where to start?

[citybumpkin92]

hey, cool. so glad to find this place!

i live in brooklyn and have no farming experience. but recently i started thinking i'd like to try it out, maybe small-scale first and then growing enough to sell! i love plants and do okay with houseplants, so i was thinking veggies. but where do i start?? seriously, this is all so overwhelming... what's the first step? i don't even have land!

any suggestions??
thanks-
cj

[admin]

Hi CJ,

Congratulations on being infected by the farming bug It's pretty infectious these days. Here are my thoughts on your situation:

First of all, you definitely don't need land to start farming. It's actually better when you're just starting out--especially if you're not 100% sure that you actually want to farm--if you can lease land instead of owning it.

Experience is probably the most important thing. I would focus on finding or creating opportunities to get your hands dirty while also reading everything you can about growing veggies. Can you get a plot at a community garden to get started growing for yourself? Can you plant some containers with veggies wherever you live? Or, depending on your family/work situation, can you take a summer internship with a nearby farmer?

Then, once you have a bit of production experience, if you still want to grow into a market-scale operation, start to think about the business side of things. The Beginning Farmer website at http://beginningfarmers.cce.cornell.edu has a series of lessons that you can work through to start thinking about goals, marketing, pricing, regulations and other business considerations. The site also has articles on successful farmers, links to the Cornell Small Farms Program for production information, and information about workshops, farm internships, and more.

Hope this helps. Good luck, CJ!
Cheers,
Erica

[BeginningFarmers]

You might also consider working on a farm for a while first. It's a great way to get experience without going bankrupt in the process. There are also a number of new-farmer training programs which might be helpful.

You can get information about internships/jobs, new farmer training programs, how to find land, financing, and a lot more at http://www.beginningfarmers.org

[Eatlocal]

Having some kind of experience is definitely a good idea. My partner & I started a semi-urban micro-farm & CSA without having had worked on a real farm, but she & I both had been doing organic gardens for years. I had looked into interning at a CSA farm, but would have had to quit my day job to meet their weekly time requirements. If you can quit the day job and intern full-time somewhere, that is probably the best way to get started. Or start your own garden as Erica mentioned. Another option is to join a CSA that has working shares. We had several working share members helping us, and a couple of them learned a lot since they help start seeds in the greenhouse, transplant them, seed the garden, and work with beneficial insects. (others just weeded or harvested).

Another thing I'd add to what Erica said about leasing land is land sharing. Here in Colorado we have many new farmers who have started multi-plot urban farms and they are not paying to grow on the land! They make arrangements with the homeowners to use their yards to grow food in, and in exchange the homeowner get a share in the harvest. Very cool idea and I wrote about it on our LandShare site linked below.

We documented our entire first year start-up so others can see what our costs were, how much we grew, and all the business aspects of the farm. http://www.landshareco.org/grow-your-own-csa/ We also have a list of weekly harvest amounts that our CSA members got, listed here on the farm's site http://www.hearteyevillagecsa.com/

For me, starting our farm was a lot of hard work, but it was so fulfilling! And it is great to see so many new farmers popping up.

Good luck!
Jim

[lahore123]

Thanks for sharing the information. This will also help me who is going to start farming.

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[Luzagodom]

Thanks for your help,I have got much information

[JamesSimon]

i am also new here, and bought a land, and wish to tend it for farming. my uncle is also a farmer, and he planned to give me roots and beans to sow, chicken to take care and some cows and a horse. the farm is ready. but where would i start my day? to those experienced farmers here, thanks in advance.