Hobby Farm? (1 Viewer)

[Beef Ravioli]

Would like to semi-retire in a few years. The idea of a "farm" that I could sell some crops for a little extra cash sounds very appealing. Anyone do this or know anyone involved in this? Not talking about making a huge salary, but a 1/3 to half of my living would be great.

Some things I have considered: garlic, mushrooms, lavender and if I had the patience ginseng (takes 4 or 5 years to harvest). Also would like to raise some pigs, not necessarily for profit but for my freezer and to trade.

Go ahead and let me have it!

 

[johnnycakes]

I had the same dream. Only growing coffee on a small farm in Hawaii.

 

[NutterButter]

A little extra cash and 1/2 your living sound like two entirely different amounts.

 

[Beef Ravioli]

A little extra cash and 1/2 your living sound like two entirely different amounts.

Sure, thanks for your contribution.

Point being, I am not trying to be a full time farmer. Lets say, I need $40K to $50K a year (house paid for, do not live a very expensive life), so if I could "farm" and make $15K to $25K a year that would be great.

My question is, does anyone have any experience and could tell me in their opinion if this sounds feasible or I have the wrong dream.

 

[Wooderson]

Going to depend on where you live. Is there a local market for it?

 

[johnnycakes]

To tell you the truth, I think you'll be lucky to break even running any kind of a small farm. Just too price-competitive. Profits come from economies of scale. If you want to kill yourself doing all the work... yeah, you might make something. But my idea of a coffee farm was more of a gentleman farmer... I hire everyone else to do the work while I walk around and admire my farm. That wasn't going to make money.

 

[Guest]

Going to depend on where you live. Is there a local market for it?

Cost of the land and how much you need will also be an issue. Are you thinking about taking a loan out to buy the land? You can also rent farmland, but it gets harder to make money when you do that.

 

[mr roboto]

I have thought about something like this before. I don't know how much capital you have on hand but when I do would be to buy a 10 acre farm and lease out most of it to somebody who wants to rent farmland to farm it for you. I'm from southeastern Minnesota and there are a lot of professionals who work for big companies and inherited small farms from their parents. We are talking about two income white-collar families who live on a farm in the country.

Needless to say most of them do not actively raise crops or actively keep cattle are pigs or any other animals. Often times, however, they lease out the farmland and make money on the land without having to farm it themselves.

I guess what I'm getting at is if you could buy five or 10 acres of farmland and lease out a majority of it where you are covering your mortgage payment or making a little profit from leasing the farmland then you could start the hobby farm and if it doesn't make much money you're not really buying land just to try out a little hobby farm.

 

[Sabertooth]

I need them to legalize dope in Michigan so I can start my farm. Although I think most of the local farmers are going to beat me to the punch.

 

[Wooderson]

Going to depend on where you live. Is there a local market for it?

Cost of the land and how much you need will also be an issue. Are you thinking about taking a loan out to buy the land? You can also rent farmland, but it gets harder to make money when you do that.

I was assuming he had the land. If not yeah will be tough.

 

[Guest]

I have thought about something like this before. I don't know how much capital you have on hand but when I do would be to buy a 10 acre farm and lease out most of it to somebody who wants to rent farmland to farm it for you. I'm from southeastern Minnesota and there are a lot of professionals who work for big companies and inherited small farms from their parents. We are talking about two income white-collar families who live on a farm in the country.

Needless to say most of them do not actively raise crops or actively keep cattle are pigs or any other animals. Often times, however, they lease out the farmland and make money on the land without having to farm it themselves.

I guess what I'm getting at is if you could buy five or 10 acres of farmland and lease out a majority of it where you are covering your mortgage payment or making a little profit from leasing the farmland then you could start the hobby farm and if it doesn't make much money you're not really buying land just to try out a little hobby farm.

The key there is they inherited the land, and don't have a mortgage on it.

 

[johnnycakes]

I have thought about something like this before. I don't know how much capital you have on hand but when I do would be to buy a 10 acre farm and lease out most of it to somebody who wants to rent farmland to farm it for you. I'm from southeastern Minnesota and there are a lot of professionals who work for big companies and inherited small farms from their parents. We are talking about two income white-collar families who live on a farm in the country.

Needless to say most of them do not actively raise crops or actively keep cattle are pigs or any other animals. Often times, however, they lease out the farmland and make money on the land without having to farm it themselves.

I guess what I'm getting at is if you could buy five or 10 acres of farmland and lease out a majority of it where you are covering your mortgage payment or making a little profit from leasing the farmland then you could start the hobby farm and if it doesn't make much money you're not really buying land just to try out a little hobby farm.

The key there is they inherited the land, and don't have a mortgage on it.

Then one must ask if he is better off selling the land and living off the proceeds of the sale...

 

[mr roboto]

To tell you the truth, I think you'll be lucky to break even running any kind of a small farm. Just too price-competitive. Profits come from economies of scale. If you want to kill yourself doing all the work... yeah, you might make something. But my idea of a coffee farm was more of a gentleman farmer... I hire everyone else to do the work while I walk around and admire my farm. That wasn't going to make money.

I disagree somewhat with the bolded above when it comes to small local farming. You don't grow a commodity (corn). You grow a specific hard-to-source boutique crop (see OPs examples).

If you get good at growing a few high-value crops you can absolutely make money without scaling out to a huge operation. The key is being good and consistent and finding a distribution and sales model (hint farmers markets aren't it). Like finding farm to table or raw or organic restaurants in a nearby city to sell to.

 

[johnnycakes]

To tell you the truth, I think you'll be lucky to break even running any kind of a small farm. Just too price-competitive. Profits come from economies of scale. If you want to kill yourself doing all the work... yeah, you might make something. But my idea of a coffee farm was more of a gentleman farmer... I hire everyone else to do the work while I walk around and admire my farm. That wasn't going to make money.

I disagree somewhat with the bolded above when it comes to small local farming. You don't grow a commodity (corn). You grow a specific hard-to-source boutique crop (see OPs examples).

If you get good at growing a few high-value crops you can absolutely make money without scaling out to a huge operation. The key is being good and consistent and finding a distribution and sales model (hint farmers markets aren't it). Like finding farm to table or raw or organic restaurants in a nearby city to sell to.

Yes, I agree with that. Don't grow a commodity... something that is uniquely yours that cannot be found in the grocery store. Then distribution is the problem because it's really tough to get a super premium price on a large scale without a recognized brand name. But yeah... I get the idea roboto is talking about, and I agree with the principle of it. The execution could be a bit tricky, though.

 

[Guest]

I have thought about something like this before. I don't know how much capital you have on hand but when I do would be to buy a 10 acre farm and lease out most of it to somebody who wants to rent farmland to farm it for you. I'm from southeastern Minnesota and there are a lot of professionals who work for big companies and inherited small farms from their parents. We are talking about two income white-collar families who live on a farm in the country.

Needless to say most of them do not actively raise crops or actively keep cattle are pigs or any other animals. Often times, however, they lease out the farmland and make money on the land without having to farm it themselves.

I guess what I'm getting at is if you could buy five or 10 acres of farmland and lease out a majority of it where you are covering your mortgage payment or making a little profit from leasing the farmland then you could start the hobby farm and if it doesn't make much money you're not really buying land just to try out a little hobby farm.

The key there is they inherited the land, and don't have a mortgage on it.

Then one must ask if he is better off selling the land and living off the proceeds of the sale...

If the land is owned outright (no mortgage) then you can make money renting out the land. 5-10 acres is small potatoes though.

 

[johnnycakes]

I have thought about something like this before. I don't know how much capital you have on hand but when I do would be to buy a 10 acre farm and lease out most of it to somebody who wants to rent farmland to farm it for you. I'm from southeastern Minnesota and there are a lot of professionals who work for big companies and inherited small farms from their parents. We are talking about two income white-collar families who live on a farm in the country.

Needless to say most of them do not actively raise crops or actively keep cattle are pigs or any other animals. Often times, however, they lease out the farmland and make money on the land without having to farm it themselves.

I guess what I'm getting at is if you could buy five or 10 acres of farmland and lease out a majority of it where you are covering your mortgage payment or making a little profit from leasing the farmland then you could start the hobby farm and if it doesn't make much money you're not really buying land just to try out a little hobby farm.

The key there is they inherited the land, and don't have a mortgage on it.

Then one must ask if he is better off selling the land and living off the proceeds of the sale...

If the land is owned outright (no mortgage) then you can make money renting out the land. 5-10 is small potatoes though.

Like new potatoes? I like those. My wife sautees them somehow with basil Yummy.

 

[mr roboto]

I have thought about something like this before. I don't know how much capital you have on hand but when I do would be to buy a 10 acre farm and lease out most of it to somebody who wants to rent farmland to farm it for you. I'm from southeastern Minnesota and there are a lot of professionals who work for big companies and inherited small farms from their parents. We are talking about two income white-collar families who live on a farm in the country.

Needless to say most of them do not actively raise crops or actively keep cattle are pigs or any other animals. Often times, however, they lease out the farmland and make money on the land without having to farm it themselves.

I guess what I'm getting at is if you could buy five or 10 acres of farmland and lease out a majority of it where you are covering your mortgage payment or making a little profit from leasing the farmland then you could start the hobby farm and if it doesn't make much money you're not really buying land just to try out a little hobby farm.

The key there is they inherited the land, and don't have a mortgage on it.

Then one must ask if he is better off selling the land and living off the proceeds of the sale...

If the land is owned outright (no mortgage) then you can make money renting out the land. 5-10 acres is small potatoes though.

Ive never run the numbers, never tried to buy land with a mortgage and lease it out. Have no idea if it's viable or would even turn a profit. Just thought it an interesting avenue of investigation.

 

[Beef Ravioli]

I have thought about something like this before. I don't know how much capital you have on hand but when I do would be to buy a 10 acre farm and lease out most of it to somebody who wants to rent farmland to farm it for you. I'm from southeastern Minnesota and there are a lot of professionals who work for big companies and inherited small farms from their parents. We are talking about two income white-collar families who live on a farm in the country.

Needless to say most of them do not actively raise crops or actively keep cattle are pigs or any other animals. Often times, however, they lease out the farmland and make money on the land without having to farm it themselves.

I guess what I'm getting at is if you could buy five or 10 acres of farmland and lease out a majority of it where you are covering your mortgage payment or making a little profit from leasing the farmland then you could start the hobby farm and if it doesn't make much money you're not really buying land just to try out a little hobby farm.

The key there is they inherited the land, and don't have a mortgage on it.

Then one must ask if he is better off selling the land and living off the proceeds of the sale...

If the land is owned outright (no mortgage) then you can make money renting out the land. 5-10 acres is small potatoes though.

Ive never run the numbers, never tried to buy land with a mortgage and lease it out. Have no idea if it's viable or would even turn a profit. Just thought it an interesting avenue of investigation.

My brother leases out a piece of his small "farm". He has 16 acres or so, but I do not believe he makes much off of it. He may be giving his friends a bit of a break (local amish) and it also keeps his property from overgrowing, so he may be happy with that.

As someone stated, I would not be growing corn or soybeans. Do not want to grow something on a large scale that would require me to purchase large pieces of equipment. If I could find a niche crop (lavender is really big right now, may not be in 5 years) and as someone said, had someone to buy it then I have a chance.

 

[Guest]

I have thought about something like this before. I don't know how much capital you have on hand but when I do would be to buy a 10 acre farm and lease out most of it to somebody who wants to rent farmland to farm it for you. I'm from southeastern Minnesota and there are a lot of professionals who work for big companies and inherited small farms from their parents. We are talking about two income white-collar families who live on a farm in the country.

Needless to say most of them do not actively raise crops or actively keep cattle are pigs or any other animals. Often times, however, they lease out the farmland and make money on the land without having to farm it themselves.

I guess what I'm getting at is if you could buy five or 10 acres of farmland and lease out a majority of it where you are covering your mortgage payment or making a little profit from leasing the farmland then you could start the hobby farm and if it doesn't make much money you're not really buying land just to try out a little hobby farm.

The key there is they inherited the land, and don't have a mortgage on it.

Then one must ask if he is better off selling the land and living off the proceeds of the sale...

If the land is owned outright (no mortgage) then you can make money renting out the land. 5-10 acres is small potatoes though.

Ive never run the numbers, never tried to buy land with a mortgage and lease it out. Have no idea if it's viable or would even turn a profit. Just thought it an interesting avenue of investigation.

It's all good. Depends on the cost of land per acre in the area, and the lease rates per acre, but I don't think it's even a break even proposition when you throw property tax on it. Would be different if you can buy the land outright and plan to hand it down to the next generation.

I know someone that makes $400k+/year renting out the land he owns, but a lot of it was inherited or purchased from relatives when the price of farmland was much cheaper.

 

[Guest]

I have thought about something like this before. I don't know how much capital you have on hand but when I do would be to buy a 10 acre farm and lease out most of it to somebody who wants to rent farmland to farm it for you. I'm from southeastern Minnesota and there are a lot of professionals who work for big companies and inherited small farms from their parents. We are talking about two income white-collar families who live on a farm in the country.

Needless to say most of them do not actively raise crops or actively keep cattle are pigs or any other animals. Often times, however, they lease out the farmland and make money on the land without having to farm it themselves.

I guess what I'm getting at is if you could buy five or 10 acres of farmland and lease out a majority of it where you are covering your mortgage payment or making a little profit from leasing the farmland then you could start the hobby farm and if it doesn't make much money you're not really buying land just to try out a little hobby farm.

The key there is they inherited the land, and don't have a mortgage on it.

Then one must ask if he is better off selling the land and living off the proceeds of the sale...

If the land is owned outright (no mortgage) then you can make money renting out the land. 5-10 acres is small potatoes though.

Ive never run the numbers, never tried to buy land with a mortgage and lease it out. Have no idea if it's viable or would even turn a profit. Just thought it an interesting avenue of investigation.

My brother leases out a piece of his small "farm". He has 16 acres or so, but I do not believe he makes much off of it. He may be giving his friends a bit of a break (local amish) and it also keeps his property from overgrowing, so he may be happy with that.

As someone stated, I would not be growing corn or soybeans. Do not want to grow something on a large scale that would require me to purchase large pieces of equipment. If I could find a niche crop (lavender is really big right now, may not be in 5 years) and as someone said, had someone to buy it then I have a chance.

A few people in my area are growing Aronia berries on smallish plots. Getting certified as organic helps.

 

[eoMMan]

It won't be a hobby long if you are pressured to make 15k to 25k a year.

 

[yak651]

Do you have a farmers market in your area? My brother makes about $6k a year as a hobby selling vegetables (mainly tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, peppers). This is going to a market twice a week (Wed and Sat mornings), on about 2 acres of land. We are in WI, so you only sell from say late July-Oct. I have about 2 acres of pumpkins I sell at his market space and make about $2k in a good year. Saying that, I would make more money at a part time job....but I have the land and it's a "hobby"

 

[zeamax]

A few years might be just about right to buy farm land. We're coming off a commodity boom(thanks federal reserve) and I think land prices are dropping. In the early 80's around here, prices dropped 75%. I don't think they will drop that much, but they are down 9% this year.

I would try to get involve with community supported agriculture in the area where clients pay so much a month and you supply a box of produce. This works best if you go organic and near a population center. For the livestock you could try to tie in with a local locker to butcher. Makes you wonder what the fast food is serving after having meat from a local locker.

If you are in the mid-west, Practical Farmers of Iowa would be a good source of information. Good luck, remember with livestock someone need to be there everyday.

If you do this look into incorporating the farm operation, but don't put the land in the corporation.

 

[Buddy Ball 2K3]

To tell you the truth, I think you'll be lucky to break even running any kind of a small farm. Just too price-competitive. Profits come from economies of scale. If you want to kill yourself doing all the work... yeah, you might make something. But my idea of a coffee farm was more of a gentleman farmer... I hire everyone else to do the work while I walk around and admire my farm. That wasn't going to make money.

what kind of subsidies are farms getting nowadays?

 

[Sabertooth]

Yeah subsidies is where it's at. Like welfare but without the stigma.

 

[Clown Car]

We have a hobby farm. Most I have made is $1k selling pecans online and at farmers markets twice a week. But we have a small farm only five acres of pecans, and not all the trees produce, and one crop. The last few years have been low production I think because we have had too much rain. Anyway, if I could buy the vacant 20 acres next door I would do beef.

 

[Hastur]

We have a hobby farm. Most I have made is $1k selling pecans online and at farmers markets twice a week. But we have a small farm only five acres of pecans, and not all the trees produce, and one crop. The last few years have been low production I think because we have had too much rain. Anyway, if I could buy the vacant 20 acres next door I would do beef.

Beef can be tricky. Make sure to get some protection for it. If not, you could be in danger of overproducing.