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So you want to buy a farm?

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Re: So you want to buy a farm?

#91

I always laugh when someone who has never worked on a farm talks about buying one. Most farming is hard work, much harder than an office job. And most small farms do not make much money, especially if you don't know what you're doing. If you're thinking about it go get a job on one first before you buy anything.

I know some farmers and they all have one thing in common: they work around the clock, 7 days a week. No days off or vacations. Their farms might be worth millions, but it's also both their home and their job. Also, a lot of people don't get that a farm (anything other than subsistence farming) is a business. It requires careful long term planning, crop rotation, dealing with buyers, collectives, auctions, risk mitig…

My grandad was a small farmer in South Italy, and my parents used to curate the land they inherited (and some land they bought on their own).

Yup, it's a full time job, the land doesn't go on vacation.

Yes it can give enormous satisfaction. Every time I'm at the store buying fruit I sigh at how much fruits our grandad used to bring home, for free, it was way better than the fruit I guy at the grocery stores, and it was the surplus from the sales...

Re: So you want to buy a farm?

#92
post #52

I always laugh when someone who has never worked on a farm talks about buying one. Most farming is hard work, much harder than an office job. And most small farms do not make much money, especially if you don't know what you're doing. If you're thinking about it go get a job on one first before you buy anything.

Certainly it is a lot of work - bu if you're growing food for yourself and spend your days outside, why do you need to make much money?

In the US, you need decent cashflow to pay for healthcare. You probably also need to save for natural disasters or injuries that disable you. And if you have kids to support, even more costs.

Re: So you want to buy a farm?

#93

I'm starting to sell my city apartment this week and we are going to move to the country side to start a small scale farm! I've worked in the farm all my youth and this summer we lived on the place and did some small scale gardening. I don't have any (at least many) false thoughts about how cool and romantic it will be. It will be hard and frustrating at times but waay more fulfilling than the current tech job. We're…

Also his latest book Regenerative Agriculture. Mostly composed of varied farm enterprises with financial details amd so on. Pick and choose the enterprises that appeal to you and work with your land... e.g. market garden, tree nursery, pastured eggs and mushroom cultivation.

https://www.regenerativeagriculturebook.com/

Re: So you want to buy a farm?

#94

My friend Travis Corcoran recently ran a very successful Kickstarter — $95k+ raised — for a book called Escape the City which is a practical guide to the non-fantasy version of this dream. > Seven years ago I moved from the city to a farm where I taught myself to garden, raise animals & cook "farm to table". I show you how. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tjic/escape-the-city-a-... If you're interested there's a…

Why would someone need 90K to write a book while already having a profession?

Interviewing three people is also apparently worth 5K.

And the book's photos are black & white ...

Re: So you want to buy a farm?

#95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Selling the dream is always more profitable than living it.

It depends on what the dream is. Even you intend to become a hermit, you still need to pay taxes in most cases. That means you need to either sell your produce or make money through other means.

Or live in an area that'll let you put the property up as collateral to zero your taxes until you die.

Re: So you want to buy a farm?

#96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It depends on what the dream is. Even you intend to become a hermit, you still need to pay taxes in most cases. That means you need to either sell your produce or make money through other means.

Or live in an area that'll let you put the property up as collateral to zero your taxes until you die.

That sounds awesome. I wish there were places like that around here. :)

Re: So you want to buy a farm?

#97
post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Your experience would've been much different if your farm was in Bidar or Anantpur. I'm from the latter, own some ancestral land there. Here, we're always on the lookout for ways to counter the extreme aridity of the region. We know it's not easy and like asking the impossible.

Sameer Patil has effected a fairly amazing transformation at his farm somewhere up there I think. Take a look https://www.facebook.com/patilnaturefarms

Thanks for chiming in.

Sure I'll check out what they do and how they do it. I'm in the thick of it :)

Re: So you want to buy a farm?

#98
post #94

My friend Travis Corcoran recently ran a very successful Kickstarter — $95k+ raised — for a book called Escape the City which is a practical guide to the non-fantasy version of this dream. > Seven years ago I moved from the city to a farm where I taught myself to garden, raise animals & cook "farm to table". I show you how. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tjic/escape-the-city-a-... If you're interested there's a…

Why would someone need 90K to write a book while already having a profession? Interviewing three people is also apparently worth 5K. And the book's photos are black & white ...

For the same reason as raising a billion dollars of series A funding: it's not about what you need it's about what people will give you.

Despite all the defensive language, kickstarters are really pre-sales. 90k sales for a book is very respectable but not overwhelming. It means he's found a great market for this book.

Re: So you want to buy a farm?

#99

I'm starting to sell my city apartment this week and we are going to move to the country side to start a small scale farm! I've worked in the farm all my youth and this summer we lived on the place and did some small scale gardening. I don't have any (at least many) false thoughts about how cool and romantic it will be. It will be hard and frustrating at times but waay more fulfilling than the current tech job. We're…

How much land does one need to become self sufficient? Let's assume that means producing enough biomass to generate the resources necessary to have a surplus of food or money.

My relatives who run a farm (some tens of cows, pigs, chickens, various crops for sale and food) do it on I believe around 25 acres of farmland plus a few acres of forest (for firewood). They are able to sustain a family of 5 people (3 grown ups, 2 school age kids) this way, plus hire a few seasonal/part time workers.

It does require quite a bit of machinery though- several tractors plus all the attachments (plowing, harvesting, cutting etc).

Re: So you want to buy a farm?

#100

I'm starting to sell my city apartment this week and we are going to move to the country side to start a small scale farm! I've worked in the farm all my youth and this summer we lived on the place and did some small scale gardening. I don't have any (at least many) false thoughts about how cool and romantic it will be. It will be hard and frustrating at times but waay more fulfilling than the current tech job. We're…

How much land does one need to become self sufficient? Let's assume that means producing enough biomass to generate the resources necessary to have a surplus of food or money.

A quarter of an acre will give you plenty of food to fill multiple freezers for the year. Some vegetables have a very high yield (potato, tomato, carots). Hens/eggs also have a very good yield, most farms used to have hens.

It's nowhere near self sufficiency though. The amount and the variety of things you eat today is tremendous and coming from many places, you're not going to cultivate a fraction of that at home.

If you're talking bare subsistence, 1-2 acres of wheat should be enough to feed a family in grain/bread.

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