I think everyone has been giving pretty sound advice. Let me tell you where I am.
I'm 57 and have been farming my wife's farm for 22 years. We started out with 60 tillable acres and bought the neighboring farm in 1992 and added another 45 tillable acres to the operation. In 1998 I rented another 18 acres from the elevator where I work for their seed test plot.
I have an ag degree from a major university and so does my wife. We both work full time off the farm. Financially the farm stands on it's own, we don't take any income from the farm other than it provides us a great place to live in the country.
I've been in the fertilizer, chemical, feed and seed industry since I graduated from college in 1975. I've done all that I can to expand and increase my expertise in crop production and farming gives me a way to gain practical knowledge about what I sell.
The first ten years were the toughest, basically we supplimented our farming with our off farm jobs. Finally we had a few good years in a row where we got a little ahead and will have our mortgage paid in two years.
The long and short of it is that last year we netted about $100 per acre off of 100 acres of crops. I know that the acres don't add up, but some of that ground was enrolled in the CRP programs. The biggest problem I have is in repairs and machinery cost which run about $65 per acre every year. When it cost me $1500 to fix a tractor it works out to $15/acre. Were I to farm 1000 acres that would $1.50/acre and a lot more manageable.
I've learned a lot from my farm management and production classes in college, and having a practical way to apply them has been a real eye opener.
I'll leave you with one pearl of wisdom:
When your "outgo" exceeds your "income" your "upkeep" will be your "downfall".
I think you can see from my experience with repairs and maintenance where that statement is headed.
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