Good farmland and farmers needed

[BeFree]

Need a farm with good soil to grow all kinds of veggies.

Need 10 strong hard workers who want to join together to farm the land.

Since I am practically a city boy, have to ask...
How would one go about putting all that together?

[rurallib]

1. I don't know, but I drive by a sign with farmland for sale every day

240 acres (acre = football field) of Iowa's finest farmland. Just outside Iowa City, the one of the few places in America where I am considered a moderate.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

2. a commune type of situation?

[elehhhhna]

3. Michigan has lots of land for sale and people who need work.

[knitter4democracy]

10. Damn straight.

Lots of out-of-work farmers who miss it, too. I see a farm up for auction about every other week in the local paper.

[tech3149]

4. That's a pretty wide open question

For me, I'd find the group of people interested first. Once you have a like-minded group of people, find a good property. My choice would be an existing farm. That would provide the existing support buildings and put you that much closer to being self-sufficient. The down side is that so many existing farms operated on the industrial ag format that the soil might not be the greatest. It could take a few years to develop healthy, productive soil. If you're not locating in a moderate climate make sure the property has a few hothouses. That will give you the capacity to grow from seeds and get the most from the growing season.

When you are evaluating properties, check with the local Agricultural Extension to see what what crops do best and what problems you might have to deal with. Just remember their advice is based on industrial farming methods and may not offer the best advice but it is science based, just with a narrow focus.

Study up on organic/alternative ag concepts. There are many ideas out there that provide high yield low cost alternatives to the industrial farming viewpoint. Things like no till/low till, complementary planting, mineral enrichment through crushing local rocks.

If you actually get this idea off the ground, keep us posted on the results. I'd be there except I have to backstop my 88 y/o parents.

[bvar22]

5. If you really want to farm veggies,

...look to the Deep South.

Cheap, fertile land
Low Property taxes
Plentiful Water
Long growing season
Mild Winters (low Winter energy overhead)
Lower cost of living

In 2006 my wife and I relocated to the Deep South (Ouachita Mountains, Arkansas) from Minneapolis for the above reasons.



There are some drawbacks:
Rampant poverty & ignorance
Cheap, overwhelmed Social Services
Hot, muggy Mid-Summers
Few good jobs/ low wages for additional income

On the whole, we are happy here, and our veggies/eggs and honey are outstanding.

Some words of caution:
It will cost twice as much, take 3 times as long, and require 5 times as much labor to get things up and running than you think.

[PerfectSage]

6. google

one straw revolution or permaculture or elliot coleman

http://www.google.ca/search?sourceid=navclient&aq=0h&oq=one+&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4SUNA_enCA240CA241&q=one+straw+revoluti


Put it all together? soil compaction is bad because it leads to ... ... hint anaerobic bacteria/fungi producing lactic acid or alchohol instead of carbon dioxide as the main waste product of burning oxegen + glucose. ie anerobic means burning glucose without oxegen.

Then try selling all your produce at local farmer's markets. Which you can't. y'd bet. So google Community supported agrriculture (CSA)

[Left coast liberal]

7. Craigslist. It is out there.

[Grinchie]

8. Start small, then grow out

It's better to make your mistakes smaller in the beginning, until you actually are able to understand what your crops tell you, and to understand why a plant is suddenly infested with bugs and stuff like that.

It also helps to research the history of any parcel of land you are thinking of buying. If it has been used for monocrop for many years, the soil may be depleted, and it will take a lot of work to rejuvenate it. Don't expect miracle fertilizers to do it.. It takes a lot more that just dumping chemicals and mineral nutrients on the land.

I prefer land that has been fallow for many years, but not all fallow land is productive. My lastest tract has been fallow for over 40 years, and has 24 inches of organic matter on top of the old surface.

As a rule, one man can handle 5 acres alone, and without machinery, but one man can also manage a very large acreage if it is in balance.

Start small. You'll be surprised how much food 2 to 5 acres can produce. And yes, the One Straw Revolution is a very good start. I follow the philosophy of Fukuoka method, and have done so for the past 10 years that I really started heavily into organic farming.

Don't buy in to the Monocrop myth. Diversity helps the health of the entire farm, but it does make it harder to harvest, but I don't care as long as my food is grown without any pesticides, herbicides and hardly any inputs. I also use no till agriculture. You don't need to bust up healthy soil to grow things. You do need to bust up unhealthy soil though, especially when starting out with a depleted farm.

Never till anything without something to grow on it as soon as you are done.. Cover crop immediately. Quality irrigation water is essential. Avoid properties with deep wells, you'll go broke pumping water in the quantities you'll need. If you must pump water, do it as cheaply as you can, but make sure you test the water for salinity first. Invest in drip systems and Microsprinklers if you need to irrigate.

Invest in tree's - they are the organic farmers best friend. Make sure they produce something -- like Timber, Lumber, Food, Medicine, Flowers, Fiber, Animal Feed, etc..

Most importantly, try to grow what grows naturally in the climate zone. Trying to grow plants that are not suited for the zone is no fun, and prone to weird diseases. Use a greenhouse for those.

Try to find an old orchard to rejuvenate. You can learn a great deal about farming in a orchard. Good luck!

[Tashca]

9. I like your cover crop suggestion

I too believe soil should be covered as much as possible. Sunshine is the biggest destroyer of organic matter there is in a farming situation.

This may sound strange......I spend hours just sitting and observing nature....mostly untouched timber. I notice any time the soil is disturbed, maybe a tree falling over, the area immediately comes alive with new vegetation. I then take that to my observation of conventional agriculture. Most of the year the soil is uncovered........plants continually compete with the crops to fill in the void of uncovered soil. There is of course a continuous fight to keep the unwanted vegetation from growing by tillage or applying herbicides....which is of course unnatural.

The other thing with cover crops....I've noticed it seems to sort of supercharges the soil biology. The biology is what releases the tied up nutrients from the soil. Thus no need for additional nutrient applications like is done to the soil with low biological levels.

I am a firm believer in natural cycles....We as a society haven't learned how to use these or have lost the knowledge. Instead we are in constant struggle to fight the cycles. That in the long run is a losing battle. I have such a hard time trying to find information or the natural cycles......and my biggest problem in working in Ag is finding like minded people out there.

[triguy46]

11. Hm. Other than becoming a monk and establishing a monastery...

Kind of difficult to find others to live in your dream. I would suggest that you start small, with an initial goal of meeting your own needs and learning the ropes. Its a big jump from zero to supporting 10.

I think you know the answer: buy the right land. start working. But its the details that are tough. What kind of tractor will you buy? what implements. A shovel and a hoe won't quite get it done on the scale you need. Before the first crops come in, where will the food come from? Where/how will you store it? Who will do the kitchen work.

I say this with an eye to our heritage in which small numbers, a man, a woman, maybe a few kids, would travel hundreds of miles to the prairie and give it a go. It can be done, but it is an enormous task.