How would one go about starting a farm?
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Question by Donnie: How would one go about starting a farm?
In a few years I want to purchase a good sized portion of land to be able to sustain 50 – 100 people. How does one go about finding out how to grow all kinds of crops, the laws of keeping(and killing) livestock, and the best area in the US for owning this type of land? I want to start learning what I can now, maybe even work at a family owned farm so that I am ready when I start my own. Any and all help is appreciated.
Feel free to answer in the comment section below
5 Responses to How would one go about starting a farm?
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The honest answer is you really cannot purchase land in any ONE place that will provide all the food needs of a small band.
Not unless you are willing to eliminate a food group from your diet.
I live in the Pacific Northwest, about 4 miles from the ocean on a permaculture farm.
We produce most of our own food. We raise goats, rabbits, chickens, turkeys, fruit trees, vegtables, nut trees, berries, even going to stock our pond with fish for us to eat.
Did you notice I didn’t type a single thing about grain? We live in the Pacific Northwest…far too wet here to sucessfully grow grains.
So we buy our wheat, and oatmeal in bulk and store it in our large pantry. We have about 800 pounds or so of just wheat. We are only maintaining our pantry for three adult people, by the way.
Butchering your own livestock depends entirely on your states laws. In most states the ability to butcher ones own livestock is protected under freedom of religion laws. The farther East you get the more likely you are to run into some serrious restrictions. Also counties within a state can differ greatly on their laws.
How serrious are you about raising your own food? Everyone thinks butchering livestock has got to be THE most difficult job. It can be difficult, especially emotionally. Butchering can be downright easy compaired to some jobs.
Lets take something really simple most people don’t even think of. Sugar. Is your community going to produce it’s own sugar? Without sugar, the yeast in your bread will not rise.
So you could have hives of honey bees. You could grow sugar beets and extract the sugar from them. You could grow sugar cane, but that means living in a tropical climate, like Hawaii. You could grow sorgum, and make molasses, but that means living in a hot climate, like Georiga. You could extrac and boil down maple syrup from maple trees. That means living in a cooler climate, and on land that already has mature sugar maple trees (sugar maple need to be 40 years old before they are tapped for the very first time!).
Who is going to rule your community? A community that large needs rules. What if someone decides to start growing pot? What if someone in the community grows beautiful flowers and brings in 5 times as much money selling them as someone who grows vegtables. Does that entitel the person growing the flowers to 5 times the rescources of the community? What if someone decides raising ostriches is the way for the community to get rich?
Your community can live on the “three sisters,” and live in a wide range of climates. The three sisters are corn, squash, and beans. They all grow well together, and from complete protiens when you eat them.
A complete protien allows humans to heal from wounds, pregnant women to carry a baby to term, and for children to grow.
Beans are an incomplete protien.
Rice is an incomplete protien.
Eat them together though, and you have a complete protien. So who’s going to learn about nutrition to keep the community safe?
How do you plan to afford the land, and taxes, and medical bills, and money for supplies (doubt someone wants to sew underwear, or make shoes for everyone in the community).
You have a lot of learning and a lot of planning ahead of you. You need to start to study climates, and property prices in states you’d like to live in.
Don’t forget to take things into concideration. Missouri has a LOT of very reasonably priced farm land. It also sits on THE biggest earthquake fault in the U.S.A. Everyone thinks it’s the San Andreas in California…nope, Missouri is where there’s the chance of having an earthquake of truely stupendous mangnitude.
Start reading every single book on agriculture you can lay your hands on. That’s what I’ve been doing most of my life.
~Garnet
Permaculture homesteading/farming over 20 years
Bohemian_Garnet_Permaculturalist
March 13, 2013 at 4:43 pm
first you need to decide what you can handle on your own,are you going to have help doing this? your only going to be able to grow the things
that will live in the zone you pick. if you have enough acres you can do
livestock and do your own hay, you don’t want to have to buy extra feed
if you don’t have to. any where you get you don’t want to be in any city
limit. it’s a whole lot cheaper to develop land in county or unincorporated
areas. you need to look for places with good pasture for livestock. unless
you are going to learn yourself you will need somewhere that has a large
animal vet. when you pick a piece of land, the first and biggest concern
is water and you need to make sure you will have enough, then is electricity, then is how far do you want to be away from things, like
stores and doctors. if you find a piece of land before you buy go to
the local farm extension office. they will tell you anything you want to
know about the prop. and what would be good uses for it, they will
tell you what kind of soil you have, what livestock are in the area,
they have pamplets on anything farm and animal related in your county. they will even send someone out to look your prop. over and
tell you how many animals and what kind you can keep. what crops you can grow to sale, where the animal auctions are, everything. they
will also tell you how many acres you will need to do what you want.
if you have some time to look for prop. and you find a piece you might
want to look at it in the summer and again in the winter to see what kind of weather you will be seeing and will you get snowed in sometimes. if you can find a piece and pay it off before you are ready
to commence your building, its a lot easier to get a construction loan
if you already own the prop.
bob and dolly k
March 13, 2013 at 5:38 pm
If you are serious about farming, you should know that your efforts will sustain many more than 50-100 people, if you do it right. So, you should ask yourself how much money you will be able to spend in those few years for that good sized portion of land. The best farmland in America is located in the Midwest, and has been selling for over $ 7,000 per acre. Can you afford to buy 100 acres at that price? (Quick math, that would be 7 hundred thousand dollars, $ 700,000).
I would love to get into the farming business too, good luck, keep me infomed.
ironlace
March 13, 2013 at 6:01 pm
In order to sustain 50 to 100 people you will need over 500 acres if you include both meat and grain along with vegetables. this also would mean you would never get a vacation or much sleep unless you hire several people.
What is much more reasonable to is to supply most of the fruits and vegetable that people eat in a week. I have a CSA and can supply about 30 members with about 1/2 their vegetable needs for a week on 4 acres of land (I have more land but that is how big the market garden is). If I were to start producing grain for everyone than I would need an extra 50 acres. If I started producing meat and eggs (poultry) I would need another 15 or so acres for the birds and the grain for the birds. If I raised beef and milk for them than I would need another 200 or so acres so I could do rotational grazing for say 50 head of cattle plus raise the hay and grain they will need through the winter.
You also will be looking at working 12+ hours a day 7 days a week year round which will burn out a person pretty quickly.
I would strongly suggest you get a job on the kind of farm you want to run someday (be a lot more specific that “family Farm” as that encompasses all kinds of farming from the 3 acre organic CSA farm to the 10 million hen battery egg farm.
It sounds like you want to do mix production so find that kind of farm and get a job and learn the ropes so you don’t invest millions of dollars on something you find out you hate. You might start looking at your local farmers market, go around and ask if anyone needs help and see what happens.
Ohiorganic
March 13, 2013 at 6:46 pm
Do you have an uncle on your dad’s side, might be your best bet. LOL
PRIME QUARTER
March 13, 2013 at 7:30 pm