Starting Farm Questions

KrisB

KrisB

Ten Pointer
Hey, everybody,

I'm back East visiting family for Thanksgiving (NC, MD, and FL), then I go back to the dairy goat farm I'm interning on in WA on Dec. 11th. I've been really enjoying my time out there and it's affirmed that I definitely want to farm to make a living, or at least part of a living. I've been getting experience with dairy goats, pasture-raised meat chickens, packing eggs, and selling raw goats' milk, goats' milk soap, eggs, and chicken meat at farmers' markets in Seattle (the farm is about an hour away from the city). Also earning a little money part-time doing a newspaper delivery route. I will probably be doing the farm interning there until sometime in the spring. Might leave earlier to go intern on some other farms to get some experience with other kinds of farming and skills (sheep, vegetable/produce, learn some carpentry skills, etc.). Also looking around at jobs to apply to so I can save up more money for my own farm.

Anyway, I'm hoping that after the internship(s), I can somehow get going with my own farm. People have said that it's very hard to get started farming nowadays, but one of the farmers at the farmers' market was very encouraging when I talked to him about it and he said "don't take 'no' for an answer; if it's what you really want, make it happen." Since land is so expensive in many areas, I've seen a couple alternative options to buying land: Being matched as a new farmer with an older farmer looking to retire from farming, but who wants to transfer his/her farm to someone who will continue farming the land. In many cases, it seems like farmers' kids don't want to farm, so passing the farm on to a non-relative is a growing trend. I know you can also lease land to farm and one farmer/sheep-shearer I talked to recently at a fiber festival in Oregon said he literally knocks on people's doors and asks if he can run sheep on their land. Some will let him do it for free and others' will ask for something in return (free eggs, chicken meat, something like that).

Anyway, I've seen people on here give good advice about buying a home or land, so I wanted to ask y'all: Does anyone have any advice they'd give to a new person who wants to start a farm? How would you get started? How would you find land or a farm? How would you fund getting or renting a farm? Any other advice?
 
Last edited:
KrisB

KrisB

Ten Pointer
surveyor said:
Where do you want to farm?
Click to expand...
I'm thinking about the Pacific Northwest because I really like it out there, but I'm open to going elsewhere that would be more affordable. Land and the cost of living are super expensive there, especially near the cities, but then the cities are where your customers are. Bit of a catch-22 it seems like. I love North Carolina, but it seems like it's getting overcrowded with all the people moving here.
 
Southern

Southern

Ten Pointer
All I can say is good luck. Dont give up but know it will be a steep climb. The good thing is that you can make a living on an acre of good land. While I dont call that farming per se, intensely managed small plots can produce a living if managed right. It used to be you could buy a decent little house and get 5-10 acres for the price of the house but not anymore
 
darkthirty

darkthirty

Old Mossy Horns
Honestly, profit margins are slim to begin with. I’d get the hell out of the north west as far as from a buying land perspective. Nowadays, any major city in the country is gonna have the consumer base you need to make a profit in the way it seems your looking to do.
All kinds of things to do. It baffles me still to see what folks are willing to pay to do things such as learning to process their own chickens and such.
Honestly, let’s face it, most of the “farm to table” movement is, is capitalizing on others ignorance of agriculture and your basically taking advantage of their ignorance, or in some cases, stupidity by over charging for something us “country folk” have done or are our whole life.

Classic example without getting on a soapbox: I could go to downtown Knoxville and set up at the farmers market and charge a premium by selling “non GMO” popcorn. News flash, there’s no such thing as “GMO” popcorn. It simply does not exist. Now, my question is, do you truly advocate agriculture and education and inform your consumers of this? Or do you simply go about your business of extreme overcharging for a item simply because your consumer is clueless???
 
Soilman

Soilman

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Check with Natural Resources Conservation Service. Not my end of things but we use to have a program specifically for brand new farmers that was pretty generous. And yes, without inheriting, or good backing it’s hard to just start farming from scratch. My advice is, start small with some kind of specialty that is in demand with good profit margins near enough to bigger cities to attract their patronage.
 
specialk

specialk

Twelve Pointer
good luck out there, WA and OR are slowly becoming CA....got a step bro in richland that works at the nuclear plant there and he says it's becoming a craphole out there.....
 
YanceyGreenhorn

YanceyGreenhorn

Still Not a Moderator
darkthirty said:
Honestly, profit margins are slim to begin with. I’d get the hell out of the north west as far as from a buying land perspective. Nowadays, any major city in the country is gonna have the consumer base you need to make a profit in the way it seems your looking to do.
All kinds of things to do. It baffles me still to see what folks are willing to pay to do things such as learning to process their own chickens and such.
Honestly, let’s face it, most of the “farm to table” movement is, is capitalizing on others ignorance of agriculture and your basically taking advantage of their ignorance, or in some cases, stupidity by over charging for something us “country folk” have done or are our whole life.

Classic example without getting on a soapbox: I could go to downtown Knoxville and set up at the farmers market and charge a premium by selling “non GMO” popcorn. News flash, there’s no such thing as “GMO” popcorn. It simply does not exist. Now, my question is, do you truly advocate agriculture and education and inform your consumers of this? Or do you simply go about your business of extreme overcharging for a item simply because your consumer is clueless???
Click to expand...
Let’s go halves on fuel and carpool. I’ll bring my cage free kettle corn
 
bwfarms

bwfarms

Old Mossy Horns
Obstacles now are a lot harder than when I started in 2011. I had a head start with cattle experience and access to land. I built from the bottom, it was not easy but my skill sets minimized problems.

Today I have the equipment to expand my current size but land prices outpaced my growth and rental ground tied up by everyone else. Rising input costs is making it worse. I need to grow and it’s very hard to do here.

Set goals; 1 year, 5 year, 10 year, etc. Reevaluate often and add more goals as you achieve others.

Have a business plan. Know your commodity and how to market. Be flexible and adapt to changes in demand.

Understand in the beginning you will need a day job. If you don’t approach farming as a business it will be a side job or lifestyle for a while if not forever.

Capital is necessary but the less operating loans you take the better off you are, especially now with interest rates. Financing equipment is okay but don’t buy unless it absolutely pays for itself. Having cash saved for the bad years and unexpected… it will happen so it’s expected.

Failure is expected, how you handle it determines your success.

Small farms are becoming more of a lifestyle than a living.
 
Eric Revo

Eric Revo

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Imaginative farming like organic ginger, valerian root, superhot peppers, ect can be very profitable in the right climate on very little land. I'd figure out what you want to farm to live and then figure out where to live. Low profit crops are going to take a lot of land.
 

timber

Twelve Pointer
There are were a lot of programs to help young people,women , minorities and indians get started into farming. Like sombody mentioned you need figure out where you want to do it at. Then establish some kind of plan on the hows at whats you want to raise. There are a lot of cost share programs through the government its just something you have to do some leg work to find out whats out there. I guessing it still avaliable but they had a program for greenhouse or hoop house where they would pay for it but you had rules to follow. Dont think you could heat it or grow things in pots with it. Ever what you grow in it suppos to ne planted in the ground. Some of there programs they will pay 80% of the cost. If you fall into some of the special groups think they go higher percentage
 
kilerhamilton

kilerhamilton

Old Mossy Horns
No genius here. 200k for land/home. 5$ 1/2 gal milk
5$ a doz eggs
We will cancel all cost of start up for fun. You need.. 500$ a week income.
1000$/5$=200 units biweekly. Or 100 units a week. That’s living slim pickings with original cost.
In Pittsboro you can be housed and paid to work on a farm and enjoy your passion. You don’t won’t to own a farm in my shallow opinion. Unless you are land mortgage free or.. love floating big big bills and debt doesn’t make you feel weird.
I hope honestly the best for your perused dreams.
 
Hunterreed

Hunterreed

Twelve Pointer
If you are going to try small animals products or grow produce you will want to be near larger populations or near your larger urban cities because that's the where your customers will be. It's hard to sell stuff to country folk especially the higher priced organic products. Cruise the farmers markets regularly and get to know the sellers and you may find what products are popular. May end up being supplemental income for your main occupation until you find that niche that works for your area. You are going to need to have customers or find a demand for what you want to produce before you put a lot of capital in anything and going in debt to startup something is very iffy for farming small scale
 

timber

Twelve Pointer
You don’t have to spend a fortune to get started. Rent a few acres to see how it goes before buying. No clue what farm land rents for out on west coast but around here 140 to 150 a acre probably about average. Some more some less but most in that range. Finding a small average with water source might take a little work. Use drip irrigation takes a lot less water supply. With weather here in NC would be hard to grow vegetables and be profitable just depending on a rain. I think most important part is having a good market. Sometimes a farmers market will do ok but you need some other avenues to sell besides that. I raised about 5 acres of vegetables for a while. The easiest money came from the ones that came to the farm. They would usually buy in bulk. A lot of the farmers market sells were small quantities.
 
wcjones

wcjones

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
Mack in N.C. said:
Grow Hemp............ one of my employees works part time at a Hemp Farm near Siler city and that farm makes Bank.
Click to expand...
I would be interested to know what farm. Everyone I’ve talked to who got into the hemp business has lost their tail. The only ones I’ve heard of making bank are the few that grow clones for resale or have their own processing facilities. Even the ones with their own processing facilities needed to have some direct access to consumers
 
Loganwayne

Loganwayne

Ten Pointer
I think you need to settle in what you want to farm animals or vegetables. Both have pros and cons. It's all do able with some good marketing strategies. There is a guy in I thunk Raleigh that has three green houses or tunnels in his back yard and does nothing but grow salad greens and it's his full time job and makes decent money.
 
Helium

Helium

Old Mossy Horns
timber said:
There are were a lot of programs to help young people,women , minorities and indians get started into farming. Like sombody mentioned you need figure out where you want to do it at. Then establish some kind of plan on the hows at whats you want to raise. There are a lot of cost share programs through the government its just something you have to do some leg work to find out whats out there. I guessing it still avaliable but they had a program for greenhouse or hoop house where they would pay for it but you had rules to follow. Dont think you could heat it or grow things in pots with it. Ever what you grow in it suppos to ne planted in the ground. Some of there programs they will pay 80% of the cost. If you fall into some of the special groups think they go higher percentage
Click to expand...
Where do I apply?? Being a newly discovered black woman
 

Mack in N.C.

Old Mossy Horns
wcjones said:
I would be interested to know what farm. Everyone I’ve talked to who got into the hemp business has lost their tail. The only ones I’ve heard of making bank are the few that grow clones for resale or have their own processing facilities. Even the ones with their own processing facilities needed to have some direct access to consumers
Click to expand...
I dont know the name of of it my my employee says she has buyers houding her for more hemp. He was a NCstate football player in the 80's then worked at NCstate on one of their experimental ag farms then retired then came to work for me. He grew up on a farm and has a gift of growing whatever you want to plant. pretty sure he told me she has contracts and they buy all she can grow and want her to grow more.
 

Mack in N.C.

Old Mossy Horns
woodmoose said:
so in other words,,,, "hearsay",,,,
Click to expand...
no it is not hearsay. this man knows farming. she makes good money . she did not have as much success until she hired him to help her and show her the correct ways to grow it. shes made enough to buy the land and build a house out there so she doesnt have to travel there.
 
woodmoose

woodmoose

Administrator
Staff member
Contributor
Mack in N.C. said:
no it is not hearsay. this man knows farming. she makes good money . she did not have as much success until she hired him to help her and show her the correct ways to grow it. shes made enough to buy the land and build a house out there so she doesnt have to travel there.
Click to expand...


did not mean to grump ya - I was referring to your comment was hearsay since you didn't have 1st hand knowledge - I have no doubt the fellow knows his stuff, likely best in the state - but when a person doesn't have facts (like the name of the Farm/company) it then becomes hearsay,,,

sorry to tick you off, not my intent
 

Mack in N.C.

Old Mossy Horns
didnt tick me off, i just find it funny and odd on here that sooooooooo many people on here always question stuff on here. Its kinda like they are know it alls of wanna be know it alls. thats all.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top