I am glad to read these comments about how small farms can get started. It does offer hope! Many larger farm operations lease land as well, so it's not a new thing to farm land you don't own.

I agree that you do need need to own a farm to begin small-scale growing, but I also know after many incidences of having to pick up and leave the land I rented or leased and put much heart and soul and labor into improving for sustainable production, that there are only so many times you can do that and think, "I've made it better; I've left a legacy," and hope that someone might pick up where you left off. Often what happens is that land gets developed or paved over or neglected. It can get to be a bit soul-draining.

But the upside to leasing land is that you may find a decent plot nearer to your market area, and the cost of that land may be substantially less than buying the entire farm. Too, if you are having to work in town while you get your operation up and running, the back-and-forth driving between farm and work can be a budget-killer, so a smaller plot closer in can be advantageous in this way as well. Also, this trial approach gives you an opportunity to establish your market and make a name, which can help immensely down the line when and if you do buy the farm.

But I would caution those who wish to lease land to get an agreement that allows them some measure of control. My desire is to sustain the land that sustains me first and foremost. Perhaps there are some who can be completely altruistic about improving the land, but having to start over is more than just disappointing--it is a lot of hard work and can really cut into your yields and your income going from a plot you've loved and nurtured to a bare patch of dirt and weeds.

That said, I do see this as a realistic and positive approach to starting out. The goal is learn incrementally, not to have, as we say, one year's experience twenty times.

Hey Simon,

You've done a great job of laying out the obstacles that lie before the would-be small farmer. Five years of tiny farming, following a lifetime in big cities has indeed shown me that all that is quite true. And I'm forever amazed by the range of knowledge and skills possessed by an old school, generational farmer. If our existing school system (North America) had to train small farmers by way of a formal curriculum, with EXAMS and CERTIFICATION, it seems we'd all be starving.

It's good to know what you're up against. Still, I think it's possible to restate your basic points in a less daunting, more practical way, for people considering the small farming life.

You outline two main obstacles: the fantastic amount of interdisciplinary knowledge and skills required, and the almost overwhelming financial realities. It would seem that if you didn't grow up on a working farm, and then inherit it, you're outta luck.

First, the knowledge and skills. While they make an impressive list, after the fact, many may not realize that the way you learn on the farm is incremental and holistic. It's not at all like formal schooling, where you tackle many, many individual areas in abstract, and hope to bring them all together some years later in meaningful practice. In the field, you learn what you need when you need it, as you go. This problem-solving approach in turn, on a meta level, develops your pattern recognition facilities. You see similarities and solutions across many "disciplines". Learning in context is a lot easier, more efficient, more fun.

Sure, there aren't as many resources, compared to what's available in the world of Big Agriculture. But really, one good book can be all you need, and there are at least several of those. Add the Internet, and there is more than enough support for someone to get started. It's not easy, but neither is any other entrepreneurial venture. The majority of all small business start-ups do fail, and in the first year. I wouldn't expect farming to be an exception. On the upside, there are lots of mouths to feed, so there is room for many, many, many small farms, unlike in most other areas where markets get saturated quite quickly. A small farm producing top quality will always find some sort of market.

Assumption: The learning takes care of itself. All you have to do is get out there and start and stick to it.

Second, the financial. This is a problem. Real estate prices are ridiculous, especially in reasonable proximity to larger markets. BUT, the idea of owning a little farm, with a farmhouse and barn and whatnot, is arbitrary and a limiting view for the cash-strapped new farmer. If you're creative and determined, there is lots of available land, and little regulation in your way if you just want to grow. How many farms have been purchased by affluent non-farmers with no real use for dozens or hundreds of acres? People are there to be approached, opportunities can be made. You can rent one or five or 10 acres for next to nothing. In the world of new farmers, I suspect that land ownership comes somewhere down the line, not at the start. It doesn't even make sense to invest hundreds of thousands of dollars up front, when you just want to try growing on a few acres, and you're not even sure how much you'll like it, or whether you'll succeed...

Assumption: You don't need to own a farm to start small-scale farming, and unless you have the cash, you're probably better off not even considering it until you have some experience and are clear on your farming course.

I think that's an equally realistic outlook, covering the same ground, and more...positive. ;) What do you think?