Farming can be incredibly rewarding, though it comes with its challenges. The rewards are often more than just financial; many farmers find deep satisfaction in working the land, producing food, and contributing to the well-being of their communities. The tangible results of growing crops or raising animals, along with the opportunity to work outdoors and engage with nature, can be fulfilling. Farming also fosters a strong sense of independence and self-reliance. However, the challenges—such as unpredictable weather, market fluctuations, and long hours—require resilience. For those passionate about the lifestyle and the impact they make, the rewards of farming often outweigh the difficulties. Here we've outlined some areas that can help grow your new farm business.
Is Farming the Career For You?
Farming can be incredibly rewarding, though it comes with its challenges. The rewards are often more than just financial; many farmers find deep satisfaction in working the land, producing food, and contributing to the well-being of their communities. The tangible results of growing crops or raising animals, along with the opportunity to work outdoors and engage with nature, can be fulfilling. Farming also fosters a strong sense of independence and self-reliance. However, the challenges—such as unpredictable weather, market fluctuations, and long hours—require resilience. For those passionate about the lifestyle and the impact they make, the rewards of farming often outweigh the difficulties.
Like a lot of people, you may also have dreams of becoming a farmer, working outside, digging in the soil, feeding animals, growing food, and selling at the farmer's market. It is also sometimes hard for folks who want to transition to farming or ranching to know where to start. We've outlined 9 ways to get started farming. Keep reading to learn some tips for how to get started and set yourself up for success in farming.
If you're considering a change in career here are a few things to think about before you start digging in the soil or buying livestock. We've outlined a few points to consider as you explore this very rewarding career.
1.) Find a Farming Mentor
Just like learning any new skill or trade, finding the right resources and teacher can make all the difference. We recommend getting started by talking to lots of farmers. You can start by reaching out to your local agricultural extension office or trying to connect with farm workers or managers at your local farmers market. The important part is finding someone you respect and one that farms the way you want to farm. Get a job with them or volunteer around their farm. Learn all you can. Be reliable, show up and give all you can, and be loyal to them for helping you and teaching you what they know. There are going to be jobs you don't want to do but do them anyway. This is starting from the bottom and learning as you go. Learn from both the farmer's knowledge of what works and their mistakes.
If you start early in life you get about 30 or so seasons to succeed at farming. That seems like a lot but that is a whole year that I'm talking about. Learn early and maybe even find a better/smarter way.
Learning from how others failed will give you a head start. There are many great books on farming and tons of YouTube videos where farmers talk about their challenges and what has worked for them.
2.) Develop a Farm Business Plan
Like starting any new business, the first step is to develop a farm business plan. What are you going to grow or raise? Where are you going to sell it? Who is your perfect customer? The business part of farming is also part of farming. It's the part that folks often forget. You wouldn't set out on a long drive without a map to know where you're going, why would you do that in your business?
Knowing what you want to sell, where, and to whom is just the start of this plan. You need your road map to understand where you're going. It's important to get very specific on what you want to do and then reverse-engineer your business plan: who you need to talk to, what you need to acquire, what steps you need to take to get there, and what you need to achieve your goals. This is your dream. Write it all out on paper. Get excited about it! A word of advice: If you can at all swing it, don't start out owing money. This puts you at an extreme disadvantage and you will start out coming from a place of want instead of being smart and steady as your business grows. Start small and grow from there. Spend wisely. Try to find deals on the things you need. Maybe use Craigslist, to buy things that are of high quality but are on sale, maybe your mentor has a friend selling something you need (ask around and network), or maybe you borrow something at first so you don't have to take that loss in the beginning.
​ 3.) Learn the Economics and Business of Farming
In the past farmers have used a very capitalistic view of resources. Air, water, and soil have been plentiful. As those resources are becoming more scarce, getting started farming has become harder. As new farmers, you need to be aware of what has been done in the past and what is no longer working.
Maximizing profits and industrializing farming (capitalistic approach) have been detrimental to the farmer's way of life. They may have maximized profit but there was a high cost to the land. The industrialized farmer has one crop that they sell. Hypothetically, it seems like a good idea to specialize but to use a farming expression, you're putting all your eggs in one basket. It can be detrimental if there is a dip in sale prices, in foreign trade talks, politics, or even the weather.
We can learn from science, technology, and economics and find ways and practices to change and be a better farmer and stewards of the land. You do this by diversifying your farm, understanding business fundamentals, using sustainable methods of farming, and making smart choices on your farm.
Getting an understanding of economic business principles can help you base your farm or ranch on sound business practices. Here are some economic principles to get comfortable with:
Financial Risk: The role of understanding financial risk for farm business is the possibility of a business losing money due to various factors like market fluctuations, operational failures, economic conditions, loan rates, and more.
These factors can affect a company's cash flow, profitability, and overall financial health. Each operational area, cow, chickens, pigs, micro greens, wheat, corn, etc., will have different factors and each should be researched to understand them fully.
Some ways businesses minimize financial risks are; by diversifying investments across a few markets. If one fails, you have a backup plan. Have an emergency fund to fall back on in case of hard times. Invest in insurance. Invest wisely across your new business by making smart buying choices at the right moment. And one of the most important in our opinion, calculating risks with data analysis.
Income:
We all know that income is the money or value that a business receives for providing goods or services over a set period of time. This is a key indicator of business health and stability.
Income can be increased in a business in several ways; by increasing the number of customers, increasing the transaction size, increasing the frequency of transactions, decreasing the amount you spend on making the product, or increasing the number of transactions per customer.
Consolidation:
Consolidation is the process of combining two or more businesses into one new company. The goal of consolidation is to create a larger, more efficient company that can compete more effectively in the marketplace. This has both good and bad implications.
In farming, there has been a large consolidation of US farms. This means that smaller farms have been purchased by larger farms or that smaller farms grow or raise animals for a larger operation that markets and sells the product. The second part of this can take away some of the burden from smaller farms since they can focus on one aspect of farming. You might also look at consolidation as joining a farm cooperative.
But consolidations have negative effects as well. It has a shrinking effect on our farms, giving rise to larger farm sizes and fewer of them, raising mono-crops that can deplete the soil if not cared for correctly, and crop location which might mean shipping the product a long way which raises prices, and carbon footprints, and raising large amounts of animals in a small area which can breed disease.
Productivity
Productivity is an economic measure of how efficiently goods and services are produced by comparing the amount of output to the amount of inputs used to produce them. This means how much labor, money, energy, materials, and services went into making that bag of rice, a package of beef, a box of tea bags, etc.
Some key productivity concepts in business are; strategy, planning, focus, task management, and consistency. These principles are also key in farm businesses and agriculture.
Smart business people diversify, scale, and find what works and leave what doesn't. Today there are many farm business courses available to learn about farm economics, management, agribusiness, and more. You don't need to take one of these classes or be a business major to get started farming but you can take some of these concepts and do your own research to find out what works for you and how they might help you run a better farm business.
4.) Understand the Many Jobs of a Farmer
Like any new business, the owner is often the operator and farms are no exception. You might have to wear many different hats. As a farmer, you might be a laborer, mechanic, artist, plumber, electrician, landscaper, entrepreneur, grower, inventor, salesperson, website designer, and honestly whatever else needs to be done. You need to be quick to learn new things.
As a small business, you need to treat it as such. Growing food is your passion but you also need to do those business-type things to sell your product. Become proficient at doing the things you don't like to do - first.
Be realistic with your skills and experience and get help where you need it. Sometimes it might cost a little more to get some outside or expert experience, but it's always cheaper to do it right the first time. And like with any new business be flexible and adaptive - it's going to take some time and trial and error to find and get things working the way you want.
5.) Develop Your Farm Niche
This is where you get to be creative and put the "you" into your farm. Why is what you're selling awesome? It's important that you know the why behind your product so that you can tell that story to your customers. This is what will keep them coming back over and over again; that and your customer service.
Get the word out about your farm and products through all the social media sites and web e-commerce that are available to you. Just because you're a farmer doesn't mean you need to do away with technology. Let technology work for you. Tell your story so people want to choose your products. Â
Be the expert on this product. You need to know everything there is about this market. Knowing what you're up against will help you before you have a problem. People will come to you when they need that product.Â
With so many choices for produce and farm products today, it's important to find something that makes your farm and products unique so you can stand out in the crowd. Your passion for your product is key to this.
6.) Find Farmland, Equipment and Materials
This is the elephant in the room for many people. How/where do you get land to raise or grow your product?Â
Think outside the box on this one. You don't necessarily need to own the land. At first, maybe you rent the land. Or maybe you find a warehouse to grow food in or grow food on the top of a building in the city. Maybe it's aquaponics farms, livestock, row crops, bees, there are so many ways to grow food. It doesn't have to be conventional farming. Think outside of that box. This is what is going to make you stand out and it will end up being your brand. We need unconventional thinking in farming. We have to be smarter about how we farm.  Â
Besides land, you may also need to purchase or lease other equipment, livestock, seeds, and other materials. Some of these can also be rented or shared.
There are many ways to find farm financing to help you get started. But getting financing isn't the only way, you can also hold a job that brings in the main form of income or have one person hold a job while the farm gets up and running. Just because you do this part-time doesn't mean you aren't farming.
7.) Market and Sell your Farm Products and Build Loyal Customers
Find your niche in the market and do that really well. Get passionate about your product - honey, mushrooms, beef, cabbage whatever that is and do not forget about your customer service. Call people back, follow up with emails, and send out emails to your contact list. Make them feel special. This seems like a no-brainer but as a growing business you are going to be busy and things like returning emails might fall through the cracks. This is a huge mistake.
People come back because you take care of them. They will tell other people (good or bad) how they were treated. You're spending a large amount of time and money on growing your product, and taking care of your customers is paramount to your success.
Who you are, what you sell, and how you treat your customer is primary to your marketing and your brand. Have a specific time each day that you sit down and return emails, and phone calls, and work on your marketing. Communicating with your customers will help you grow.
8.) Build a Network to Support You
You need some know-how before you jump into this. The USDA is going to be a great resource for new farmers. The internet is a great tool for this and as I said before having a mentor will help you so much. Getting some hands-on experience before you start will let you know if you really want to do this full-time. It will also teach you as you go.
There are many resources for new and upcoming farmers out there that can help. Seek them out and find what you need to succeed. You can also get in contact with your local extension office. They might be able to put you in touch with the right people.
You might also try your hand at working on a farm WWOOFing. (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms) https://wwoof.net/ ​ This gives you the opportunity to
9.) Learn and Grow
Starting a new business is exciting and it also has a high learning curve. Remember that you're in this for the long haul, so go slow, keep costs in line with your revenue, and keep making changes to improve. I'm not going to sugarcoat this, most new businesses fail in the first 2 years. Be realistic and smart about this process. First and foremost, take the emotion out of starting a farm and run it like a business. If you want to drive a tractor around a field but can't afford it, buying that tractor might be the end of your dream as a farmer. Don't let pride get the best of you.Â
We can't tell you everything will go perfectly. You're going to mess up. Every new business owner has messed up. Every farmer has messed up. It's ok to mess up, but learn quickly from those mistakes and keep going. This is where the mentor or another farmer friend who is doing the same thing, will help. You could have get-togethers to bounce ideas off of each other and mastermind your businesses. This helps keep you going as a small business. It helps to have someone to talk about the challenges you face every day who understands and can offer solutions.
Now, roll up your sleeves, get your hands dirty, don't throw away anything (because as soon as you do you'll need it again), repair things that are old instead of getting a new one and best of luck in your new endeavor. You can do this! Here are some other resources to help you get started.
If you're getting started as a new farmer, we understand that there is a lot of startup cost. We want to help you be successful and so we offer a large discount in the first year.
We know that getting started in farming is not easy. That's why we have a New Farmer Program. Qualifying new farmers receive a 75% discount off any of our subscription plans for their 1st year and 25% off after that. Check out our new farmer discount program to learn more.
Getting started in farming can be both exciting and challenging. It begins with choosing the right type of farming—whether crop production, livestock rearing, or a mix of both—based on your interests, land, and market demands. Conducting thorough research is essential, from understanding soil health and climate conditions to selecting suitable crops or animals for your region. Next, develop a solid business plan, which includes budgeting for equipment, seeds, livestock, and other resources. Start small to manage risks, and learn as you go. Networking with local farmers, attending workshops, and seeking guidance from agricultural experts can help you gain practical knowledge. With patience, resilience, and a passion for the land, farming can be a rewarding venture.