Does anyone make any money off their property

[mjarrels]

We rent our farm to the neighbor who is a dairy farmer. He keeps about 40 hefers here, mows it with a 15' batwing mower, hays about 20 acres. I don't make much money but it pays the taxes year after year.

mark

 

[ayelvington]

Ours is a test-in-progress.

I'm trellising 100 dwarf cider apple trees (French and English varieties) and will be pressing boutique blends of juice for folks that want to make hard cider. I'll make 200 gallons for myself each year, but selling the juice instead of a final product avoids a lot of licensing issues with the State and Feds. I'd love to have a cidery, but I don't have the room or venture capital.

My wife is planting flowers for the farmers market, and I suspect that she'll be looking at organic vegatables until the bugs move in.

The most significant cost so far has been deer fencing. The orchard is 0.7 acres, and the 8-foot high-tensile electric fence was $4,000. It's a long-term insurance policy for the trees, but it stung. I'm going to try driving my own fence for the next area and use t-posts instead of pressure-treat wood.

I'm not inclined to grow pot, but the idea of a herd of stoned deer stumbling around is a giggle!

 

[Oleozz]

You can make money from apples but an orchard is extremely labor intensive and I'm not sure what size you would need to be profitable.
We've been in the sweet corn business for a few years now, no money there when you consider your labor, seed, fertilizer, lime, marketing, etc.
We have neighbors who raise rabbits, goats, sheep, steers, pigs, chickens, some large scale, some small, don't see any of them getting wealthy and again, very labor oriented.

 

[Bartcephus]

I've toyed with the idea of farming for "profit." I slipped down to the library to see if there were any books on the subject. Joel Salatin wrote a book called "You Can Farm--The Entrepreneur's Guide to Start and Succeed in a Farming Enterprise." Compared to the other books I read, his seemed the most realistic. Here, in Northeast Texas, if the acerage is wooded, we can lease it out for hunting deer etc. That pays for the taxes. As far as crops go, it would be difficult to compete with the "big boys" selling to the retail shops. Making money on wholesale takes volume. Lots and Lots of volume which means automation and standardization. (Read as equipment and seed capital.) You will turn your highest profit selling your products retail and cutting out the middleman. (Read as time capital to man the store.) You will find that when the crops are ready to harvest, you need to spend time in the field. That cuts into your time at the store front or farmer's market. Cattle is big business in this area too. Open areas can be leased to cattle ranchers for feed lots, or feeding your own stock. I know of a retired biochemist just north of me in Oklahoma, that has a small plot of select grass field that he leases out to local ranchers on a "per pound gain" basis. He researched grasses for protien content, and nutritional value for the beef. He also researched as far as the grass's requirements for temp, water, etc. Organically grown pastures, and tight on the expenditures. I don't know if he turns a profit, but he claims it is "fun." My folks bought a processed cow from his venture. It was some really good beef. Grains and commodities seem to be taken over by the commercial markets who make more money than the farmers. It's a shame. Farmers should be demanding more for their product, however the consumers will "accept" a lower quality product based on cost and availability.

One of the lessons I learned on real estate is that if you price the land too high to take the "profit" out for the next guy, you're going to take a long time to sell the parcel and may loose out in the end in paying taxes, insurance and possibly the mortgage. Price it too low, and there is no profit for you as the title companies, closing costs etc. eat away at your dollars. Same with fruits, vegies and such. Price it too high, no one will buy, and you end up with a lot of rotten produce and wasted time and investment. Price it just right, and you will make a little coin. The lawyer that charges $500.00 per hour only makes that if he has a client willing to pay his fee. (Could read welder, plumber, carpenter as well.) No clients or customers, means no cash flow.

There are markets which will tend to pay a higher price for a good or better product. In agriculture, I beleive that the "farmer's markets" and roadside produce guys make the best incomes from their efforts. The days of going to the corner grocer are gone with the advent of super Wal-marts, chain grocers and such buying their produce from brokers. Their customers suffer in quality with un-ripe produce being peddled to them. Most consumers are unaware that a better quality food could be had with a more open market.

Sorry about the length of the post.... I'd better get off the soapbox.... didn't mean to hijack a thread...

 

[jayste]

Around here the state has been pushing "Agri-tourism" for folks with farms. One fellow out west of us plants his corn strictly for a "corn maze" (sp?). He goes in and creates the maze and charges an entry fee. I guess this, as well, can come to a screaching halt if someones little Johnny or Suzie trips and breaks a leg. I'm not sure of all of the legalities. Some here, as well as other places, are taking their products a few steps farther and making cheeses, soaps, etc. I think these are from goat milk. Of course, when you start that then there is always the governmental licenses and fees and inspections. Seems like the mentality that's common nowadays is "get big or get out"! I've been considering buying some basic hay equipement to cut and bale 20 of our 40 acres. I could use about 300 (small square) bales of it and then sell the rest. Around here horse folk like it that way. I like the story of that cowboy who got enough money to start up his own herd of cows so he could loose all of his money on his own instead of helping others do it by working for them!:thumbsup:

 

[dave1949]

Farmers should be demanding more for their product, however the consumers will "accept" a lower quality product based on cost and availability.


There are markets which will tend to pay a higher price for a good or better product. In agriculture, I beleive that the "farmer's markets" and roadside produce guys make the best incomes from their efforts. The days of going to the corner grocer are gone with the advent of super Wal-marts, chain grocers and such buying their produce from brokers. Their customers suffer in quality with un-ripe produce being peddled to them. Most consumers are unaware that a better quality food could be had with a more open market.

Excellent points. The general quality of fresh fruits and veggies at the store is not the greatest. I may have to drive to Georgia some day just to get a real tree-ripened peach :licking: What is advertised as 'tree ripened' around here is just a big fib. Maybe they threw a tree limb into the semi-trailer while it was going north.

Our area Hannaford grocery chain store does buy direct from local vegetable and fruit growers when things are in season, so that's a good thing. All it really takes is empowering the store produce manager to buy local rather than ordering from the warehouse.

Couple of ideas about that:
1) If more people shopped the farmer's markets, it would help the growers directly - and - put pressure on the chain stores to carry local produce as their own produce sales diminish. Produce is a high markup item in a grocery store, they have to be selling it to be profitable.
2) It never hurts to request your local grocery store carry locally grown produce. If enough people ask, they might respond.
3) The flip side of that I suppose is it never hurts to try marketing your own produce to a chain store. You won't get retail prices, but you aren't tending the store either.
Dave.

 

[lakngulf]

Good points all. Having grown up on small to medium beef cattle farm (major crop was selling 10 month old steers and heifers straight off the cows to feeder lot dealers or folks who wanted the heifers as brood cows) I can attest that the posters are right on with {time and labor intensive}. That goes for almost anything you do with the land, other than watch trees grow or lease it out.

Cows have to be monitored and fed at all times. Fences have to be mended, hay bailed, cows vaccinated, equipment maintained.
Row crops have to be planted, tended, prayed over, and picked just right
The weather is never right. Either it rains when you are trying to harvest hay, or it is dirt dry when you are trying to grow it. Same with the row crop.

But my dad LOVED it, and caused me to love work, hard work. For that I am grateful. I remember at my dad's funeral, we were all gathered in that tiny country church, having a great meal before the service. It was thundering and lightening, and started raining, and I mean RAINING. It rained so hard that the decision was made that only the close family should proceed to the cemetery. Everyone was distraught. I told them not to worry about the rain, that my daddy had been praying for it for 70 years.

It takes time, patience, hard work and good luck

 

[fish6942]

I have about 10.5 acres overall but only about 2 acres that I would consider using for some small ag related business. We've considered raising trees for a local nursery as well as raising pumpkins. So far the pumpkin patch is looking to be the most promising.

Our situation is a little different from what the OP is asking. We are looking at it more as a source for tax deductions rather than income. The key seems to be to find a business that requires equipment that you'd need anyway for your your everyday lifestyle (chain saws, tractors, cell phones, utility trailers, etc..). Like our tax accountant always says, "It's not how much you make, it's how much you get to keep".

 

[aczlan]

Excellent points. The general quality of fresh fruits and veggies at the store is not the greatest. I may have to drive to Georgia some day just to get a real tree-ripened peach :licking: What is advertised as 'tree ripened' around here is just a big fib. Maybe they threw a tree limb into the semi-trailer while it was going north.

Let me save you a thousand miles or so: Just go to PA and get some from there. I grew up on PA peaches (from a farmers market in NY that ordered them from PA) and when we moved to GA in 1999 we tried some GA peaches and they DO NOT COMPARE to PA peaches, the GA peaches were mushy and generally nasty compared to PA peaches.

Aaron Z

 

[brin]

I just belive there is a market for someone who wanted to take the time to raise " Herbs " to build a greenhouse and go to the upscale restaurants - freestanding and in Hotels and speak directly to the Chefs as to what Herbs they wanted and in what quatities, also specialty grocery stores and chains such as Whole Foods. To really make a living you need to find a Niche and stick to it and do it better than anyone else.

Also not far from us there is a family that makes a living making goat cheese..they have the goats and do all the work...plenty of it ! Any thing where you raise the product and then make a consumer product from it such as raising strawberries and making Jam or Jelly or raising Peppers and making hot sauce and bottling it with your own labels...It is being done.