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| I was in a similar boat to yours three years ago. my advice is this:
- start small and just take back one piece for the first year and build up from there.
- hire out seeding, spraying, combining. You can't afford to do a poor job of either three, and you can't afford the equipment to do a good job until you have atleast half of those acres.
- soil test your ground. Put your money into fertility instead of iron, it'll pay back better. Also figure out what realistic yield goals are for your area so you can best plan a fertility program. Don't be afraid to find outside help with this.
- Get a line of credit, pay everything with the line of credit even if you have cash. Let it sit on the line of credit for a week or two and then pay it off. Even if you can cash flow now, eventually you will have to borrow. No matter how good of a farmer you are or how good your budgets look, lending history is the #1 thing they look at. When the time comes, being able to present them a long history of paying your debts will get you the best rates and fastest financing.
- Buy bins, market your grain. Bins always pay.
- manage your money aggressively. you will never have enough money to buy everything you need. prioritize purchases based on what's going to net you the best returns and then work down the list as you have the money to do so.
- equipment is a liability. it breaks down, plan for that.
- A crop farmer wears four main hats: Mechanic, agronomist, grain marketer, accountant. Pick which one you want to be the best at and study it hard. Do your best at the other three, but be prepared to have to hire some of it out.
- Most importantly, don't be to proud to ask for help. There's lots of knowledge out there if you ask the right people, and they're often excited to share it. This also goes for hiring out jobs like mechanics or agronomy. As much as it sucks to pay somebody to do a job you're capable of doing, it's often better than doing it halfway, late, or not at all. | |
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First time farmer
