You may love the smell of the crisp morning air and want a life that enables you to enjoy this to the fullest. Or you may be invigorated by the prospect of helping to support the population by providing people with food. While there are many careers in which you may get to enjoy one or the other of these things, farming is the one that brings them together in the most practical way. If you’d like to make a good living by turning a profit from your farm, read on to see four considerations that you need to make in order to get a profitable small farming company.
1. Start Small
You may be ready to go the whole way right from the start, but the best thing to do is to pace yourself. Start small and practice so that if you make any mistakes, they’re all going to be manageable for you. You should also know that 99% of the global GM crop area is accounted for by four major biotech crops. These are soybean, maize, oilseed rape, and cotton. When you start small, you can experiment with different plants and see how they’ll work out for you. You may end up taking a different course than you’d envisioned at the start and enjoy doing so as you’ll become successful.
2. Seek an Apprenticeship
Next, don’t underestimate the importance of an apprenticeship as it can save you from making costly mistakes with your farm. You do need the theoretical knowledge that you’ll get from reading books and taking courses, but in the end, you stand to benefit a lot from spending some time with a mentor. To this end, look for paid farm jobs in your area or even volunteer to work some so that you can get your hands dirty.
You’ll grow a lot from direct feedback as you’ll be able to learn and perfect important techniques. You could get a position that will allow you to work in different fields. This is based on the fact that in the past 12 months, Americans who hired a lawn or landscaping professional include weed prevention and control at 42%, lawn pest control at 46%, mowing at 50%, and tree care at 51%. This data shows there are many opportunities available for you to get experience.
3. Do Thorough Research
You’ll also benefit from doing thorough research into the details of running a small farm. This should start with the kind of crops to grow and the people you need to hire to help you. For this last task, note that about 70% of small businesses employ tax professionals for IRS concerns and for their tax preparation. Getting this information is going to prove beneficial to you because you’ll know what to do in certain scenarios as well as how to plan for the best outcome. For a better chance of succeeding, you should consider finding a niche and sticking to it. You’ll have an easier time perfecting your skills and implementing the lessons you learn if you don’t have to spread your attention over a wide span.
4. Seek Financing
Last but not least, you need to find a way to secure funding. This is because running a farm needs money to do well. You, therefore, need to keep your costs very low at the start and research different financial institutions that have good terms. This is a strategy that will prove beneficial to you not just at the start, but in the future as well. For this, you may also need to hire an expert to help you seek and get the money that you need in order to grow your farm.
Follow these steps and you’ll improve your chances of starting a small farming company that makes you a good amount of money. Remember that you need to make an effort consistently and it may take a while before you see tangible results. But rest assured that starting on a good foundation is going to prove beneficial to you.