Can you make a living farming?

[QRTRHRS]

One of the realities (no pun intended) of owning land these days at least for me is looking at my property as an investment. Just as with my last place, I know that this one that I downsized to will with proper planning, at least realize some gain factoring in my enjoyment of the property vs my time and investment. (Though it may take some time for the market to recover of course)

From this perspective, you also need to be somewhat in touch with what is happening in your community. That was painfully obvious when it took two years to sell my last property which would have sold with the first showing if not for one small factor. That was that the school district taxed based on sales price. So, where as I sold for about four times my purchase price, the taxes potentially would quadruple for the new buyer. (With legal representation, they roughly went up 2.5 times)

To get back to making a living though, there are fringe markets. It seems like when you hit a blank, someone else sees a way. I had been breeding and boarding horses. My wife minded the operation full time while I held an outside job. We were making money but working all of the time and decided to cut back.

The folks that I sold are in the horse business as well. They are offering certain types of specialized care and temporary boarding as well as other equine endeavors and doing quite well at it in an otherwise tough market.

 

[radioman]

I believe that dairy farming will become extinct unless Americans would be willing to pay more for milk in the store. I have helped out on farms during the summer months and know how hard the work is. My uncle had a dairy farm that been in the family that was my great grandfather's. My uncle was planning on giving the farm to his son who actually went to agricultural college but the farm went belly up recently. They had to sell land, timber, hay just to make ends meet. It's just sad to see a great family farm to go belly up from your childhood memories.

So take the advice from others with a grain of salt. Many of us can't possibly see any profit from a new farm from scratch. If you want to go back to Albany to your family land, that is great, just do it on the side. If you love the open air, having double jobs 24/7, then by all means go for it just for the satisfaction of rewarding hard work.

 

[riptides]

I believe that dairy farming will become extinct unless Americans would be willing to pay more for milk in the store.

Agreed. My place is an old dairy farm. Circa 1900 with 1950 as the last serious investments.
It is all tore out now. I cannot imagine a startup cost, or the sheer number of animals one needs just to break even. The magnitude and complexity of the 1950 equipment is a real eye opener. I cannot tell you all how much pipe I removed, let alone how many motors and parts were lying around.

 

[JJT]

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.

I live in farm county and would love to make a living off the land. The problem is our standard of living is too high.... The only farmers in my area making any money are the commercial outfits and the Amish. The commercial guys are milking 800 - 1200 cows, while the Amish get away with 10 - 14. The Amish are organic so they get a premium and their labor and equipment costs are low.

For me farming is a hobby and something to do when I retire.

 

[Chuck52]

As others have said, there are folks selling at the farmer's market who seem to get most or all of their income that way. I don't know how well they do, but locally there's a couple who make goat cheese from their own milk. My wife loves the stuff, and they sell all they make at what should be a money making price, but then again I don't know their expenses. There are also people who raise beef and pork for specialty sales. They aren't organic, at least in the legal sense, just the equivalent of "free range". They also sell out every time I see them at the market. Another couple has a trout farm. Niche stuff can probably turn a profit, but you'd also have to worry that the niche would move on, since niches seem to be like fashions.

Several local restaurants feature the products these folks produce. I've seen shows on the Food Network (come on guys, you know you watch it!) featuring such niche farmers. Special salad greens, grown year round in greenhouses; "wild" mushrooms grown in abandoned mines, etc.

Chuck

 

[Uncle Doug]

Having volunteered with the Texas Young Farmers Assn for the past 20 years I have had the chance to tour some of the best farms in Texas. The one that impressed me the most is in Eddie's back yard in Tyler Texas.

Kiepersol ranch
Kiepersol Estates Tyler Texas :: Winery and Vineyards :: Restaurant :: Bed & Breakfast :: KE Cellars :: Recording Studio :: East Texas Real Estate :: Purebred Cattle
We got our tour buy the owner himself. It is a true rags to riches story with a lot of hard work and creatitivity along the way. He has branched out into different areas and maximized profits by being very creative.

For the winery which his daughter now runs, they built the vineyard in such a way that they later developed and sold upscale homes and lots within the vineyards.

The in cattle operation he chose the best cattle he could afford and learned how to do embryo flush and transfers himself. Including building a state of the art lab inside an old barn. He now exports frozen embryo all around the world. From a small herd of the best cattle he can produce hundreds of embryo a year. His son now runs the cattle operation.

Can you make a good living in the agriculture industry, yes but not in the old traditional methods. Many have said some of the same things, finding a nitch. Cut out the middle man and market your produce yourself. It may require that you develope the market yourself also.

Another example is Nolan Ryan beef where he had to build a market within a market. Of course the name helps but the real money is in the product and the marketing. Nolan Ryan's Guaranteed Tender

 

[scott_vt]

.

Can you make a good living in the agriculture industry, yes but not in the old traditional methods. Many have said some of the same things, finding a nitch. Cut out the middle man and market your produce yourself. It may require that you develope the market yourself also.

Good Mornin Uncle Doug,
I think you pretty much wrapped it up right there ! You need to be an entrepenure, and know how to market your product and or services with out a middleman !

 

[Uncle Doug]

Most people I know in the ag industry either farm or ranch because they love what they are doing. They love the personal freedom and lifestyle that comes with the ag industry. Of course many also have part time or full time jobs in other fields to help pay the short comings that always seem to be there in this industry.

One local farmer I have know for many years and has one of the largest family farms still in the area, works at least part time for either the county or local drainage district depending on what suits him. One of his side line farms (other than crops) is a turf farm. His sons have expanded off of the turf farm into a landscaping business delivering and installing sod for what was the building boom in the Houston area. They even employed my nephew for a few months before his USMC enlistment. With their equipment it allows them to expand into pond building or custom equipment work for others.

I grew up in the shadow of the petro-chemical industry and followed my father into that industry. Having worked in that industry for 35 years has allowed me to buy land and equipment that would be harder to save for if I had not gone that route. I moved to what was then a very rural area 25 years ago and fell in love with the ag industry. The only thing is I am not very good at being a part time farmer as far turning a profit or being the creative business person. For me it has been a very rewarding (not $$$) sideline and worth every dollar spent.

 

[TexSparx]

Here is yet another example of covering your marketing bases... Grasslands Cheese Consortium -Artisanal Cheeses from Grass-fed

If shipping was not a factor, I personally would pay those prices for what is likely very good cheese.

 

[jimmyj]

More good posts, thanks.

Does anyone know how to ship live plants in Canada or the colder US states? Sure, I can ship plants by UPS or whetever all summer with no worries, but how in the winter?

I got me an i-d!

State trooper pulls over a hillbilly, comes to the car window and says "boy, you got any ID? Hillbilly says "bout what?"