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So, you want to know how to start farming in 2021? Well, follow our guide and you will be a pro in no time!
Setting up a farm can be beneficial for those who have ever wanted to care for livestock, grow crops and enjoy a rural lifestyle. However, starting a farm requires a lot of thought and dedication. Setting up a farm requires you to find the right land to buy, acquire start-up capital, register it as a business, buy livestock, crop seeds, and farm equipment.
So, if you have your mindset, let us show you tips on how to make your farming life start easier.
15 Tips On How To Start Farming in 2021
1. Learn about farming as much as you can
No, you don’t need a Ph.D. in Horticulture or Agronomy to be a farmer, but learning as much as you can about it will sure make it much easier to start (that’s why we’re here). You will, almost for sure, run into some problems you can’t solve, that’s why it is important to learn as much as you can about farming even before you get started. Lucky for you, now you can get almost everything online, and, as our page grows, we will make more and more helpful farming posts, as well as videos. So, Google, YouTube, and Farming Base are your friends!
2. Chose your main farming activity, and chose smart
There is nothing worse than getting into a business you don’t like. I believe, you are here because you want to do something you love, and something you, and maybe your family, will live from. So, don’t look only at the income side of things, even do that is important as well, but try to combine those two elements, even if it means little less money. Also, depending on your starting capital, multidisciplinary businesses can be created depending on the availability of significant start-up capital. And you can open a small farm first, where family members will mostly work, so you have to choose a narrower focus. These can be growing vegetables or fruit crops, poultry, pigs, livestock, and beekeeping. Start small (you need only 5-10 acres – for a regular type of farm) if you don’t have other opportunities, and grow as your farm is growing. Or, if you have resources, and you know what you are doing, you can immediately start big. Go for a big farm (it means at least 1,000 acres)
3. Keep your regular job as long as you can
We won’t lie to you, you need income. Maybe you are in love with farming, but that won’t pay your bills, at least not from the start. If you want to make farming your life, you have to work toward it, so you need some starting capital (you could and maybe will have to take a loan, but try to work with your capital as much as you can. So, try to make money where you can, and work on your farm as much as you can in your spare time. It is not so hard if it is something you love doing.
It is always great to talk to other people that have the same interests as you, and farming is not different. You will learn much from other people’s advice, and probably much more from their mistakes. Unfortunately, mistakes are best for learning, then try to learn from others. Learn how they started, what obstacles where they facing, how did they solve problems, what would they do differently if starting again, and so on. Talk to other farmers, it will help you a lot. Ask them what works for them, how do they do things, did they used credits and which ones, how did they come to equipment, and so on. Also, try to remember everything you talked about, you will definitely need that. The more people you talk to, the more experience you will have before starting your agricultural business.
5. Set your goals, and set them realistically
Before you begin any activity, you need to evaluate your skills. For this, it is important to develop a business plan for the farm. The first phase involves a land search. If you do not have the necessary land in your possession, you can rent it. It is better to choose land in such a way that it is easy to reach passing highways and large settlements.
It is better to find an abandoned farm. Work on rebuilding it will be cheaper. It’s a lot harder and usually more expensive to start a business from scratch.
Also, you have to think about why do you want to do it. Do you want to satisfy your needs for food or/and clothing? Do you just want to start small and only do it to have food you know is healthy? Do you want to have small incomes from it? Or do you want to live like a king from doing what you really like and love? Those are all questions you have to ask yourself before starting your farming business.
6. Business plan preparation
Documentation is required before starting, it is important to calculate all costs and possible revenues. But it must be remembered that agriculture is considered a risky business. Animals can die from an epidemic of disease, vegetables do not grow due to adverse weather conditions, fruits suffering from the invasion of harmful insects, sudden frosts, or hail.
The business plan of the economy should be included in the cost information. Vegetable production, for example, involves not only buying seeds, renting land but also the cost of fertilizers needed, arranging for irrigation if necessary, paying for the work of trained people, transportation costs to deliver the harvest to the nearest point of sale, and many others.
Remember the need to attract third-party organizations with special seasonal processing equipment. Only after a finite number of all costs can you proceed to an approximate estimate of your potential revenue. To calculate the profitability of crop production, it is necessary to find out the approximate crop yields in your area and multiply them by the average cost of production in the season. This is how you determine your potential revenue.
7. Start your farming business with what you have
Ok, maybe you can’t start a farm today, then go to work on a farm from someone else. Talk to people, learn, save your money, and when you think the time is right, go and do it yourself. You will have experience in farming and will know exactly what to do.
Maybe you are afraid, maybe you have questions, maybe you are not sure in yourself, or in your ideas, this is a great way to find out about farming from inside, to see what does work and what doesn’t, and best of all, if something is not going as planned, you can learn on other peoples mistakes. That way you will really learn first hand what farming life looks like and is it ideal for you.
8. Exchange your work for farming equipment
This is a continuation of the last list number. So, you work for someone else, if you show them you are good, you can ask them to exchange some of your work for some farming equipment. That way you can save money and get to something that will help you when you start your dream job. Or, if you have something of yours, that you don’t need right now, you can offer them that in exchange.
9. Borrow farming equipment
You don’t have to buy everything. There are some things you can borrow from your family or friends, or even other farmers you don’t know so much, just offer them something of yours in return. But you have to remember, don’t forget to return those items! Those don’t have to be small things, you can borrow everything, from tractors, balers, combines, plows, mowers, planters, and sprayers.
10. Read whatever can help you
This is not only about farming. You should read and learn about leadership, financing, accounting (if you want to keep books alone), all farming operations, and much more, related to your future farming business. As our page grows, we will add more and more resources about farming, so don’t forget to check from time to time, you might find something new and interesting about agriculture, farming, and gardening.
11. Build great relations with your coworkers/employees
Either it is your family, friends, or you hired someone, you have to build trust and a good connection with those people. I don’t have to tell you that you have to be on good terms with your friends and families, but don’t forget about employees you maybe don’t know at the start. You will invest your time and energy teaching them, so don’t let a bad relationship force them to go somewhere else. Also, if you have a good relationship, people will probably be working with more intensity, energy, and love for their job.
12. Farming is not a job to get rich overnight
You have to have patience. Like most of the business, if not, even more, you have to invest money, time and energy, and patiently wait for your results to come. But they will come, and if that is something that you love, you won’t mind doing it anyway. Just start, and commit to it.
13. Contact firms that deal with farm credits
Ok, if you can avoid it, great. But, if you can’t, and you have a great idea, or you know you can’t fail, there are always good credit options for new farmers. One of the most known institutions for credits for farms is, you guessed it – Farm Credit. They are a nationwide network of customer-owned cooperatives. You can see more about them on the link before that we provided, but be sure to check what are your other options. Some states give all sorts of incentives when it comes to opening a new business, in your case a new farm.
14. Try Crowdfunding
Yes, Crowdfunding! Sounds crazy, but a guy from the UK, Jack Stilwell, has done exactly that. And how, well, he had a great idea. He needed money, and asked for it over crowdfunding, but, he promised to give funders absolutely nothing, except the tour of his farm once finished! And people gave him money to start his dream job in farming. So, this is an option as well. You can give organized tours, tell people you will give them 10 organic eggs every month for a year, promise them one chicken a month…. and so on.
15. Become an In-law farmer!
This one is a long shot, but why not 🙂 Find a nice husband or wife, who happens to have a farm as well. So, you don’t get only one great thing in your life, but two! Win-Win
We hope these 15 Tips On How To Start Farming in 2021 helped you make your decision and start your dream job.
