Can you make a living farming?

[jimmyj]

Ok all.

I have a city job at a desk managing people (lots and lots of people). I come from a long line of farmers (family landed in Albany NY in the early 1700's and moved to Canada in the later 1700's). I was actually born when we lived on the farm but we had to leave when I was a young lad after my dad died (he was only 25). My uncle still has the farm now so I'm grateful we still have the land in the family.

My city job is a good paying job but I sure yearn for the farm life. I would dearly love it if I could not have to work in the city any more. Almost all of my farmer buddies are living on very poor incomes or warn me that to leave a steady job for farming is tantamount to idiodic. Still the yearning never goes away (maybe 'cuz I feel it's our family destiny or something). My wife does not work so my income is the whole enchalada. She loves county life too and we have what is tantamount to a hobby farm. We don't have enough land to have a "real" farm so we'd have to move to even consider it. I don't have sacks of cash either to buy into the Canadian quota system or anything like that.

Are there any sectors still out there where the farmer is treated decently in terms of earnings? Am I just a wannabe dreamer?

P.S. My wife and I are blessed with the beautiful property we have now and the neighborhood around us. We do not want for much. I just really don't enjoy my job as much as I would something like working outdoors on the land.

 

[Greenmountain Farmer]

As far as dairy farming goes its a money losing deal, costs $15.00 per 100wt to produce it, get $11.00 for it.

Tom in vermont

 

[Reg]

A romantic notion at best.

If you do it and fail at it..... with some luck your timing could be just right, i.e. you could be trying to re-enter the work force when hiring really does start and with a new "agricultural entrepreneur" line to add to the resume.
If this is now a matter of holding onto the farm because your uncle is getting too old to run it that is a whole 'nother question.
It could be worth giving up a cushy desk job to keep land in the family, especially if land prices are way low due to the current state of the economy.
Just holding it for 3 to 5 years could be a significant investment.

 

[chh]

Are there any sectors still out there where the farmer is treated decently in terms of earnings? Am I just a wannabe dreamer?

NO! Maybe.
About the best thing really going for somebody with a green thumb and ambition is growing produce and selling it at farmer's markets. You can work a small acreage and keep your "real" job. That way you have security and a farm life too.
I have been around ranching, farming,ect all my life. I have never heard anybody say that it was a consistent prosperous living. You do it because that is what you know and because you love it, not for the money. Much of the "wealth" that people think farmers have is tied up in property and equipment. To get cash you have to sell out.
However this may be the time to try and get some property if you would like to have it(you can rent it until or???). Interest rates are low and property values are down.
After saying all the negative, I am still at it and plan to keep going, but a town job may be coming very shortly in my future and the ranch may become the second job.
Good Luck!!

 

[Wayne County Hose]

So you want to make a small fortune? Here's how you do it. Start with a large fortune and go into farming. I can appreciate what you want to do. I feel the same way. Unfortunately, unless you find some kind of niche, save your money and do it when you retire. The only way farmers around here survive is to sell off their timber, then their stone, now the gas rights. For their sake, I hope the trees grow fast. There isn't much left to sell.

I have always loved chh's signature above about farming. It is so true.

 

[greenmule]

Well,I know a guy who grows a certain weed,and he does very well on just an acre or so[kinda scattered,here and there].

 

[charlz]

I've never sat down and penciled out the numbers but I have yet to clearly see where and how farmers make money. When you look at the volume of land required, the price of equipment and so on it just doesn't look like a money making deal. Take crop rotation, you buy expensive specialized equipment for a crop and then really only use it once every 4 years or so. So then you need 4x the land so the equipment is used every year. I once read a quote that farmers have a 'heavy metal' problem... all that equipment sitting around rusting and waiting to be used.

 

[Duffster]

Are there any sectors still out there where the farmer is treated decently in terms of earnings?

Absolutely

Am I just a wannabe dreamer?

This is something you need to decide.

Historicaly dairying was the steadiest and most profitable way to farm, that may not be the case right now but will return to that in the near future.

There are websites that link retirement age farm people that want to see there farm continue with younger people that want to farm. This will most likely mean moving to the upper midwest but that is a small price to pay.

Fortunes are to be made in farming if you want to work hard and I don't mean 40 hours a week but possibly 140 hours a week certain times of the year.

Sacrifices will have to be made and your expectations may need to change but it can be done

 

[greenmule]

Back to the weed story,if you can grow something that is easy to grow and big demand for,you can make money growing it.

 

[randy41]

i know some people who earn all their money from selling at the farmers market.
I think making a living is a relative term. I think if you are willing to have a low standard of living you could make it without having to come up with a lot of capital to begin with.