Breaking And Entering - How To Get Into Farming

2.       Education.“I went to school for this because I have a passion.”  

This is actually less likely. A friend of mine I grew up with decided to go to A&M to major in ag and managed a very serious outfit for a number of years before defecting to work in construction because “I’ve got kids to feed” This is all too often an issue. The USDA will award loans to grads with degrees in agriculture, but that largely saddles, in theory, a debt loaded early twenty something with another tens of thousands of debt to make a farm work with just them as the sole laborer. This is largely again anecdotal. If you have no collateral, the USDA will give you nothing. If you have collateral and don’t have the background they will give you nothing. Its not easy which is why outfits like Capital Farm Credit, etc exist. According to Joel Salatin in his book “You Can Farm”, you don’t need the USDA, I mean, USDuh. His parents left him 550 acres of Shenandoah Valley land paid for that he has largely profited from and now hails as the “know it all of farming know it alls” even though his claim to fame is cattle and chicken that he started from land that cost him nothing. Those who read his books and others like it should eat the salt shaker.

3.   Brute Force.

This has been the current model as with the Farmland documentary and also the Farmshare Austin and a few other groups, where millennials are now buying land and farming it. There are a lot of women who are asking the question of “how can we feed ourselves and our loved ones?” As the pandemic has raged on, very smart women have decided to change the narrative. We now have multiple farms popping up all over the country that have one goal in mind: bring you the best seasonal produce that your area can allow. My wife’s farm included. This is how most new farms are being created. One party works and the other farms. Nonetheless, farms in your community are the path to sustainability. Farmers markets allow you to experience all manner of great, new things.  

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