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I've seen a lot of people go into this headfirst, & spit out broke in a couple of years. I think people (like me) are just trying to give you some reality, so you plan for this! :) By all means, if you want the enjoyment of farming, and are looking at this as a hobby, go for it. If you are expecting to make a living off of that small amount of land on regular row crops, you better look things over again. It would be better if you worked on either hay _or_ row crops to start, and worked into farming. If you know nothing about farming, there is so much to learn - you are bound to do something wrong, foul something up & lose a crop. A hailstorm can do that to you in 5 minutes even if you do everything right. There is a LOT to learn, you don't just throw seeds in the ground in spring, harvest in fall, & money magically appears. You are the main man, you need to watch inputs, expenditures, sales, marketing, supply & demand for everything. For example, who is going to harvest your corn? If you will with an old picker, you need ear corn storage and the pickers usually are 38" rows; you need to sell the corn or feed it to your own livestock. If you feed it, you need a grinder. If you sell it, how will you haul it? Are their buyers for ear corn where you live, or will you need to shell it to get rid of it? More machinery, more time.... If you have it custom combined, it will be much easier to find someone if you have 30" rows. Then are you going to sell it right away (poor price during harvest) or are you going to store it on the farm (need a drier & bins - too much $$$ for your size) or store it at the elevator (costs more storage & drying over a 20 year period)? So by this February, you better know who is harvesting the corn, by what method, and what row spacing you will use. Because different corn varieties work better in different fertility programs and row spacings. And you get a better price if you order seed corn early - like by the end of Nov, or at least end of Dec. So maybe you should know all this by the middle of December. If you wait until the last minute to decide these things, you will still enjoy the hobby of farming. But you will make about $50 - 100 an acre less than other people. So you won't be _profitable_. Similar issues apply to soybeans. Bigger, more costly issues, apply to hay making. You get very little crop from hay the first year, it is a lot of investment spent in year one, to make your money in years 2, 3, 4, & maybe 5. Can you learn all those details, do them all right, and not get bad weather or a poor market this first & 2nd year? All your income will still be going to pay off the farm machinery you bought. That machinery should last you 5-10 years (longer even, but you will then be putting more $$ into repairs) and so you need to make money for 3-5 years to pay it off, but when you buy it you have to spend $$$ for it all the first year. So, you can gain _net worth_ farming, but you will not get _cash_ profits for several years. You need to look at the long-term expenses (land, buildings), mid-term expenses (machinery, some fertilizers) and short-term expenses (seed, fertilizer, fuel, repairs, custom expenses) to determine if you will make anything at farming. You will need to pay the short term expenses from what you make. You need to pay off about 1/5 of the mid-term expenses from your crop. And you need to pay off about 1/25 of your long-term expenses. Any money left after that is _profit_. However, if you are starting out, you either need to spend your savings, or take on debt to finance the mid- & long-term debts. And so you really won't see any cash profit for a while - at least until you get the machinery paid for, usually. You might want to consider renting out 1/2, and concentrate on learning one or 2 parts of this _if_ money is tight for you. You would get a garenteed income from the rent, and you would not have to spend so much money on all the different machinery in one year. Then in 2-3 years take over the other 1/2, and expand your machinery - as you can afford it. _If_ this is a hobby and you have the money to spend, then by all means go for it, have fun. It's a good thing to do - it just will not give you much _cash_. Your best money maker would be the hay, but the weather & finiky buyers & demand can play total HAVOC with your income from year to year - over a decade, you will make the most from hay on average, but in any one year, you could actually lose a bundle - are you able to withstand that? So, we are not discouraging you. It is just real worrisome to have someone ask if they can make a profit the very first year of farming. Sounds like you don't understand the large overhead; the fact that you invest your money in fall or spring, and don't get a return until the next fall or spring - or even for a 10 year period; that weather can destroy your whole year so you have no income but still need to pay all the bills; and so on. Consider our messages a reality check, not discoragement. You need to be able to pay all the startup costs of farming, plus be willing to survive a poorer fist year as you lean, plus be willing to get no income at all for a year from a weather event. If that sounds ok to you & you can deal with it, then you should be enjoying your farming 10 years from now - and making a profit. :) If you need money from this land _now_, by all means just rent it out & take the cash! --->Paul
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