Market Farming

["Tradingpost" <tradingpost AT gilanet.com>]

My concern is how you can make a living on much smaller acreage with or
without a tiller or other powered equipment.  That equipment costs money
which presumably must be repaid from the proceeds, so without it you don't
have that payback to make. Perhaps if you can't make a living on some small
acreage then the land is too high priced, or you're trying to sell to the
middleman at prices he dictates, or your cost of living is just too high,
or you're using inefficient methods or growing low value cash crops.
Intensive gardening can produce more on less ground. Cheaper land can be
improved for growing without much capital investment. Direct marketing
brings the highest price. Rainwater storage can cut the cost of irrigation.
Home food production and storage can bring down family food costs. I'm
working in this direction myself. And of course people can swap food for
other needed items that neighbors have too. Point being, the old advice
about getting bigger and selling more isn't thinking outside the box.  What
is, is raising profit margins by cutting costs and selling less. 

I'd hate to say all this can't be done, but I admit it can't be done by
some people in some places with some methods. There are certainly those who
don't have the knowhow, don't want to move, or put in the labor, or live
more simply, or just shouldn't be trying to farm in the first place.  So my
questions apply to those who can and will. 

paul tradingpost AT gilanet.com
http://largocreekfarms.com
http://medicinehill.net

*********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********

On 6/24/2005 at 9:06 AM robert schuler wrote:

>Another option is to hire a farmer to plow and disc over the land one time
>then you take over with your tiller. One of the hardest jobs with walk
>behind
>tillers is incorperating cover crops. If you ever had a rye covercrop get
>ahead of you a hand tiller can become hopeless. When I started out I used
>my
>troybilt a lot, I used my tractor for primary tillage then swiched to the
>tiller. The most I could cover was 5 acres. I think I was able to
>cultivate 5
>acres between rows with the tiller in around 10-12 hours, this was 30+
>years
>ago so my memory is fuzzier than usual. I found that the practical amount
>of
>land for a hand tiller is less than one acre, beyond that your time
>consumed
>walking behind the tiller takes away from other more needy chores.
>When I started out I was thirty years younger and stronger and the cost of
>making a living was a joke compaired to today. I don't think a hand tiller
>alone will be enough to generate a living today on a full time farm....
>Bob.
>Sunny Meadow Farm
>Bridgeton, NJ.
>
>Old Timin' wrote:
>
>> I jumped from 1 acre to 3 this year. It is a market garden. I hope to
>jump
>> up to 5+ next year so I can add corn to my market offerings, plus more
>> cucurbits. My rototiller is an old Milwaukee Equipment tiller made in
the
>> 50's with a 9 horse honda engine and a 24" tilling width.
>> Oldtimin
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Market-farming mailing list
>> Market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org
>> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/market-farming
>>
>> Get the list FAQ at: http://www.marketfarming.net/mflistfaq.htm
>
>_______________________________________________
>Market-farming mailing list
>Market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org
>http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/market-farming
>
>Get the list FAQ at: http://www.marketfarming.net/mflistfaq.htm