Small acreage profitability?

[MeAnthony]

Just as a base line, $100 is pretty good income for a grain farmer at today’s prices. Likely the renter is letting it go because 15ac doesn’t pencil out currently.

As others have said, hay you might break even or make a couple $$. 15 ac of direct marketed vegetables is plenty to support a family. Might not be much of a living but can survive. Full time labor intensive though. Anything sold as a commodity will not return much on that scale. It takes the customer connection to make that happen.

A lot of it depends on what you (OP) would like to do in the future. Do you want to farm? Really really want to farm? If you are just trying to increase income you are bet to let someone keep renting. It takes a certain passion to farm, whether it is a hobby deal or a large operation. If this is something you don’t want to do, I will bet that there is some other young person just waiting for the chance to have a go at it.

Hello,
I've always loved the idea of farming; however I've not had the opportunity till now and have no experience at it. I get that a LOT goes into it and you're darn lucky to make any profit. I think there are some satisfactions outside of the financial considerations but even those can make it hard to justify a large monetary loss.
Mom's dream is for it to be a centennial farm and I'd like to do my part to support that. They bought the place I think in 1971.
Thanks,
Anthony

 

[MeAnthony]

See if you can find a young farmer trying to get started. Smaller equipment. Too big as a market garden unless you hire help, Too small to be profitable by itself. Livestock would be a good fit but not big enough to make much unless you sell on the farm. Livestock for meat sales and market garden, honey sales. Other value added items, flowers, pumpkin patch, corn maze, food sales, nik nak sales. Old barn? sales area, weddings....James

Howdy,
Someone else mentioned flowers too. That idea never crossed my mind. Flowers and bees/honey production? I wonder how that would go....
Thanks,
Anthony

 

[MeAnthony]

You are going from a labor free income to a labor intensive income for the same or a little more income with more out go.

I completely agree! Funny how we do that, isn't it? I don't think I'm the only one with that type of affliction either....
Thanks!
Anthony

 

[Fritz Maurer]

Hello,
That's a pretty interesting idea!
A co-worker suggested sectioning it up, building a bunch of tiny cabins and renting glamping (glamour camping) spots. This seems like a disaster waiting to happen though. I like your idea much better.

Thanks,
Anthony

I looked up the population of the location and it didn't seem very high for a tourist based operation like that, unless you have some kind of attraction in the town that would promote campers to migrate to your area.

 

[MeAnthony]

You about 30mi north of 80 as it goes from Ohio to Indiana? Decent flat ground. Tiled or otherwise drains ok? If you just want to 'farm it" and make more than $100 an acre, some of the suggestions you have received are valid ideas, however you cannot really place any value on your time or at the end of the day you will be economically behind simply renting it out for $100 or more an acre. And BTW, it seems to me that if indeed it is decent tillable accessible ground in that area, even with todays low crop prices, you should be able to get a little more than $100. Anyhow, I peg you around 55 years old. What is you retirement plan? Will be here sooner than you think unless you are someone that "has" to work at Walmart until they keel over. This could be a decent hobby for you to stay active, etc after your day job is over. Do you have more than two plug nickels to rub together? I will not repeat what previous posters have written but will encourage you to look at the chicken house possibility you mention. Fifteen years ago in my one-half of the county there were no chicken houses. Today there are maybe a dozen and as far as I know they have been a good investment for their owners. One guy built one and then 5 years later added 2 more. Are there any in your area of Michigan. Seems like there would be. 15 acres would easily be enough. Talk to owners. The guys around here are under contract to raise chickens for poultry producers and get the chicks and feed supplied and furnish the physical plant and labor, thats how I believe it works. I think also the same business model works for turkeys and hogs. Obviously this would entail much more investment than $20K of hay equipment, but you may be able to actually make a living or something close to it.

Good morning,
Close; I'm 52. Or, to paraphrase what I believe is a Ronald Regan quip: the 12th anniversary of my 40th birthday!
Retirement plan is my day job, network engineer.
There are no chicken operations in my area that I know of and I do like this idea. I don't know anything about how it works, the contracting and all that. The fine folks at the MSU Extension office did give me a link to an MSU online course for beginners at small poultry. I wonder if I could test this out first here at home? I do have a 3 1/2 acre section that was rented but now is not...
Definitely an option to consider.
Thanks,
Anthony

 

[MeAnthony]

Start any type of operation. Take a bunch of pictures of it. Write stories about how gratifying and profitable it is, even if you have to lie about the profitability part. If you had a bunch of seed money to start with; make sure that you obscure that fact.

Then sell books about how someone else can do it too, with about as much initial investment as buying a Starbucks coffee every morning.

The books are your profit...

Bonus points if you have some kind of oddball breed of plant/animal that you're raising, and you make up some kind of backstory that the evil mainstream media and factory farms have suppressed this ancient breed...

Extra bonus points, pass go and get out of jail free, if you can call yourself the "<insert aspect of farming> whisperer"

OK... I'm having too much fun with this. I think I need to go muck out a pen with a pitchfork... or whatever.

Good luck, though... sincerely.

That's hilarious!!!
I do pretty good as a BS-er but I would fail miserably as a writer. Thanks for the humor and well wishes!
Anthony

 

[MeAnthony]

If you do small squares, your best investment is building a hay burning boiler and heating your mom's house with it. At 280,000BTU per bale, it's the equivalent of about two gallons of heating oil (selling now at what? 3 - 3.50 per gallon?) You can bale the ground once. Bale old hay... and burn it for the equivalent of 6 to 7 dollars per bale. Without selling to anybody...

Or you could use them to heat the chicken house, if you build it.

Howdy,
A hay-burning boiler? Never heard of that, now I gotta go educate myself....
Thanks,
Anthony

 

[John T]

Pete on just a few acres farm on you tube makes it on small acreage. I met him at half century last time

John T

 

[G1000VISTA]

Buy old equipment and bale hay. I just got a JD 14T for 250 bucks, A tractor for 2500 and a rake for 250.Most people wont even buy or fool with the equipment I buy as its to small , but you can get it for cheap. Around here good horse hay is 7 bucks a bale out of the field. Build you a market and have fun.

 

[MeAnthony]

Like I said above the OP needs to get started with a soil map along with an extension agent who is on his side or at least does not have a vested interest with a potential competitor. Let the cards fall where they may. Hopefully, unless somebody was engaged in a fool's errand there years ago that if potatoes were raised there then the potential for carrots might be there. Very seldom does it pay to remake a field in terms of prevailing soil type and I would never advise otherwise.

Hello,
I do plan to get in touch with the MSU Extension office in Hillsdale. Never heard of a soil map but it makes sense and I'll inquire about that too. Someone else mentioned drainage; this isn't tiled but drainage has never been an issue other than one small area, maybe 1/4 of an acre and I'm pretty sure there was what looked like an old well dug there (see below). It's been many years ago and I don't recall why I had that impression.

Thanks,
Anthony

 

[MeAnthony]

I know you don't like the idea of livestock, but depends on how profitable it is. If you start a herdshare , you sell shares of the cows for 100.00/ person, and get $14 / gallon for the milk.

Howdy,
I'm not ruling out anything yet. I like the idea of livestock but my work schedule doesn't always allow me to get over there twice a day for feeding, etc. that (as far as I know) need to be done on a regular schedule.
Now.... if I could get my 23-year old son (who hasn't graduated high school, hasn't had a real job, etc; his complete lack of ambition drives me bat-crap crazy.... ) to commit to helping, since he has no other schedule in his life, I'd be all for it.
Thanks,.
Anthony

 

[47fivewindow]

Buy old equipment and bale hay. I just got a JD 14T for 250 bucks, A tractor for 2500 and a rake for 250.Most people wont even buy or fool with the equipment I buy as its to small , but you can get it for cheap. Around here good horse hay is 7 bucks a bale out of the field. Build you a market and have fun.

Be forwarned. Horse ladies can try your patience . When you start out you get all the ones who are baned elsewhere. Hold your ground.,accept only cash.

 

[MeAnthony]

Can it be put in CRP(Conservation Reserve Program)? Last I knew the Gov. was paying around $350.00 an acre not to farm it.

Hello,
That was one suggestion from the MSU Extension service, it's on me that I haven't made the time to call yet.
Thanks,
Anthony

 

[MeAnthony]

Buy old equipment and bale hay. I just got a JD 14T for 250 bucks, A tractor for 2500 and a rake for 250.Most people wont even buy or fool with the equipment I buy as its to small , but you can get it for cheap. Around here good horse hay is 7 bucks a bale out of the field. Build you a market and have fun.

Hello,
Dad had a 14T, it was a good unit. He ran it with Farmalls, H and M. One year both were down and we borrowed the neighbor's Super C. Shook the snot out of that little tractor but got the job done. Had to bale it on the ground, as you weren't pulling the baler and a wagon behind that C. Ah, memories....
Thanks,
Anthony

 

[E.B. Haymakin']

Hello all,

My mom's long term renter recently told her he's downsizing and won't be renting her ground any longer. She's got 15 acres tillable and was getting about $1600 annually for rent. Location is about 2 miles west of North Adams, MI. I understand there a lot of inputs and time required to make any farming operation successful but geez, there's gotta be a way to make more than $100 an acres off a place?

I'm just outside Moscow, MI and have about 4 acres at home that I could do something with, other than spend my summer mowing it.
I have a Kioti 2620 tractor but not much else that would support a farming operation. I baled a lot of hay as a kid, loved doing that.... but that was 40 years ago and I may not survive such an endeavor today. At least not without several breaks...

A long time ago, mom's place was Anson Meeks' Potato Farm. I kinda thought it would be cool to go back to that, as I've not heard of anyone else here in south central Michigan growing potatoes. But.... is that viable, where's the market, etc?
My neighbor works on a farm and was telling me about food-grade soybeans? He said they're planted and harvested with the same equipment as regular soybeans but are exported directly to Japan?
I don't think a livestock operation would be sensible at mom's, as I'd have to make sure I get over there daily to check on things.
I'm also wondering about a chicken/egg facility, given the new law in Michigan about selling only cage-free eggs? I could fence off 3 1/2 acres here at home, build a couple chicken houses and buy a bunch of layers? A 2-dozen pack of eggs was over $7 at the store recently and I'd expect those prices will still go up a little?

But anyway.... I'd be willing to invest in some older equipment and learn what I need to in order to be successful at something but I don't know what is profitable on such small acreages?

Thanks for your time and suggestions, I do appreciate it.
Anthony

Like other posters may have pointed out, see if you can qualify for US Dept of Agriculture. Programs in land conservation, etc. they pay people not to farm, or if you do farm incorporate and use the losses/write downs for tax leverage-& change your handle to "farmswithpaper"

 

[Fritz Maurer]

Horse ladies can try your patience .

She said, "I want to come out and see the field while you're mowing it." No show. Then, "I want to see the hay as you bale it." Gave a specific time, still no show. Got 150 bales ready..... "never mind, I don't want it. "

 

[Jim.ME]

Fritz is right. Horse people can be much different than cattle people about hay. If you have never put up hay before, don't count on producing hay acceptable to horse people right away. There is more to it than mow, rake, bale, sell. Best to have someone who feeds cattle, at least to start with, as you learn.

 

[will-max dairy]

Howdy,
A hay-burning boiler? Never heard of that, now I gotta go educate myself....
Thanks,
Anthony

Unfortunately, even though the math regarding price per BTU works out, they just aren't that popular here in the US; unless you get up to the industrial-scale versions that take round bales.

 

[BarnyardEngineering]

Pete on just a few acres farm on you tube makes it on small acreage. I met him at half century last time

John T

Yes he does, but he doesn't do it by throwing a few seeds on the ground and waiting 4 months.

He raises the cattle and chickens, and direct-markets the beef, chicken and eggs at a thriving farmer's market. He has the ideal consumer base, Ithaca NY, a college town full of bougie faculty and students with money and pre-conceived notions about "grocery store food."

Pete and his wife are the poster children for "right place, right time, right product."

 

[BarnyardEngineering]

Be forwarned. Horse ladies can try your patience . When you start out you get all the ones who are baned elsewhere. Hold your ground.,accept only cash.

Amen brother. They want perfect hay, only pure domesticated grasses, no legumes, no "weeds," can't be dusty, and they act like they're doing you a favor by offering $2 a bale, but can they take the hay now and pay you next week...