodale Institute Farmer Training (RIFT) program students. I also provide ongoing consulting to Tye's House, a veterans-focused 501(c)(3) nonprofit that trains veterans in agricultural production.

Get in Touch

Whether you're starting a new farm, transitioning to organic certification, building out a specialty crop program, or just need a second set of eyes on your operation — I'd like to hear from you. Fill out the form below and I'll be in touch within a few business days.