Advice for New Homesteaders
By Lester Queener
The biggest drawback to countrysiders who want to farm these days is the price they have to pay for land. Thirty years ago farms were cheaper, but if you consider the wages in the south back then, the prices were actually high. A lot has changed in 30 years – higher employment, higher wages, higher inflation and farms are selling for higher prices than ever. Farmers cannot make it and they have learned the land is worth more than what they can raise brings on the market. This is why larger farms are being sold at absolute auctions and cut into acreage tracts.
This is where the little farmer comes in. Finally a small farmer can earn an income by growing truck crops and selling at road side stands or out of the back of a pick up truck. Go where the customer is – nearby cities. Raise those vegetables that “they” want. If you have the cash to buy a small farm, outfit it without going into debt, and have an income coming in from another source, you have it made. But for the guy who is in debt, he has to have a job off the farm. In his off time he can raise those things he needs for his family and sell the surplus for added income. Read the rest of this entry »