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Central Nebraska | I'm one of the lucky ones that got started because I told Dad and Grandpa since I was little that I wanted to farm, so they helped out. Rented my first quarter with Grandpa 50/50 up until 3 years ago, have rented ground with Dad 50/50 for 6 years. I exchanged my labor (and a lot of it) with both of them for use of machinery. Picked up another farm last year and I'm still working quite a bit for both of them, plus farming my own ground. I still have a relatively small machinery lineup because of it, owning a tractor and planter 50/50 with dad, a cultivator, sprayer, grain trailer (pulled by one of Dad's trucks) and some irrigation equipment. I have enough ground for the wife and I to live on, but when little ones start showing up, I'll trust that God will provide like he promises. I just keep my head down and work hard and hope that some of the older farmers in the area take notice. I think in our area, in the next 10 years or so there will be a lot of land turnover. I'm trying to keep costs down and save money until that happens.
As far as buying land, Frytown hit the nail on the head. I keep saving money for a down payment, but when a bank wants 35% on $5-6,000/acre ground, the few thousand I can save towards that a year aren't making much of a dent. Sometimes I wonder if the money we are putting into IRAs would be better off going into the land account, but IRAs are going to be there when we retire. I can't guarantee the land will be. | |
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? How can a young farmer start out now days?
