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2 Responses to Do I need to go to college for sustainable agriculture?

1. You wish to grow produce on 5 acres, yet you mention a restaurant at the end of your question. To effectively do either one you need experience and you are willing to go to school. I am not convinced that there is only one decent college for you to learn life skills. You have narrowly focused your intentions on one school and a 5 acre parcel of land. At this point I feel that you are way too focused. Back up several steps, check out your state colleges and if there is possibly a Land Grant University in your state that provides agriculture/horticulture classes. You need to become well rounded for all of life’ss requirements. Take business classes, economics, horticulture, agronomy. Use your 5 acre parcel as your learning tool for classes, like writing a business plan, financial statements for cash flows and P&L, etc. Get your education, for when the economy goes against your business plan, what is your back up. If you are wanting to run a restaurant for the produce you grow, that is great, but take time to learn basic business principles to help you through the good and bad times. Find jobs that interest you in your line of work, but do not let that get in the way of attaining your education.

   

   lazydaysranch
   July 15, 2011 at 3:55 am
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2. I don’t know if YOU need to go to college for sustainable agriculture.

   I’m a high school drop out…but I’m also one of the best autodidact people you will ever meet.

   You added the word “restaurant” in your question. Do you realize you will NOT be able to run both a farm and a restaurant? Both of them are more than full time jobs. I realize there are some rare places that are both farm and restaurant in the same place. For the most part those rare places are owned by millionaires (if not billionaires).

   You will do best, and be happiest in life to choose just one of your passions, and focus on it. By the way, having a sustainable farm does not automatically rule out being able to sell people food you have prepared yourself.

   Just be sure to set yourself up in a state that has laws favorable to what you want to do.

   For example, if you wanted to have a small dairy, and sell raw milk, or cheese you made, you could do that in Oregon, as long as you only owned six dairy goats, or two milk cows, and did NOT advertise (word of mouth only).

   In the state I live in, Washington, it would be 100% illegal to sell any dairy product without a Grade A, inspected dairy (cost of at least $ 500,000).

   If you have the oprotunity to go to college, you should take it. I have NEVER been sorry for any class I took after high school (yes, despite being a drop out, I have some college courses under my belt).

   Do you read about sustainable farming right now? I knew I was going to be a farmer since I was a six year old girl. Since I was about 10 years old, I’ve been reading everything I could lay my hands on about farming in ways that interested me (permaculture farming).

   All of my farming knowlege is autodidactic. However by the time I was ready to start on my own, I had already read everything worth reading, that was published by people who had the same ideas I did (permaculture).

   If you have not currently been reading about farming for the past years, and do not have hands on experience, I highly advise college as a very, very good choice.

   One thing to think about. Having an actual college degree will make it easier for you to get bank loans for farming. The banks take someone fresh out of college with a degree in hand much more serriously than they do someone with years of experience, and records on herds and crops.

   ~Garnet
   Permaculture homesteading/farming over 20 years

   

   Bohemian_Garnet_Permaculturalist
   July 15, 2011 at 4:49 am
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