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Old 07-17-2014, 07:14 AM
 
Location: Forests of Maine
37,316 posts, read 61,118,350 times
Reputation: 30244

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Quote:
Originally Posted by Movingrightalong... View Post
That's sort of what we've done, but having a small plot for what essentially amounts to gardening vs having a commerically viable operation and a career are different animals.
My father had orchards and share-cropped orchards, along with running cattle, Most of his adult life. He was never able to get farming to support itself. He had to work off-farm to support his farming habit.

In our travels, I have sees many farmers who have needed off-farm income to keep them going. We had a dairy and later a vineyard, both of those operations were not able to get beyond the stage of needing off-farm income.

We settled here, assuming that all farming was mostly like that. It was not until after we had been here, that we have began seeing new farm start-ups that do not require off-site income.

I sell produce in a farmer's market. Among the other vendors, there is a good portion of them that I see, where they were able to drop the off-site income within 2 or 3 years.

The Apprentice / Journeyman operations do it 100% without off-site income. Those are the farms in this region that are really growing the statistics.



Quote:
... That's an incredible deal on land, particularly river frontage. I don't think there's a single acre in this state you could buy for under $1,000.
In our travels, drought-prone land was always a lot higher priced. But around here these are just the going prices for undeveloped land [big difference when you look at a region that has never seen a drought].
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Old 07-17-2014, 10:54 PM
 
6,904 posts, read 7,558,831 times
Reputation: 21719
Quote:
Originally Posted by Submariner View Post
If it is the female who attends conferences/meetings, she is the one putting her name on stuff.
Big Giant Hooey! I assure you, none of the workshops I've attended have had anything at all to do with "putting my name on stuff". (laughing.)

At the workshops I've been attending via Extension, Women Caring for the Land, and the Land Stewardship Project, I've been learning about working with farm renters, how to figure out flexible cash rent rates, and about different kinds of cover crops, no till farming, and about new technologies.

The majority of women farm owners attending these workhops have been single - widows, or young women. Most of the older women have inherited their farms from fathers or husbands. Many of the younger women, however, are new farmers who rent acreages and specialty farm - FSAs, herbs, and etc.

The world is changing, like it or not!
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Old 07-28-2014, 04:23 PM
 
6,904 posts, read 7,558,831 times
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Expensive land becomes a hurdle to growing young farmers | Minnesota Public Radio News

The above is a public radio story about a way for young farmers to get started.

It focuses on New Spirit Farmland Partnerships, a Milwaukee based social investment group which partners with young farmers wanting to go ito organic farming. www.newspiritfp.com

I'm getting kind of excited about all of this!

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Old 07-28-2014, 04:34 PM
 
Location: Forests of Maine
37,316 posts, read 61,118,350 times
Reputation: 30244
Quote:
Originally Posted by 601halfdozen0theother View Post
Expensive land becomes a hurdle to growing young farmers | Minnesota Public Radio News

The above is a public radio story about a way for young farmers to get started.

It focuses on New Spirit Farmland Partnerships, a Milwaukee based social investment group which partners with young farmers wanting to go ito organic farming. www.newspiritfp.com

I'm getting kind of excited about all of this!
That sounds great

Is it working there in Minnesota ?

Are there more farms this year than last year?
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Old 07-29-2014, 06:55 PM
 
Location: Under a bridge
2,420 posts, read 3,836,790 times
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When the younger people view farming as a "cool job" like they do with builders of apps then they will start farming.
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Old 08-13-2014, 08:33 PM
 
Location: Maui County, HI
4,131 posts, read 7,421,726 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MountainBiking View Post
When the younger people view farming as a "cool job" like they do with builders of apps then they will start farming.
How? How do you start farming? You can't. Existing farmers own all the land, and they don't pay a living wage.

This isn't the 1800s when you could just go out west and claim a chunk of land to farm. We can't afford to be farmers.
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Old 08-13-2014, 08:51 PM
 
Location: Forests of Maine
37,316 posts, read 61,118,350 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by winkosmosis View Post
How? How do you start farming? You can't.
People start farming every year.



Quote:
... Existing farmers own all the land
? ? ?

I have no clue what you think you are talking about.

I bought land. There is an adjacent parcel that has been on the market for ever 10 years.



Quote:
... and they don't pay a living wage.
That is simply not true.



Quote:
... We can't afford to be farmers
More likely is that you do not want to be one.
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Old 08-14-2014, 01:23 AM
 
Location: Northern Colorado
4,932 posts, read 12,727,909 times
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Have any of you been to some of the farming cities in CA? The dreadful cities in CA you hear about are the ones where their economy is based on agriculture....Fresno, Bakersfield, Modesto, etc....

Most of the wealthy farmers do at least come to the coast a lot and some even have beach houses along the coast. So what I am trying to say is location is key. If I could do farming in a small town, then it'd be a lot nicer. Doing farming and living in a cruddy city wouldn't be worth it to me, but hey, many of the peeps I graduated with ended up returning to the cities they were from and returned to farming there.

It's a shame conservative planning methods and other factors ruined many farming cities. In many instances, I wish some farming communities remained towns. Hanford, Visalia, and Modesto are still small and quaint. The food from Harris Ranch is so good and the dairies r awesome too!
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Old 08-14-2014, 07:14 AM
 
Location: Forests of Maine
37,316 posts, read 61,118,350 times
Reputation: 30244
Quote:
Originally Posted by the city View Post
Have any of you been to some of the farming cities in CA? The dreadful cities in CA you hear about are the ones where their economy is based on agriculture....Fresno, Bakersfield, Modesto, etc....

Most of the wealthy farmers do at least come to the coast a lot and some even have beach houses along the coast. So what I am trying to say is location is key. If I could do farming in a small town, then it'd be a lot nicer. Doing farming and living in a cruddy city wouldn't be worth it to me, but hey, many of the peeps I graduated with ended up returning to the cities they were from and returned to farming there.

It's a shame conservative planning methods and other factors ruined many farming cities. In many instances, I wish some farming communities remained towns. Hanford, Visalia, and Modesto are still small and quaint. The food from Harris Ranch is so good and the dairies r awesome too!
I am familiar with the area. Born in Modesto, graduated from Merced highschool, attended college in Fresno. Farmed / share-cropped almonds, and raised cattle there. Eldest sister married into one of the grape families near Turlock. One of my brothers did a career working in the Modesto PD and retired as a Lt there.

The population of Modesto is four times larger than the biggest city this state has.

I would not call any of those cities 'small' or 'quaint'.



I was not aware that any of those families had beach houses.

I have been to a few 'cabins' in the Sierras, up above the overcast, seasonal snow, not a bad location for a 8bdrm cabin. Lots of reservoirs for boating, and houseboat flotillas. Folks can do some hunting and fishing. Bring the horses up and do some riding.

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Old 08-14-2014, 12:54 PM
 
Location: Northern Colorado
4,932 posts, read 12,727,909 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Submariner View Post
I am familiar with the area. Born in Modesto, graduated from Merced highschool, attended college in Fresno. Farmed / share-cropped almonds, and raised cattle there. Eldest sister married into one of the grape families near Turlock. One of my brothers did a career working in the Modesto PD and retired as a Lt there.

The population of Modesto is four times larger than the biggest city this state has.

I would not call any of those cities 'small' or 'quaint'.



I was not aware that any of those families had beach houses.

I have been to a few 'cabins' in the Sierras, up above the overcast, seasonal snow, not a bad location for a 8bdrm cabin. Lots of reservoirs for boating, and houseboat flotillas. Folks can do some hunting and fishing. Bring the horses up and do some riding.

Alright, maybe Visalia and Modesto and Merced aren't small (and i don't think I said they were), but they have a country-style old west charming downtowns that give them a "quaint" feel.
My point is working in farming worth it if it means you have to live in that area?
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