My friend has 240 acres of land in Southern Indiana and they need to know where to get some good information on what to farm and how to get started. Their money situation is dire and getting worse so they’re hoping to get information on farm grants and loans to get the land ready and everything in place to start making money. They’re thinking of doing some kind of fruit farm - raspberries or apples, and are interested in maybe growing them organically.
Starting an organic farm, or any other kind of fruit farm, might make you eligible for some kind of state or federal grant money.
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February 18, 2009 at 03:42 am
contact your county extension agent for information on where to get trees and how to plant in your area.
That said, you do realize it is 5 years before you will get a small crop of nuts and another 5 years before you will be able to grow enough to turn a profit unless you are a very savvy marketer.
There are other crops that will return your investment much more quickly. raspberries take a year to start producing and have a high profit. And you can start with under 100 canes and within 3 years you should have several thousand canes.
And if you have no money for equipment, trees etc., you may be SOL as there are very few private or government grants for farm start ups. Some grants for research and lots of subsidies for commodity crops but not much for the less common farms. Again check with the extension people and maybe they know some opportunities for grant monies
perhaps another poster will prove me wrong on the grant thing
If you have never farmed before or grown a big complex garden you are in for a wake-up call. You will be working around 18 hours a day sever days a week April through November.
You have the choice of doing a lot of produce (fruits vegetables) which return the best but take a lot of time. Once you know what you are doing and have built up a customer base you should net around $5000 an acre if you sell direct to the public (half that if you whole sale) or grains which take less time but you will need tractor planting and harvesting equipment. You should make around $500 an acre after everything is paid for.
you might be able to get a loan from farm credit services-they are the people in our area that do farm loans. But credit is tight everywhere so…
If you have never farmed before you might want to get work this spring summer on the type of farm you wish to run. Farming is not easy and is incredibly risky and too often not profitable
http://www.rodaleinstitute.org has a lot of information for new organic farmers. Even though you may not be planning on going organic there should be information germaine to your situation.
Good Luck
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I do small sustainable diversified farming in SW Ohio -
February 18, 2009 at 04:19 am
To start a project like that you will need more than land. There are almond plantations close to where I live, but it has taken decades for these places to be profitable.
To start any business you need capital. If you are finances are dire now, you have no chance of getting a grant or a loan. To start with you will have no money coming in. Perhaps for years.
Farming these days for the small farmer is not a very profitable business. You have to be totally dedicated to that way of life to be able to achieve anything. It's long days, 365 days a year. I should know. I used to work on a farm.
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February 18, 2009 at 05:02 am
Forty acres would be a large area to start the kind of farming that you are talking about. I would suggest that you reserve forty acres for your own use and rent the 200 acres to a crop farmer. This would give you the cash to start your farm. Rent is usually paid 1/2 before planting and 1/2 after harvest. On your 40 acres plant your hazelnut orchard, 10 acres would be a huge one to start, knowing it will be around 7 years before you start getting much return. You might try planting about an acre of Christmas trees each year. Again it will take you seven years to sell any, but would give you a good income every year from there. Plant your berries (strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, raspberries) to give you a faster source of income. You will still have more than enough land to plant many vegetables for more income and spread out your income. Meanwhile, the rent money will keep you in business until you get started well. After you get established, you can take over any more land that you want from your rented land. My guess is that the 40 acres will be all that you want to keep you going for years to come.
To get started make the County Extension Agent your best friend. He has information on everything you need to know, including information on who might want to rent the land and how much you could rent it for.
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