|
NW Missouri | Some parents will do whatever they can to help their kids succeed. Others won't (or can't afford to). Maybe he hasn't asked dad for a piece of the pie yet and both parties have been happy just to be working together. Who knows? But if they are serious about pursuing farming, they need to get some skin in the game.
My parents were very gracious with helping me get started farming. I moved away for a few years after college to get my career going and during that time Dad sold his combine and started having someone custom harvest for him. Once I was able get transferred back closer to home with my job, I told him I wanted to be involved in the operation. I bought a combine and heads, as well as some haying equipment that we needed so that I was contributing more than just labor. Dad and I started farming together 50/50. Dad was already renting some ground, but within a couple of years I was able to pick up a couple more farms through contacts that I had made. We split all the rented ground 50/50. On the land dad owned, we share rented it from him. Meaning he and I each got 25% for being the operators and he got 50% for owning the land. He paid 75% of the crop inputs and provided 50% of the equipment, labor, diesel, repairs, etc. It worked very well for us and we still do that to this day. He owns more equipment than I do, so that is not completely equal, but I own a decent portion of it at this point, and he wants to help me succeed, so it works for us. I have also been able to buy a couple farms, and although he should take a 25% share of the crops on those, he refuses to. When we got back into cattle (trying to sell hay sucks), we split everything 50/50, and we each own about the same amount of hay and pasture, so that works out great.
My other piece of advice would be to use FSA financing. I could not have purchased either of my farms without it. Putting 5% down (or 0% down) and getting a rate in the 3-4% range on half the balance makes a HUGE difference. Yes, there is more paperwork, but it's worth it. They need to get listed on a crop report somehow to help prove that they have experience and have been making decisions, which will help qualify them for an FSA farm loan. However, it will also start the 10 year beginning farmer clock. Not all the loans are beginning farmer loans though. By the time I bought my second farm I wasn't a beginning farmer anymore, but I still qualified for a participation loan with them. | |
|
What Advice Would You Give to a Young Couple Trying to Start Farming?
