Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Where in Europe rural living/farming is well-developped and you can meet ends working in related fields? Ideally, I'd like towns like Debrecen and Plovdiv that have some cultural life and a theater(s) but are surrounded by fertile, arable lands so you can buy/manage farmland.
Living in Europe and making a living off of agriculture can be very difficult. Some countries and regions have very modern agricultural methods, where some are still stacking hay on poles and putting the poles in tiny barns.
Farm land is also terribly expensive when it's really fertile. Farms are not nearly the size of North American farms. Tuscan farms might average 20 acres, and they just about all have apartments and rooms for rent as secondary income.
I've also noticed that farm equipment in Europe is priced significantly more than the same equipment would be in North America. While some large farms in Northern France may use large tractors, places like Ireland use middle size tractors with cabs. And in Italy, they substitute small farm tractors pulling farm wagons for daily travel since they don't really have pickup trucks there.
It's just difficult to say where someone can afford to live and make an agricultural living. Land and equipment's just too expensive, and the farms just don't bring in that much income because they're just too small.
Living in Europe and making a living off of agriculture can be very difficult. Some countries and regions have very modern agricultural methods, where some are still stacking hay on poles and putting the poles in tiny barns.
Farm land is also terribly expensive when it's really fertile. Farms are not nearly the size of North American farms. Tuscan farms might average 20 acres, and they just about all have apartments and rooms for rent as secondary income.
I've also noticed that farm equipment in Europe is priced significantly more than the same equipment would be in North America. While some large farms in Northern France may use large tractors, places like Ireland use middle size tractors with cabs. And in Italy, they substitute small farm tractors pulling farm wagons for daily travel since they don't really have pickup trucks there.
It's just difficult to say where someone can afford to live and make an agricultural living. Land and equipment's just too expensive, and the farms just don't bring in that much income because they're just too small.
Maybe that's why the OP is looking in Eastern Europe...?
But it's a good question; OP can you afford the farm machinery? Even in the US, individual farmers can't afford to buy all the machinery they need. It's not unusual for neighboring farmers to share their equipment with each other, or to own it together as a group. In some E European countries, there may be restrictions on foreigners buying land, too. And you should look into how water rights work, in any given country. Would you plan on doing organic farming, or conventional?
And what about weather patterns in different regions, and the effects of climate change on farming? There's a lot to research. But W Europe buys a lot of the produce from SE Europe/Balkans, according to some of our posters here. So you may have the right idea: Croatia, maybe.
There's a lot of unused farmland sitting empty in Sweden. It's too bad someone like yourself couldn't rent the land from people who have inherited it, but done nothing with it, so that it could be turned into productive land again. But conditions in Sweden may not be optimal, due to the northerly location.
Well, if finding such a job is hard, is it possible to have a hobby farm then? Maybe sell some produce but mostly raise a few cows for own consumption of milk and yoghurt (not fan of beef), a few pigs, dozens of chickens and of course vegetables and fruits?
I know it's a huge investment but you won't need to buy the often lackluster produce in supermarkets. The tastiest fruits I've had were from our totally organic shrubs and trees. We literally didn't tend much to them, no pesticides, nothing chemical, some were very old and still had a good enought yield for sustaining a family or two. So I know for personal/semi-commercial use organic works.
What about combining such a micro farm with a rural style bed and breakfast and maybe a barn diner/restaurant/theater to tie in my other passion - art? I think they call it village tourism here in the EU. I just love rural or semi-rural suburban settings and I need them in my life to feel truly happy (I prefer them to forests and mountaneous areas).
Someone mentioned Sweden above, unlike most Northern/Western European countries, they have a breathtakingly beautiful countryside (looking at you Czechia, Austria and Germany with your urbanised and dull countrysides!). It might work more for tourism in the short summer, the climate is not good for producing much. On a music board I saw this video and fell in love with Swedish countryside. Along with Hungary, Ukraine, Italy and the Balkan countries (except for Greece, Albania and Turkey) it's one of the most beautiful in Europe. Hungary is the outstanding one in Central Europe, Slovakia is more mountaneous but Czechia, Poland, Austria and Germany are a total meh. Bad vegetation, dull looking, bad soils and the climates have less sun in the summer than parts of Sweden ironically.
Well, if finding such a job is hard, is it possible to have a hobby farm then? Maybe sell some produce but mostly raise a few cows for own consumption of milk and yoghurt (not fan of beef), a few pigs, dozens of chickens and of course vegetables and fruits?
I know it's a huge investment but you won't need to buy the often lackluster produce in supermarkets. The tastiest fruits I've had were from our totally organic shrubs and trees. We literally didn't tend much to them, no pesticides, nothing chemical, some were very old and still had a good enought yield for sustaining a family or two. So I know for personal/semi-commercial use organic works.
What about combining such a micro farm with a rural style bed and breakfast and maybe a barn diner/restaurant/theater to tie in my other passion - art? I think they call it village tourism here in the EU. I just love rural or semi-rural suburban settings and I need them in my life to feel truly happy (I prefer them to forests and mountaneous areas).
Sounds like a lot of work. Do you have a spouse or partner to share the tasks with? How would you finance the start-up of this multi-faceted enterprise?
I think "village tourism" would work better in parts of Western Europe, that get a lot more international tourism anyway, than most parts of E Europe, which is where the cheap land is. Aside from the money you'd need to start all this up, you'd need money to pay for advertising, btw. You could partially depend on networking with hotels, to refer their guests to your place for dining and entertainment, but you'd need to do more than just that, to make your business known.
Well, what other options do I have when I only love farms, rural life and art? Tourism is OK, but I wouldn't want to work at a front desk or in phone reservations. Teaching might work, but pays peanuts so I couldn't even get a house easily. I can't stand almost any other jobs - sales, IT, outsourching, back office, accounting, etc. - can't stand them. Well, sales are kinda OK, but not that well-paid here and also don't provide autonomy or creativity. Actually talented contortionists, tap dancers, and other variety show people would love to get some venue to show off their talents. Currently they're like just in circuses? It's just actors and singers nowadays which has gotten quite boring, every bar/restaurant has a band/singer and every theater has regular actors. Oh and dancing today means just hip hop, ballroom and twerking. I bet there's a niche for slightly different entertainment. Not to discount stand-up comedians and celebrity impersonators, those were unpopular and then came back in vogue, so it can be done!
I agree on village tourism working in Western Europe. Maybe Croatia as well being popular with West tourists and small. With the Internet advertising is not that expensive actually.
Currently I've been doing the digital nomad style, well kinda (taking outsourcing jobs in call centers). I travel between Central Europe and a few Balkan countries.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
