Making money with land

[NHmitch]

A very good place to start is your local Ag Extension office, or USDA rural service center, often times in at the same location. We breed and raise horses and I wanted to grow Barley Fodder last year and they were our first stop. Not only did they provide us with lots of advice, the supplied us with the seed that I bought at cost from them when we couldn't find non treated seed in our area. They shipped it in from Canada for us. Usually whatever Ag university you have in your state will be tied in with the local Ag extensions, and they often will come to your property and do free soul and growing assessments. I think that the advice about reducing your yearly expenses by growing for you table is great advice to start. We grow and can enough vegetables, and buy other fresh local items locally that are cheaper to buy than grow in small quantities to last us a year at a time, and the food is considerably healthier and better tasting than we could buy at the store, but cost wise between our chickens, and our vegetables and we just about break even. We have been raising and carefully breeding horses for 14 years and these last two year we finally made a profit..

 

[square1]

Very nice fruit sweet and tangy and tough to kill a plant.
University of Saskatchewan fruit department has been playing with the berry for over 12 years now.

Saskawhat? A Novel Berry From Canada Takes Root On Michigan Farms : The Salt : NPR?

Saskawhat? A Novel Berry From Canada Takes Root On Michigan Farms
A new kind of berry has found its way into Michigan grocery stores. These dark purple fruits are called saskatoons.

They're fairly common in Canada, but they're kind of a mystery here in the U.S. Even the farmers who've started growing them in Michigan aren't quite sure how to describe the taste.

"Every time I eat them I get a different flavor," says Steve DuCheney, who grows saskatoons in the northern part of Michigan. "The other day I had somebody tell me they tasted like peach and that was the first time I heard that one."

Others, like Rich Fasi of Interlochen, Mich., think of them as a mix between a blueberry and a cherry. "They're really sweet," he says. His wife uses them in pies.
At Michigan State University's Clarksville Research Station, researchers apply pollen by hand to tart cherry blossoms, in order to breed new varieties.
Amy Iezzoni of Michigan State University brought Balaton cherries to America.

The saskatoon plant and the fruit look like blueberry. But the shrub is actually more closely related to an apple tree.

 

[OldMcDonald]

Tom Seller, Re at #59. I think it comes down to personal definition of "farmer", and you have asked motownbrowne for his. I have seen this argument before (on a wet day when I could not work outside) and checked out a range of dictionaries. Some reckoned livestock was needed, one included fish as meeting that criteria, and others permitted those such as you show in your photos to be farmers.

How about a beekeeper? His livestock use a lot more land than most people farm. I sold my livestock last Monday. I will be buying more fairly soon. Fattening animals bought at young ages is a common farming practice. Until I buy more stock am I a farmer? By some definitions I am not. Yet would they say someone who grows a few thousand acres of corn and wheat is not a farmer? I decided there is no correct answer.

 

[motownbrowne]

I'm with old McDonald. Since you asked if it's my opinion whether they're farming or not, I'll say "maybe". To me, personally you can be a horticulturalist, growing hydroponic tomatoes and not be a "farmer". Call me crazy, but if the soil isn't involved, it doesn't look like farming to me. Dope growers buying pallets and pallets of potting soil or hydroponic tomato growers buying water soluble nutrients, either way, it ain't farming to me.

Again personal definition here. While I'm at it, though, just because someone has three horses standing on an overgrazed pasture in the suburbs doesn't make them a farmer either.

 

[burnieman]

I'm with old McDonald. Since you asked if it's my opinion whether they're farming or not, I'll say "maybe". To me, personally you can be a horticulturalist, growing hydroponic tomatoes and not be a "farmer". Call me crazy, but if the soil isn't involved, it doesn't look like farming to me. Dope growers buying pallets and pallets of potting soil or hydroponic tomato growers buying water soluble nutrients, either way, it ain't farming to me. Again personal definition here. While I'm at it, though, just because someone has three horses standing on an overgrazed pasture in the suburbs doesn't make them a farmer either.

. How is it not farming? Get the soil ready, plant the crop, deal with pests and disease, culling back branches that produce nothing, harvest, process the fruit, deal with buyers, sell the product, go on vacation and retire sooner than most people. Sounds like farming, looks like farming, smells like money!!
Just because you don't like the product doesn't make it not farming. And oh yeah, the tractor is working all the time!!

 

[motownbrowne]

I'm not saying it can't be farmed.

I'm talking about indoor growers planting in a sterile medium and growing under lights. In my opinion, if neither sunshine nor soil is involved, it just can't be called farming.

Honestly, one can call oneself whatever the heck they like, I just won't buy it.

 

[motownbrowne]

. How is it not farming?...

Just because you don't like the product doesn't make it not farming. And oh yeah, the tractor is working all the time!!

I think I've been very clear in stating why I don't think it's farming in reference to indoor cultivation of MJ under lights. I've been around some awful diesel spills that were the direct result of indoor grow ops. However, I never said I didn't like the crop. If you search for a recent thread titled something like "older potheads" you'll see my perspective on n the matter.

 

[TomSeller]

I'm not saying it can't be farmed.

I'm talking about indoor growers planting in a sterile medium and growing under lights. In my opinion, if neither sunshine nor soil is involved, it just can't be called farming.

Honestly, one can call oneself whatever the heck they like, I just won't buy it.

Growing Hydroponic vegetables is nor farming? Neither sunshine nor soil is necessarily involved.

 

[motownbrowne]

Growing Hydroponic vegetables is nor farming? Neither sunshine nor soil is necessarily involved.

Tom, you've already asked me that. I don't claim to be some authority on farming, but to me, no, hydroponically growing vegetables without the sun or soil doesn't feel like farming. I'm not saying it shouldn't be done, but to me, farming means more than just producing a crop. It means being a steward of your crop, your land, and the environment. But again, that's just me.

What do you think, Tom? Is a 23 year old growing dope in a warehouse powered by diesel generators with no regard for anything but profit a farmer? Or is he just a drug dealer?

 

[roadhunter]

Tom, you've already asked me that. I don't claim to be some authority on farming, but to me, no, hydroponically growing vegetables without the sun or soil doesn't feel like farming. I'm not saying it shouldn't be done, but to me, farming means more than just producing a crop. It means being a steward of your crop, your land, and the environment. But again, that's just me.

What do you think, Tom? Is a 23 year old growing dope in a warehouse powered by diesel generators with no regard for anything but profit a farmer? Or is he just a drug dealer?

Lots of assumptions on this post. Just because someone intends to make money with their crop does not exclude them from being farmers. Also does not make a difference where they get their power grid, generators, solar. Really doesn't' matter how old the person is either. They grow plants to make a living. You would be surprised that legitimate companies grow pot all over the country. Heck even universities like Mississippi State grow pot for the government. None of those people are drug dealers. They are employees of a farm or in the MSU case students. .

If you choose to exclude any indoor farming that is your choice but plenty of things are grown indoors these days, not just pot.