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Indiana | High paying job/s. Yes, I worked for other farms growing up, but I wouldn't be farming today without the understanding and support of my wife/family and two good jobs. Wife and I both have a college education with good jobs. The two farms that we bought within the last 10 years would have never happened without the good jobs (non-Ag related). This can be difficult because we live a few hours away from the farm and miss out on potential opportunities. We work in a bigger city to farm on the weekends (which is getting tougher with the kid activities as well). Luckily, family helps keep an eye on things as well when we are not around.
Most of my vacation time is spent in the spring and fall farming. But, this is how our family recharges the 'batteries' away from the city/jobs, so we don't mind it. Will I ever get to farm full time? Probably not. Our plans (assuming our health is good) is to farm in retirement for a few years to supplement our income or until it's not enjoyable any longer. If not, we'll have some land that's generating income for us in retirement and to pass down to our kids.
This may be unorthodox. Wife and I decided at the beginning that we wanted to do this via owning land versus cash renting (unless the right opportunities came along that led to ownership). This requires a lot of capital (this is where the good jobs/grades came into play), discipline (living below your means to take advantage of opportunities like buying a farm), planning/prioritizing, sacrifices, and plain luck to make it work starting from scratch. As others said, it takes a very long time which may not even happen within my lifespan. | |
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? for those that started farming on your own
