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So you want to buy a farm?

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Re: So you want to buy a farm?

#111

Post by raxxorrax »

pjc50 wrote: post #110
raxxorrax wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think most are targeting the supermarket supported form, where you grow some vegetables and spices on your own. Russia is probably hard land, because most regions have long winters. Our agriculture (Ger) is completely dependent on workers from abroad. If you send the average office worker on a field, he will probably collapse after a day or two. Friends of mine have some chickens and that alone causes so much work…

> supermarket supported form "Self sufficient" where you buy things from the supermarket is just greenwashing cosplay. Just like a "self driving" car where you can't take your hands off the steering wheel.

It is, but self sufficiency is nearly impossible. To pay for tools and machines, electricity and water you would need to sell parts of your produce. That is hard if you do not scale up to a level to compete with highly advanced industrial agriculture.

Of course you could scrap the electricity and get your water from the nearest river, but I doubt many people would want to put up with that.

Re: So you want to buy a farm?

#112

Post by ozborn »

driverdan wrote: post #21
a012 wrote: post #18

So there are people around me who also are interested in buying some acres to living the dream. But as the post listed, there are a lot overheads and surround issues/problems. Like do you want to grow things "organically" or have to buy *icides to battle enermy of bugs or diceases? At scale, it's too hard to manage the use of chemicals to keep your farm bountiful year round.

"Organic" farming still uses pesticides and herbicides, much worse outdated ones.

Reference for this claim?

My understanding is that oeganic farming uses less inputs overall (including pesticides and herbicides ) and some organic farmers use no pesticides or herbicides at all depending on the crop.

Re: So you want to buy a farm?

#113

Post by foxhop »

spiderfarmer wrote: post #49
foxhop wrote: post #41

I have a YouTube channel which follows similar processes and I document the procedures I use for growing plant based foods on small scale in Connecticut, Agricultural Zone 6b. Check out my latest video here: https://youtu.be/IAaBBjMFWEs I'm trying to get to 1k subs to unlock mobile streaming so I can stream my garden chores to show the work involved. If you are into this stuff please subscribe, I look forward to answ…

Why do you need subscribers? Do you want to be a farmer or a Youtuber? Do you want to live the dream or get rich by selling it?

I want to show people it's possible to work with natural systems to create self-renewing wealth and document my journey so others may reap the benefit of learning from my experiences so they may avoid simple mistakes.

Especially starting out, there are plenty of places to waste time and energy and the feedback loop of waiting multiple years to see results of a test is too slow, if we are to gain adoption we need a better way to transfer to each other what works and what doesn't.

A video is one way to do that.

A person might watch a 5 minute YouTube video and take with them something which took me years to get right. That 5 minutes could translate into many years of learnings which may be applied immediately to their system if they share a similar context.

Being rich is a mindset, and therefore anyone who identifies as it, is it. In most ways, I'm already rich.

Sharing my journey could be considered philanthropy for the planet and all living things on it.

Yes, I spend time making videos but I think this is my most important work so far, if I don't share then the experience dies with me.

I will have no regrets for trying.

I'm only one person after all, and we need global change so I need help and community. This post is a call-to-action, will you join me?

Re: So you want to buy a farm?

#114

Post by arethuza »

fakedang wrote: post #106
arethuza wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've known a lot of farmers over the years and they always struck me as some of the most hard nosed and astute businessmen I've ever met. Edit: Having done a bit of both (and a lot of family in both areas) I'd rather be a fisherman than a farmer and I really don't want to be a fisherman!

Having done both, I'd rather be a farmer than a fisherman in my community. Imagine catching fish with your bare hands or a flimsy net - yep, that hard.

My experience was on large highly mechanised trawlers in the North Sea - sleeping for two or three hours then gutting fish for a few hours then eat and sleep and repeat for best part of 5 days....

NB The "highly mechanised" part just adds to the fear factor - winches and other heavy equipment are scary enough at the best of times, but when the sea is rough, its dark they are (for me) terrifying.

Edit: This was 30 years ago...

Re: So you want to buy a farm?

#115

Post by carlob »

brnt wrote: post #72
driverdan wrote: post #20

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 don't know how things are in your jurisdiction, but here in Europe making a profit on farming just isn't possible. This sector lives and dies by subsidies. You're going to have a cash crop or market the hell out of your product, both seem opposite to the goal of starting the farm in the first place.

I think it's pretty much the same in the US, even though it's sometimes less apparent. Look up the Reclamation Act of 1902: most of the West would not be cultivated without the huge public investment in irrigation which have never made any economic or ecological sense (growing alfalfa in the Colorado highlands for example).

Re: So you want to buy a farm?

#116

Post by DavidPeiffer »

driverdan wrote: post #20

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.

As a friend of mine put it, the shear breadth of knowledge you need to break even is astounding. Depending on scale and focus area, they'll include:

* Accounting (cost of production, allocating overhead expenses, cash flow analysis, financing terms and outcomes)

* Efficiency calculations and cost benefit analysis for equipment comparison

* Buying and selling commodities contracts

* Marketing your product (locking in the price optimally)

* Biology for dealing with animals and anything you plant

* Ever changing government subsidies and regulations

* Maintenance, repair, and troubleshooting of equipment. This helps keep you productive when the weather is good and the vendor techs are busy. Welding is really handy.

If you mess a couple of those up to a moderate degree, you'll probably lose gobs of money. Do it too bad or for too long and you'll be visiting my dad or brother for a bankruptcy.

Re: So you want to buy a farm?

#117

Post by TuringNYC »

LunaSea wrote: post #94
exolymph wrote: post #38

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 ...

To determine whether there is a market for the book, not via soft commits like "interest" but with hard commits like pre-sales

Re: So you want to buy a farm?

#118

Post by tjic »

LunaSea wrote: post #94
exolymph wrote: post #38

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 ...

Author of "Escape the City" here.

I didn't "need" $90k to write the book.

I chose to sell copies of a book, at typical book prices. Thousands of people chose to buy the book. That's where the $90k number comes from.

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

"The food is terrible...and the portions are so small".

The wonderful thing about the free market is that those who want to buy a thing can, and those who don't, need not.

Cheers!

Re: So you want to buy a farm?

#119

Post by unnouinceput »

PopeDotNinja wrote: post #59
raptorraver wrote: post #40

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.

You're asking the wrong crowd. Go talk to an Amish about this, you'll get a lot better answers.

Re: So you want to buy a farm?

#120

Post by bromuro »

anticodon wrote: post #76
PopeDotNinja wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Thanks to the collapse of the USSR and with help of our inept corrupt leaders (Gorbachev and Yeltsin and their US "friends") destroying all the industry and economy, millions of ex-soviet citizens know exactly how hard it is to become self sufficient. I worked really hard on our family "farm" all my childhood and that's maybe the only thing that helped us survive. Although we did experience hunger from time to time.…

Well also Russia is not such a nice environment to grow land... cold winters and hot summers - it must be hard be a peasant there!
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