Small Farm Central

Farming in southern New Mexico.

Krystle is an aspiring farmer working on a farm in southern New Mexico. She makes a point to confront the economic aspects of farming because she has a desire to farm full-time, but knows that the farm must be economically viable. Posted below is her October 2007 newsletter. Check out her site at http://www.selfmadefarmer.com and sign up for her monthly newsletter. If you enjoy this article, you may also enjoy: Adjective-laden food and contradictions in farming

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Every business needs a business plan. A farm is no exception. Sure, there are plenty of great farms out there that never had a business plan, but most of them aren't businesses; they're recreational pursuits, where the survival of the farm doesn't depend on its ability to turn a net profit; it depends on its fulfillment of underlying ideals.

There's nothing wrong with that kind of farm (in fact, it'd be nice if there were a whole lot more of them) but it's not an option for people who depend on their own paycheck to get by. For me, no paycheck means no farm.

I recently read an article from the Rodale Institute where a farmer recounted his experiences with starting--and ending--an organic dairy farm. One statement really struck a chord with me:

"...people will try to infect you with their particular idealism, which can severely impact your profitability. Your first goal in business has to be to make a profit so you can later work toward your idealistic goals, or you will soon be out of business—and never get to the idealistic goals. I am an example of this."

As I'm plotting out a life in responsible agriculture, I really have to keep my ducks in a row and remember to focus just as much on financial sustainability as I do on ecological sustainability. That makes my task a lot harder, but it also confers a great benefit if I succeed: Every farmer who manages to become financially successful in a socially and environmentally responsible way provides a model that others can learn from and replicate. Right now, there aren't many models I've come across that embody what I'm looking for as a farmer. So I'm going to go with Gandhi's advice: "Be the change you want to see in the world."

And what are those changes I want to see? I'd like to see more people pursuing farming as a livelihood as well as a lifestyle. I'd like to see farmers with vibrant, clean and well-kept farms they've built on hard work and smart planning--not on donations, privilege, or anything that isn't available to the average person. I'd like to see such farmers offer quality products and services, and get compensated fairly by appreciative, open-minded and well-informed customers. I'd like to watch a farmer come home and have the freedom and time to spend with their family, write a book, play an instrument, and be something other than a farmer for a few hours of their day, and for a few weeks out of the year.

This would certainly be a big change, since many small farmers today are struggling with all of the above, but especially finances and quality of life. After listening to many of them, I've come to two resolutions: I don't want to make minimum wage, and I don't want to be a slave to my farm, because both are unsustainable; most people will face burnout and watch their farm crumble to pieces as a result.

Instead, I'd like to be able to present farming as a satisfying career, one that can reward you in a multitude of ways. It'll have its downsides and drawbacks, like any career, but it shouldn't require you to be a selfless workaholic in order for the farm to survive. I think that by learning from others' experiences, making careful plans, and taking things slowly, a farmer can strike quite a nice balance that most people would envy.

That's my core vision, and what I have to develop my plans around. It's still too early to write an actual business plan, since so much of my future is still in the air. For example, I don't know where I'm going to be in six months. I could still be here, but in all likelihood, I'll be going wherever my significant other finds a job after graduating, and that probably won't be here. Fortunately, I'm not tied to any specific location--I'll enjoy the challenge of being a farmer no matter where I end up. And besides, there are other things I can think about.

One thing I'm pretty sure about is that my next step is to get a full-time "day" job. For several years now, I've been all over the place with my income sources, trying out various career paths and always working more than one job (the average is three, the record is five). In retrospect, I guess I was spreading my risk and dipping my toes in various opportunities so I could learn more about myself and what I was looking for in a career. Now that my aspirations are becoming clear, however, it seems about time to narrow things down.

The question that came up was whether my day job should be a farm job. But after reviewing what kinds of agricultural jobs were out there--all the way from CSAs to livestock--I realized that it would take me several tries before finding a job I was actually content with (turnover is quite high in farming), and there would be a good deal of relocating involved. Plus, the pay and benefits are okay, at best--the more conventional the farm, the better the pay (unfortunately). And now that Hans and I are together, bouncing around the country as a farm gypsy just doesn't really fit.

The alternative I've decided on is to get a day job in an unrelated field that offers a decent, reliable pay. Thanks to my diverse work history, there are several doors open in this regard. The plan is to get a day job and start building a farm on the side. The day job will allow me to experiment with farming and develop a business model that works while still earning an income. Then, I can eventually ease from the day job into full-time farming, hopefully sooner rather than later.

How will I know when to take the leap? I've outlined a few criteria in my head. The most obvious one is when the farm generates a paycheck that's comparable to the average income in whatever town or city I'm living in. That usually ranges from $25,000 to $35,000 per year. But since farming is a seasonal business, it's not really fair to expect to make the average salary when you're not working the average 2000 hours per year. So if we divide the average salary by the average number of hours worked, it comes down to a range of $12.50 to $17.50 per hour, and that's how I'll gauge the financial success of my farm.

Another standard I've set recently is to hire someone else full-time to work on the farm before I quit my day job. It might not sound sensible at first, but my reasoning is that if I don't want to be a slave to the farm, I need to be able to get away from it once in a while, and feel like I can depend on someone else to take the reins while I'm gone. This is a VERY common problem for many farmers I've talked to, and one that I'm hoping to avoid. Of course, that means the farm will need to support two full-time incomes before I make my transition, and I plan on paying that other person a salary comparable to mine.

Now, you might be wondering, how in the world is this girl going to get a farm going that makes that much money?! The truth is, I'm wondering that, too. I have several ideas in mind for how a farm can turn a good profit. My latest idea involves forming a CSA/cooperative hybrid, but I'm still crunching the numbers on that one. Either way, I won't be able to answer the question until I actually try several ideas out and see how they work in real life.

The nice thing is that I'll be able to document my trials (and errors) through this newsletter and SelfmadeFarmer.com. At least if I never meet my farm goals, I'll have shared a good deal of insights with others--insights that they can build on and who knows? Maybe they'll hit the jackpot. Besides, I really enjoy the idea of trying to reach a lofty goal. It makes life interesting and fun, and that's a worthy achievement in and of itself.

Till next month,

Krystle http://www.selfmadefarmer.com

"I never failed once. It just happened to be a 2000-step process." -Thomas A. Edison

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