New farmers face many challenges
By Diego Flammini, Farms.com
For the most part, farmers could be described as being taken for granted. The public just assumes the farmers will continue to put in their countless hours of work so that there’s enough food for everyone.
What the general public may not know, is how many difficult areas there are for new farmers to consider before deciding to go forward with their operations.
Some things new farmers need include machinery, a support system (agronomist, mechanics), farmland, technology and of course, money.
Machinery
In the old days, farmers would either walk the fields with their hand tools or use horses to pull the equipment. Nowadays, everything is obviously done by machine.
Maybe the most important piece of machinery is the tractor. Without it farmers would have a difficult time doing just about anything. Tractors, like cars come in all different makes, models and sizes which can also impact the price.
A used tractor can cost anywhere between $200,000 and $375,000 USD and that doesn’t include any of the attachments that might be necessary.
Support System
The people involved in helping the farmer make the right decisions can be just as important as the farmer themselves.
The agronomists and technicians are there to help the farmer decide how much fertilizer to apply or whether or not their tractor needs some specific repaired. Chances are they won’t work for free so the farmer has to wrestle with how much they’re willing to spend on those services.
Technology
As precision farming continues to pick up steam, any farmers wanting to pursue that will need the proper technology. Drones, soil mapping and other technologies can all be very helpful tools but can also be another item that needs repair.
For example, drones can range anywhere from $300 at a department store up to thousands of dollars.
Farmland
Where is the farmer going to plant if they don’t have any land? Like residential properties, location can play a key factor. Is it near a source of water? Does it already have irrigation? How fertile is the soil?
A 210-acre piece of land in Hancock County, Illinois is currently selling for $737,412 USD.
Money
Without any cash, farmers can’t have any of the items previously mentioned. Between the land and machinery, a farmer could invest over $1 million before a seed touches soil.
The United States Department of Agriculture has resources available to people interested in starting farms including information on farm loans and Start2Farm.
One thing to consider is that all the items mentioned are things farmers can control. There’s a whole host of other issues including weather, pests, fuel prices and government regulations that farmers can’t control but affect them directly.
Join the conversation and tell us about your first reactions to the costs of farming. If you’re not in the farming community, did you know farmers spent this much money to operate?