career

(photo by kevindooley)

You may remember Krystle from "Ruminations on farm business from an aspiring farmer." She is young farmer working in New Mexico and now pondering the next steps to take. You can check out her site at http://www.selfmadefarmer.com. The following are excerpts from her November 2007 newsletter; sign up for the mailing list by sending Krystle an email at: lettucehead@selfmadefarmer.com.
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"The best way to stay grounded, it seems, is to develop a vision based on some core values and principles that you believe in, and to return to this vision every time you feel discouraged. So I've spent the last month focusing on a foundation which will ultimately become the backbone of my business plan. My main guide was a publication titled "Building a Sustainable Business: A Guide to Developing a Business Plan for Farms and Rural Businesses" developed by the Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture.

The first thing I did was identify values, or "standards, beliefs or qualities that you consider worth upholding or pursuing." In other words, they define what it means to me to be successful in farming. They're broken down into four categories: personal, economic, environmental, and community. What resulted was a list that pretty much defined why I've chosen farming as a lifelong vocation. In time, I plan on focusing on these values individually, through future newsletters or articles."

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"During my first two years of farming in New York, I was fortunate enough to have a mentor who was a lifelong farmer and took me under his wing. I often think to this day that if it hadn't been for his influence, I might've wasted years in the wealthy hobby farming community, where having the rarest breed or the most unique tomatoes outweighs turning a profit. It's great when--of all the things wealthy people can do with their money--they choose to preserve farmland and endangered breeds or varieties; but from what I've seen, such operations tend to have unrealistic expectations that always fall on the staff, and the turnover is high, despite good pay.

Instead, I learned early on that there are profits to be made from farming, if one chooses to be creative and ambitious enough. I also realized that if I could make a living from farming in a way that's both ecologically and financially sustainable, I'd feel like an accomplished human being. Once that was settled, I knew what I needed to learn: how to run a farm as a business. And I knew I wasn't getting it in New York. But I'd added another value to my list: financial sustainability."

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"In looking at the big picture, I acknowledge that the only way an alternative food system is ever going to become established is if every generation builds upon the work of the one before it. To reinvent the wheel unnecessarily is not only counter-productive, but it's also a waste of time. I've learned to value continuity and collaboration more than ever.

With these realizations in mind, I'm now more open to the possibility of striking up a partnership with an existing farmer and working out some way that I can invest in their farm, rather than build one from the ground up. Whether it'll actually pan out that way, who knows? If there's anything I've learned in New Mexico, it's to hang on to your values and just wait and see...!"

-Krystle

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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What will the next generation of farmers look like?Where will your organic, micro, local, sustainable, raw, wild lettuce come from in 20 years? By definition of the small farm movement, we want farmers who cultivate small acreage, can talk engagingly about the food they produce and how to prepare it, and guarantee their economic success so they can afford to bring those vegetables to you throughout the years.

Let me brainstorm a few of the skills that it takes to bring the meat, vegetables, honey, etc to market:

• mechanical genius to keep stringing along that mid 20th century tractor and the innumerable pieces of equipment that makes a farm run
  
• micro-meterologist to consume multiple weather reports and parse them to form a prediction for each micro-climate on the farm
• production botanist (or animal husbandry expert) to be able to draw in the advice of experts on disease and production and apply them to specific problems on the farm
• breeder: continually hone seedstock or breeding pool for maximum effectiveness
• human resources development: get the right amount of able hands on the farm at the exact time to make harvest happen
• human resources management: ensure that those hands to keep hoeing in the same direction to make harvest happen
• marketing: hone your message to maximize sales to any or all of the following groups: the general public, restaurants, wholesalers, fellow farmers
  
• public relations: tell the farm story every day to all stakeholders and make sure employees can tell the story as well
• business manager: record sales, pay taxes, manage equipment purchases, pay wages, etc
  

(And what else? Leave more skills in comments.)

How many people or families have the ability to assimilate all these absolutely necessary skills and then bring a saleable product to market each year and then, the final key, make enough money to justify another year of farming. If you know Salatin's admirable sustainable grazing program, you know that it can take a lifetime to learn the system on top of all of the skills listed above.

Many smart, able people exist that can to perform the mental acrobatics and are committed to a lifetime of learning, but small are the number that are insane enough to start farming. Besides plentiful sunshine, exercise, and a feeling of accomplishment not matched in any other field, what does a farmer earn at the end of the year. $30,000? $50,000?

It takes a lot of care, knowledge, and passion to bring another apple into the world. Balanced with quality of life issues, that level of compensation might be commensurate to the skills required if not for the extremely high entry costs and risks. Reasonably fertile land within a half-day drive of a metropolitan area (to sell the produce) in addition to equipment must cost at least $500,000 if not double or triple that figure in some areas. So to summarize the journey to starting a farm: spend around a million dollars up front; master 10-15 high level skills; work long, physical hours for the rest of your life; try to avoid a "natural" crop failure:  freeze, flood, or drought; and hope that you have enough left at the end of the day to pay back the loan and muster a middle-class income. Or... take those skills and join the traditional workforce and earn six-figures without any upfront costs.

I hope I don't sound too pessimistic because I love agriculture: the growing, the marketing, and the work. It's just that this disconnect worries me as a younger person who has enough experience in growing to want to do it on my own. But as I think I have ably demonstrated above: it is an completely insane thing to do. Sure there are alternatives: innovative land access with trust, SPIN farming, or Farming the Concrete Jungle. Also, the market is growing for authentic food and small farms that can find a niche in the marketplace can be successful. I know it is possible, but how does a new farmer justify the risk?

Maybe there are simple brute economic forces acting on the market: people want adjective-laden food (micro, local, sustainable, et al) instead of chemical-laden food, but it takes extra care and smaller scale to bring these products to the marketplace. Small farms are well suited to the task of producing high-quality food, but the costs are higher. Will Americans pay the extra price that sustainable, small-scale production requires? If not, can farmers find a way to bring down the price to point that the general public can pay? Or failing the first two options, will farmers be forced to scale up to survive? I have a strong feeling that we will either need to learn to work together as a movement and make small farming more economically feasible -- a mix of government incentives, land-use agreements as linked above, equipment sharing, sensible market incentives for sustainable operations, and more -- or go back to a system that resembles what we had before this movement started, albeit with less chemicals.

I know that plenty of young people are making the choice to farm on a small scale. But can they farm at the right scale with enough commitment and business skills to be on the land in 20 years? My contribution to this question and problem, at this point in my life, is to cross one skill set off that long list above: web designer/developer. Like this project, Small Farm Central, attempts, we need to find ways to work together as a community of small farmers and harness our collective power and knowledge to strengthen the group. This will not be an easy task for such a geographically disparate group that is inherently independent, but as I said in my last post, for survival we need to find a way to work together without compromising the individuality of each farm. I believe that I am doing my small part and I'm sure each of us are to an extent, but will it be enough?

I'd love to hear your comments on this topic. How you have dealt with it in your life and farming career? Are there any opportunities we should take as a community?

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