We make a little money by almost completely eliminating production costs and effort. That for a start means little if any food. Produce is just too much effort to produce and when it's ready to sell, it has to sell. That sometimes means lowering the price, giving it away or composting it. No profit at all in that. Dealing with food in general especially any kind of meat leads to issues with safety and regulations, more time and trouble than it's worth on a small scale and one acre is small scale. I've never known anyone, producer or customer that was happy with a CSA but that might be different in a more urban and affluent area than mine.
We don't do farmer markets but instead yard sales, swap meets and flea markets. Our products are for the most part free to produce so sales are nearly 100% profit except for the gas to transport. We do not use greenhouses; we don't buy potting soil or anything else. We focus a lot on some of the following.
Perennial flowers that we simply dig up and divide from our established patches. Hosta, Iris, Peonies are good sellers and it they don't sell we take them home and place in our "holding pens" till next time.
People seem to love hens and chickens plants, they multiply on their own and sell great. It's amazing what someone might pay for an old shoe or toy with a couple hens and chickens' plants in it. Actually, any winter hardy, self-propagating succulent plant including prickly pear sells like crazy.
Trees are big sellers; I simply collect seeds of maple, tulip poplar, pecan, magnolia, red bud and so on and direct plant them in garden beds. It's free and very little work, they sell easily bare root for up to five dollars apiece.
We do some spring transplants, primarily tomatoes, sold as pulled plants wrapped in in moist newspaper with a little soil. Five bucks for six plants and if they don't sell, compost.
Herbs are big, sometimes as freshly started plants but many like thyme, winter savory and sage can be easily propagated by staking down side branches in the fall and letting them root into new larger plants.
Wildflowers, especially perennials are gold, these include Virginia Bluebells, columbine, wild daises, purple coneflower and more.
Perennial garlic and onion bulbils sell good, not for immediate use as food but to plant. They would actually do better for the customer if sold "as is" to plant themselves but people seem more likely to buy and pay more if they are stuck in a little pot already growing, go figure.
The only foods we dabble in are flavored salts. Grind up some garlic or onion with some quality sea salt and dry it, then regrind, people love it. Dried pepper flakes of various heat levels sell good too.
The only "produce" we sell occasionally, once again isn't for food but decorations. This is mostly ornamental corn and squash. I'm developing a line of popcorn and have aspirations of doing the same with squash where it is both good as food and decorations. Customers don't want the food though, or at least won't pay as much for it so they don't have to know they can eat it unless they ask. They can also, if they ask, plant the seeds and not have to buy it anymore.
We like to garden, and we end up with most of this stuff anyway. It needs divided and thinned anyway. Once it's established its free to produce. So, the path we have taken and that is working pretty well is eliminate as much as possible the expense and effort to produce. The minute you buy something to help increase or improve production you've move into commitment and pressure to make it work and we didn't like that at all.
Most any pots we need are accumulated from other people's discards. The sea salt and bottles cost a bit but selling a half dozen bottles gets it all back, so the next 100 are all profit.
Growing conditions, market availability and customer preferences may be completely different where you live but I suspect with a little observation and assessment you can find some easy high profit things to focus on too.
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