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North East Texas | This plan has worked for more than one aspiring farmer, feel free to modify it to fit your circumstances.
You have to understand this is a marathon not a sprint.
You have to be willing to make personal sacrifices to attain your “dream”. If along the way you pick up a spouse, they too must be willing to make the same sacrifices.
The first 100 acres are the hardest to attain. If you inherit them it makes it MUCH easier obviously.
If land prices are in the ridicules range where your located and you do not inherit land then you MUST be willing to relocate. There are still lots of places where farm land is affordable. You CANNOT buy your way into your dream in the ridicules land price areas. The big boys will always be there to outbid you.
You do not need new equipment to farm.
You do need reliable equipment.
Forget going after a 4 year college degree unless your plan is to work in your degree field for several years prior to chasing the farming dream. Otherwise you graduate with a huge debt load that will drag you down, and interfere with the financing of land.
The Plan
You need a job. You need health insurance. The job can be farm hand at decent wages or a town job at decent wages. My suggestion is a Tech School where you can learn a trade such as Plumber, Welder, Electrician, Diesel Engine repair, whatever your interests are, but these jobs pay excellent, come with benefits and will travel wherever you need to go.
Now all you need to do is work and save every penny not needed to survive. This is where personal sacrifices come in. You can’t spend money on new cars, fancy clothes, and fancy living quarters. You buy the bare necessities to survive. As your savings account grows you take advantage of opportunities that come your way, such as cheap but mechanically sound farm equipment. You don’t have to buy a whole operation at one time. It’s ok to buy it one piece at a time. This is where mechanical skills come into play. It’s much easier to buy and use older equipment if you have the knowledge and ability to fix it yourself.
Once you have the necessary equipment. Then it’s time to go on the hunt for land. 40’s and 80’s are easier to buy than big acreages. In reasonable land price areas you should be able to jump in the game in 5 years or less.
Then you do both, keep your job and farm. It will make for long days and nights, but it’s much easier to grow the operation if your living expenses come out of the job income and the farm income gets reinvested into the farm.
If you make it to this stage your path forward will be readily apparent to you.
Good Luck
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New Farm
