Things To Think About When Starting A Small Farm Business

For some starting, a small farm business where you can be self-sufficient is an ultimate dream, but it can be hard to know how to take that first step. You may not even have land just yet, but you’re thinking and starting to plan ahead for when you will make the move. Finding the right farmland is an important step in farming too. 

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Let’s have a look at some of the areas you should be thinking about:

Learn About Farming

This is really where you should be starting, especially if you’re new to farming. Learn as much as you can in the time you have before you start. Remember to be reasonable though, it’s unlikely that you will know everything when you start but part of the job is learning as you go, and trial and error. It’s best to embrace it rather than worry about it. If you can find a mentor who has expereince in famring, it’s great to learn directly from someone. You could also consider doing some volounteer work on a farm. 

Plan And Design Your Farm 

A crucial part of starting your farm is defining it. Do you want to have a small vegetable farm? Are you planning on growing hay? Or maybe you want to have a variety of animals and crops. You need to also think about the layout and what equipment you’re going to need. Will you need to build pens? Do you need water storage tanks? How about any machinery? You may also want to think about if you want to create your farm as a tourist spot, where people can come and see the ins and outs of your farm, maybe even participate. 

Create A Business Plan 

You may question whether you need a business plan, however, it doesn’t matter what type of business you’re building it needs to have a plan in place. In your plan, you need to consider things like your management structure, farm operations, supply and demand, financial anlytics, products, price points, the market , etc. Writing a business pla very much goes hand and hand with planning and design your farm so working on these together is ideal. 

Loans And Grants 

It’s no secret that you need to have a certain level of capital behind you in order to be able to start a farm at the scale that you want. It’s a good idea to start small, find out if it really is for you and then build on it if you want to. This way you may be able to use your regular monthly income to invest in the farm. It may take a while with this method though, so it could be an idea to have a look at available grants or loans to get you started.  

Licenses and Permits

Depending on your location, the requirements for establishing a small farm business may be slightly different. However, the basics are the same. You need to register your business name, get adequate business insurance, purchase a license, etc. 

This is a simple guide to help you get started with a small farm business, there are other things to consider, do you have anything that you could share in the comments below?