Thread: Somewhat Random Farm loan

Ben thinking about starting a little farm of my own.
Does anyone know where would be the best place to try and get a small loan to
start such a thing.
I did call the United States Department of Agriculture but well I can't get a loan from
them cause I don't have any farming experience.
Where should I try next.
Judging from what I read is that must banks only loan 50 percent of the capital
needed to buy raw land. Which would limit my choice to one lot.
Well anyhow wish me luck.

My uncle always said if you want to make a small fortune farming you have to start with a large fortune!
It is usually about the lifestyle and not the money that gets people into farming and keeps them there. It's a healthy lifestyle, I hope you can get it. I'm no finance person though.

Unless you intend having a truck farm and will sell high dollar organic type things the chances of making a living operating a small family farm is low, very low. Make sure you investigate this very carefully.

Healthy Lifestyle? I worked on a farm for awhile and I noticed two things, farmers are about the toughest people on earth and they never stop working. I mean, they go to work and after work they work, when they get home they work some more and in their spare time they work. These are real farmers not the guvmint teat suckers. (Hope that is ok to say). I apologize to the younger family folk who might be reading this thread.

Suile, What size garden did you grow last season ??? how many years have you had a garden and does it produce every year??

Those are the absolute basic questions you have to answer

I started last year with an idea of just a 1 acre plot, after doing a ton of research we ended up growing a 10' x 5' garden yep little tiny garden and I have never worked so hard to eat so little

Keep in mind I have the land, I have a good size Tractor, I have great soil, I had it tested, what I don't have is the knowledge, that is what I am learning..

Anyway I admire your zeal, I wish you all the luck in the world, but if you are like me and did not grow up on a farm learning how hard it really is I would start small..

That being said the wife and I have decided we liked it and I am investing in enlarging the garden to 24' x 10' this year with deer fencing and the ability to use the tractor to Plow, and Till the land..
We have also decided that after this coming season we are going to attempt growing a fully Heirloom crop and saving seeds for the following season... I am planning on setting everything up so that we can enlarge the plot up to 3 acres a little at a time..

BTW when you say "Lot" is that 40 acres????

Have you thought of using raised beds? You can get a lot of food from a little space. We tried it and I hoped my wife would like it but no. I think our garden is 150'x75' and I hate tilling lol. Gardens are a lot of work but what you get out of them is well worth it. We can most of what we grow and also raise chickens. Love me some eggs lol

gssixguns- a good site to get heirlooms seeds from is rareseedsdotcom. My wife uses them exclusively.

My father in law has been a farmer his whole life. He is 76, and physically strong, but I do not consider it a healthy lifestyle. He had a heart attack at 50 that was likely attributable to the stress of the job. Imagine bad weather destroying your income for a whole year. Not to mention losing your investment. Imagine working 18 hours a day 7 days a week. I don't find that to be healthy. Physical fitness maybe, but not a healthy way to live. People who think farming is low stress probably have never farmed.

When I was a kid I used to work on my Uncles farm upstate N.Y. To be a successful farmer you need to know a lot. You need to know about soil and how to plant and how to rotate and what goes with what and all abouit seeds and fertilizers and then you need the equipment and you have to be a businessman too. The list goes on and on. if you are going to have animals that's a whole other world in itself.