How could I start a farm?

Question

Well I am still doing a lot of research about this but all I would like is some more references that I could look at and if it is at all possible I would like some advice how to financially plan starting a farm, either cropping or livestock.

Answer 1

You are not including enough information, for people to be able to properly answer your question.

I'm a permaculture farmer.  I've lived/worked most of my life in the agriculture sector.

There are so very many things to take into account.

Your plant zone

Frost free days

Market for livestock in your area

Selling off farm, or only commerically

Rainfall

Price of your land

Do you have ANY farming knowledge?!

Do you have a spouse who supports this idea/lifestyle?

Do you want to farm just for your family, or to grow food to sell to others?

There are thousands of questions I could post.  YOU need to sit down, and write down what you would and would not like to do.

You need to also write down (and be brutally honest with yourself) what you can, and cannot do.  Do you have ANY mechanical skills?  All of our tractors are from the 1940's.  My husband can keep them purring right along, not just limping.

Have you ever been around livestock?  Could you go out and shoot livestock after a neighbor dog attack?  Can you help birth animals?  Can you do your own Vet care?  

I've treated sliced open arteries during 50 mph howling blizzards.  I treated another wound on my fillies shoulder that was so large two men's fists could be stuck in the wound.  The scar is completely invisible, and you can only feel about a three inch raised scar, if you know exactly where to touch.  Could you treat wounds like that, during howling blizzards?

Could you get up, and deliver baby animals at 3AM?

If you are going to crop farm, have you ever grown crops before?

Do you plan modern farming, with chemical fertilizers, fungicides, insecticides, ect?  How are you going to afford the equipment?

Do you plan organic farming?  Do you live close enough to a farmers market to make it profitable?  Or will you sell commercially?

Permaculture farming?  Could you stand being on the farm year round, and never taking vacations?

Hit the library, and start doing research.  There's a wealth of information in books.  Realize that farming is hard to break into as a "newbie."  Nobody is going to hand you money to help you get started.  You'll have to bootstrap yourself along.

YOU need to figure out what YOU are interested in producing and marketing.

I raise meat goats, and meat rabbits (adding a LOT of new stuff next year).  All of my customers come to my farm and butcher the animals here on my farm.

I know someone who was wildly successful with a flower farm, where she sold both fresh and dried flowers, with only 5 acres of land.  She's going under now that people need to put money into their gas tanks, and not flowers for their table.

If you try to grow okra in washington state, your market will be extremely limited.  In the south, you'll have a booming business.

Some things have unniversal appeal, like strawberry, or mushrooms.  Those can do well just about anywhere.  Think about your customer base, and NEVER stop doing research!

~Garnet

Permaculture homesteading/farming over 20 years

Still doing research on almost a daily basis.

Answer 2

It's budgeting pure and simple.  List what you need and the cost and project it over time.  There is an old saw you might want to keep in mind:  You can make a small fortune farming--if you start with a big one.

Answer 3

it depends on what your growing, how much your growing, and where your going to start it, i would really like you to email me and i think i could really help you, i have experience in livestock and crops