Watney Labs

Farming part-time for income

Updated Sep 29, 2026

Seeking

  • 0-5 Total acres
  • 0-5 Acres of cropland or tillable land
C

Chad Vanden Bosch

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Desired locations

I'm Chad from Watney Labs. We're looking to lease roughly 2 to5 tillable acres near the Triangle for field crop testing.

Plan

Watney Labs is looking to lease roughly 2 to 5 tillable acres near the Triangle for a private row crop testing (research plots, not commercial grain). Ideally, we would like plus space for a small office, storage, and conditioned storage.

Desired infrastructure

  • Farm equipment
  • Cold storage (cooler/freezer)

Preferred type of opportunity

  • Lease (1 to 5 Years)

Desired farming practices

  • Conventional

Production goals

  • Field crops

Goals details

Watney Labs is a North Carolina plant breeding company, organized as an LLC, that develops soybean and winter wheat varieties for the Southeast US. Its pipeline starts in controlled environments, where crosses are made and generations advanced, and moves to field evaluation in 2027.

Farm experience

Years of experience

10 total years of experience

5 years employed as a worker (non-manager)

5 years as a manager

Education, training, and employment experience

  • Formal agricultural education (AA, BS, MS, PhD)

Experience details

Education Supporting Hands-On Farming

  • B.S. in Horticulture, Michigan State University. Emphasis on plant breeding and biotechnology; foundation in crop production and plant propagation.
  • M.S. in Biology, University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Emphasis on plant physiology; applied research growing crops under controlled conditions.
  • General Education, Grand Rapids Community College. Emphasis on ecology.

Field Production and Land Management

  • Managed 20 acres of trial fields at Spring Meadow Nursery (2014–2018).
  • Oversaw 8 acres of display gardens.
  • Ran field trials rating crops for health, uniformity, and yield.

Greenhouse Crop Production

  • Scheduled, propagated, grew, and optimized more than 1,000 edible and ornamental crops each year in controlled-environment greenhouses.
  • Operated greenhouse environmental controls to maintain growing conditions.
  • Managed irrigation systems and watering programs.
  • Wrote growth recipes and standard operating procedures for crop production.

Plant Propagation and Establishment

  • Propagated a large and diverse crop collection every year.
  • Sourced, imported, quarantined, and established new plant material from breeders worldwide.
  • Moved new selections into ongoing production and trial systems.

Pest and Plant Health Management

  • Ran integrated pest management (IPM) programs for greenhouse and field crops.
  • Ran plant health programs, including quarantine procedures for incoming plants.

Crop Evaluation and Yield Tracking

  • Designed data systems to record crop performance, health, uniformity, and yield.

     

Desired locations

  • Wake