For some, the niche market is the production of an Identity Preserved crop like white corn or high lysine corn. For others it is catfish and shrimp farming. For still others it is entertainment activities like maize mazes, dude farms and fall apple and pumpkin patches. The problem with this is that for niche markets to be a general solution, there danged near have to be as many niches are there are farmers. If too many farmers decide to grow high lysine corn it quickly becomes a commodity like No. 2 yellow corn.
Niche markets work well only to the extent that they remain a niche.
This approach includes much of what has been called the last step of the industrialization of agriculture, except that farmers would likely grow the niche product to the specs of a contract with an end user. Not everyone can be an organic farmer. But this segment of agriculture is growing by leaps and bounds and thus CSAs and organics are absorbing more and more operations each year. As long as consumers are willing to pay a premium for organically grown foodstuffs, organic farming can turn an extra profit for a limited number of producers. But again, if more and more farmers become organic producers, organic products could also approach commodity status with little or no net premium for the producer.