Ag 101 Beginning A Successful Small Farm

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Ag 101Beginning A Successful Small Farm

• Terry E. Poole
• Extension Agent
• Frederick County

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Small Farm Operator Objectives

• 1- How to simplify production techniques.
• 2- How to locate the most efficient equipment
  and tools.
• 3- How to reduce costs, increase
  profitability.
• 4- How to efficiently market what the farm
  produces.

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Frederick County Agriculture Livestock

• Beef cows 411 farms 9,130 head
• Dairy cows 256 farms 28,197 head
• Hogs 73 farms 5,117 head
• Sheep 92 farms 3,297 head
• Layers 76 farms
• Broilers 4 farms 1997 U.S. Census of
  Agriculture

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Frederick County AgricultureCrops

• Field Corn (grain/silage) 48,000 acres
• Soybeans 26,500 acres
• Wheat 13,500 acres
• Barley 6,700 acres
• Oats 1,400 acres
• Hay 44,000 acres
• Vegetables 612 acres 2001 MDA Ag
  Statistics

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Frederick County Farm Size1304 Farms Avg. 166
Acres

• 1 to 9 acres 96
• 10 to 49 acres 372
• 50 to 179 acres 463
• 180 to 499 acres 300
• 500 to 999 acres 50
• 1,000 plus acres 23 1997 U.S. Census of
  Agriculture

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Frederick County Farm Income

• Less than 2,500 356
• 2,500 to 4,999 161
• 5,000 to 9,999 173
• 10,000 to 24,999 189
• 25,000 to 49,999 89
• 50,000 to 99,999 91
• 100,000 plus 245 1997 U.S. Census of
  Agriculture

Small Farms
Big
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What is a farm?According to the U.S. Census

• 1850-1869 100 in sales
• 1870-1899 500 in sales, or 3 acres
• 1900-1909 1 full-time person
• 1910-1924 250, or 3 acres,or 1 person
• 1925-1949 250 in sales, or 3 acres
• 1950-1958 150 3 acres, or 250
• 1959-1974 50 10 acres, or 250
• 1975-present 1,000 in sales

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Can small farms have a role?Typical problems and
needs

• Limited resources - land, equipment,
  finances
• Limited ag and business education and experience
• Limited purchasing power
• Limited market potential for products
• A silent segment of the ag community
• Citizens want more diversity from ag
• Currently contribute little to ag economy

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A cooperative effort is the answer. Benefits
Include

• Group purchasing will lower costs
• Group marketing will bring higher prices and more
  opportunities
• Market strategies can be developed for niche
  markets, diversity of goods
• Members can be networked
• Focus groups can be developed
• Members can share resources and experiences

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J. Ss 10 Commandments of Succeeding on the
Farm

• 1 Stay at Home
• - your farm is your life and work
• 2 Be honest about luxuries
• - separate business and pleasure
• 3 Build relationships with the neighbors
• - dont be stuck-up, a know-it-all, or a
  complainer
• 4 Invest in money making things
• - a livable house is all you need

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More Commandments

• 5 Be committed
• - get up when you fall down
• 6 Do something
• - its in the doing (right or wrong) that
  is how you learn
• 7 Write down a plan
• - boil down your approach to a single goal

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Final Commandments

• 8 Fully utilize your resources
• - inventory the farm, more ideas will come
  with experience
• 9 Surround yourself with competent
  counsel
• - look for people who are doing
  successfully what you want to do
• 10 Be consistent
• - dont start and stop endeavors

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Selecting The Land

• Air Drainage - growing plants need fresh
  air - low areas restrict air movement
• Water - excess water is a flood and not
  enough water is a drought - be sure to
  research the history of the farm - check
  on the water holding capacity of the soil

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More on The Land

• Geographic Location - concerns proximity to
  markets
• Access - if necessary, can customers
  easily get to your farm can they find you?
• Security - most farmers fail to recognize
  this - theft and vandalism are problems -
  evaluate fencing, nearby dwellings,
  developments, and field visibility

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More on The Land

• Wildlife - some species are very
  destructive - adjacent woodland and nearby
  bodies of water should serve as clues
• Acreage - the ultimate availability of
  land - evaluate the potential for all of your
  land some may not be suitable for growing
  crops

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J.S.s Land Slide

• Man is financially successful
• He saves his money
• Dreams of being gentleman farmer
• Begins looking at real estate ads
• Looks at some land
• Makes sizeable down-payment
• Sells house, puts equity in farm, and borrows the
  rest

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More of J.S.s Land Slide

• Needs job to pay debt
• Too tired from off-farm job to do anything with
  the farm
• Weeds grow
• Honeymoon is over, feels frustrated
• Trapped with big debt, thinks farming doesnt pay
• Dream vanishes
• Puts farm on the market

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What do I produce?

• What ag interests do I have?
• What resources are available?
• Can I afford to do what I want?
• Will the farm support what I select?
• How will I establish, manage, harvest, store, or
  feed my selection?
• Is there a market for my product?
• Is there a knowledge, or support base?
• Will there ultimately be a profit?

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Selecting an EnterpriseThe Do List

• Be original, select enterprises that are not
  being done by the larger farms - the easy stuff
  is already being done
• Diversify - spreads out your risk
• Experiment - that is how you learn
• Locate, develop new market niches - the early
  bird gets the worm

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Selecting an EnterpriseThe Dont List

• Market to middlemen - you want to sell
  directly to customer
• Hire outside labor - increased costs and
  unreliability
• Get too far in debt - remember nobody went
  into small farming to get rich
• Overwork yourself on the farm - remember why
  you got into farming

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Small Farm Enterprise OptionsObjective High
Value / Acre

• Rent your land
• Organic animals, dairy, produce
• Landscape plants
• Meat goats
• Free range chickens
• Rabbits
• Fee hunting
• Wine grapes
• Cut flowers, herbs
• Small fruits
• Greenhouse

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Name of the GameNiche Marketing

• Identify markets
• Determine special needs
• Position yourself to serve those markets
• Find out what the larger producers cant supply
  What is too small for them?
• Look for ways to differentiate your product, not
  only from what you grow, but how you grow it,
  what you do with it, or how you package it, or
  market it.

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Some Examples of Current Niche Market Trends

• Fresh, in-season local produce
• Color, (white eggplants, blue potatoes)
• Nostalgia, (traditional American comfort foods,
  i.e. corn-on-cob, corn bread, vegetable varieties
  from several years ago)
• Organic foods, people believe it is safer
• Edible and cut flowers

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Where to buy things

• Auctions
• Classifieds
• Trader Bulletins
• Catalogues
• Hardware stores
• Farm stores
• Web

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Be Resourceful

• Need to be innovative, use whats around
• Use less expensive buildings, covers
• Buy used equipment
• Equipment should have multiple uses
• Dont buy more than is needed
• It may be cheaper to hire out the work
• It may be cheaper to buy a product than produce
  it
• Develop enterprises that can fit together

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The Big Red Barn Syndrome

• Many small farms fail due to high overhead
• High overhead items such as new tractors, board
  fence, and the big red barn are tough to cover
  the costs on within a limited resource operation.
• Remember, agriculture is a business. If the farm
  business cant support it, dont buy it.

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Operators should be Business Smart

• Operate within the established objectives of the
  farm
• Always ask Can the farm afford to buy it in the
  context of the business?
• The same thought process is applied to crop and
  livestock production. If you cant cover your
  variable costs, dont grow it!

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J.S.s Lessons for All Farmers

• Rats can carry off 50 chicks in 2 hours
• Unseasonably wet, or dry is normal
• Normal weather is exceptional
• Weeds grow faster when youre not looking
• Best place for a fence is where the rocks come to
  the surface of the ground
• The tractor never breaks unless youre using it

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MoreJ.S.s Lessons for All Farmers

• Little apple trees have radar that attracts deer
  and rabbits
• Raccoons have a special affinity for chickens
• No matter how good your grass is, the cows cant
  wait to get to the neighbors
• When away from the farm, the spark goes out of
  the electric fence
• Things roam around at night

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MoreJ.S.s Lessons for All Farmers

• When the truck is stuck in the mud, you dont get
  out by floating the valves
• Goats think car hoods are special lounges
• To find old rusty fence wire, send out sheep
• Every minutes of winter consumption requires 30
  minutes of canning
• Horses eat twice as much as cows
• Deer are not beautiful animals

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MoreJ.S.s Lessons for All Farmers

• Houses require a lot of maintenance
• Only in the wild, or as a hobby do rabbits
  proliferate easily
• Frost damage is real and deadly
• Tools really do walk away from the shop bench
  they have a life of their own.

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Farm Service Agencies

• Maryland Cooperative Extension
• Natural Resource Conservation Service
• Soil Conservation District
• Farm Service Agency
• MD Department of Natural Resources
• MD Department of the Environment
• Maryland Department of Agriculture
• County Weed Control

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Sources of Ag Information

• Ag magazines
• Ag newspapers
• Ag books
• Extension, NRCS, FSA, DNR, MDA publications
• Other producers
• Ag associations and organizations
• World Wide Web

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J.S.s Being a Good Neighbor

• 1. Dont give advice - unsolicited advice is
  unappreciated
• 2. Watch your appearance - nose rings make
  farmers uneasy
• 3. Offer assistance - average age of farmer
  is nearly 60
• 4. Dont blab your dreams - most farmers
  dont have big dreams

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MoreJ.S.s Being a Good Neighbor

• 5. Anything you borrow, bring it back better than
  you found it - be careful about borrowing
  things
• 6. Respect your neighbors property - keep your
  animals home
• 7. Join appropriate local ag organizations -
  these are educational and social

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MoreJ.S.s Being a Good Neighbor

• 8. Invite neighbors over for a meal - holidays
  are a good time for this
• 9. Do business in the community - patronize
  neighbors and other farmers as much as
  possible
• 10. Talk - farmers love to lean on a truck
  and talk

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Right to Farm

• You have a Right to Farm
• The State of Maryland allows counties to adopt
  Right to Farm ordinances
• Frederick,Carroll, and Howard counties have
  adopted ordinances.
• This prevents some lawsuits since it requires
  complainants to first go through the Right to
  Farm Board before court.
• Farms must be following appropriate agricultural
  practices.

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Right to Farm

• Communication is the key to avoiding most
  problems with neighbors.
• J.S.s guidelines on being as good neighbor
  should be seriously considered.
• While you have a right to farm, be considerate of
  your neighbors. Think about the impact on your
  neighbors before doing something on the farm.
  Spreading hog manure on the 4th of July weekend
  really upsets people.

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GOOD LUCK