3 Things You Need To Start A Successful Farm Business

If you’re an early riser, who loves being outdoors, mostly working in solitude, and you don’t mind work that’s physically demanding you may enjoy the role of becoming a farmer and running your own business. However, you may be wondering where to begin, if so, below are a few guidelines you can refer to give you some structure when creating your own farm business.

Education

Becoming a successful farmer is no easy task and so it would be in your interest if you don’t have any experience or education, to enroll on to an agricultural course to launch and strengthen your knowledge. Further to this, theory won’t suffice as enough for you to begin your quest as a farmer, you will also need some experience, preferably shadowing an existing farmer. After years of education and experience, you may wish to apply for official certification of Accredited Farm Manager from the American Society Of Farm Manager and Rural Appraisers. However, a bachelors degree is required in agriculture, alongside 4 years of farming experience before applying for this accreditation. The more education and experience you can the stronger your prospects are of starting a successful farm business.

Research

You may wish to start your research for starting your farming business as soon as you begin your education/farming experience or following this. Either way, conducting research is crucial to prevent your business being the 8 out of 10 startup businesses that fail. When you conduct your research, to create a successful farming business you must gain the following criteria:

• Choosing What To Farm – Choosing what to farm will depend widely on your skills and interests. But most importantly consumer demand and the potential to farm particular food in consideration of the weather conditions and the soil in your state.
• Public Perspective and Competitors – Sourcing the opinions of consumers in local farmers markets and stores will enable you to see what competitors are selling and observe what consumers are buying. You can even ask consumers what they would like to see more of to establish whether there may be a gap in the market for you to grow particular produce.
• Location – Thinking about what you can farm will further provoke thoughts around the area you are likely to begin your farming business. In doing so, you should consider the accessibility of transport to and from the farm and the distance to the location where you will sell your products. As your farm business will most likely start with just you working on it, it’s wise to remain close to where you can sell your produce, to avoid excessive transport costs and produce becoming bruised on long journeys.

Land And Equipment

Following gaining education, experience and conducting research to inspect consumer demand, you may wish to preview different land to either lease or buy to begin your farming business. It’s wise to start with a small patch and increase the amount of land as your business becomes successful. This should be taken into account when choosing tools and machinery also, you can source quotes and different technology on sites such as https://www.fertilizerdealer.com to find the equipment you will need and how much it will cost you.

Some farmers believe farming is the best profession in the world regarding the challenges you will come up against, the new life you bring into the world such as animals and crops, to work in plus not to mention how essential farmers are in providing the world food. As highlighted above, before you begin a farming business, education and experience is key, research will help you establish if there is room in the market for your business and sourcing land and equipment will give you the resources you need to launch.