Starting a small crop farm

jaffa20

Hi,

I'd love to get into farming. I'm originally from a cattle farming background and used to love working on the farm. Now that i'm working in the most boring job ever, in fact, all jobs i have had since i left college have just been mundane and miserable office jobs,i've realised that my dream is to work alongside animals and growing crops. The only problem is i don't have a clue where to start. i would need to save loads of money and doubt i would be able to gain finance because i would be self employed.

Ideally, i'd rent out a plot of land in the countryside surrounding dublin as that's where i'm currently based. I'd grow some crops and sell them on at a small amount of profit. Also, i'd start with a few hens and sell the eggs on. Am i being realistic at all or is this possible I know there'd be a lot of work involved but i'd work my ass off cos i know i'd be happy. Would this be profitable is my main concern or commercially viable and is it even possible to rent land or would i have to save for years to buy a plot of land

Any helpful tips welcome

pathway33

it would be easier if you were working in cork limerick or galway as land would be cheaper to rent outside these cities. Also west cork has a thriving allotment scheme i hear. Theres a good few people in west cork living the sustainable lifestyle as much as possible supplemented by some outside income. I presume you intend staying working at your job while you work the land. Vegetables would be fine in this case but some animals need to be tended to every day and even cattle looking after themselves in the field should be checked at least twice a week.

For the moment while you are in Dublin, start with a polytunnel in someone's back garden. This will get you used to vegetable growing before you start splashing out too much cash. For some crops I suppose you wouldn't even need a polytunnel. Check out www.allotment.org.uk . Also there is UK site for smallholders with animals. Can't think of it now but google it and it should come up.

Long term I would look at leasing a larger piece of land, say 50 acres. It's hard enough to make a living when you own the land never mind having to pay €5,000 a year for 50 acres but if you can develop a niche market for yourself with good food you could be very happy

edit: also check out the gardening section here on boards for polytunnel advice

pathway33

just discovered www.allotments.ie . There seem to be allotments in dublin. Or wicklow for €350 for a 100 metre squared allotment for the year.

jaffa20

pathway33 wrote: »

just discovered www.allotments.ie . There seem to be allotments in dublin. Or wicklow for €350 for a 100 metre squared allotment for the year.

Thanks, i was actually looking at that site. They are pretty small plots but i guess i need to start somewhere but it is something that i'd love to do full time eventually. It's a shame i wouldn't be able to keeps some animals on land like that too but i guess it would be great to get into the crop growing first. I think that is where i'll start anyway after a lot of research I would consider moving if i wanted to make it full time. how hard is it to enter the market to make a small bit of profit and what sort of support is there out there I'm thinking that i suppose retaining my job in the meantime is the way to go while learning stuff as i go along and then perhaps once i've money aside i can find a niche and grow on it.

Thanks again :P

pathway33

jaffa20 wrote: »

how hard is it to enter the market to make a small bit of profit and what sort of support is there out there

I don't know anything about support for sustainable living but if you are going organic and get into REPS that may cover the lease of your land. REPS for conventional farming used to be about €100 per acre but might be about €80 now since the budget. It may well be reduced again when the 2013 CAP reform comes about. REPS for organic farming is more than conventional i think.
You need to own or lease at least 3 hectares to get into REPS and if you are leasing it has to be for at least 5 years as you need a 5 year commitment to the REPS scheme.

If you want to find out what life is like on a sustainable farm with crops and animals you should do some WWOOFER volunteering for a weekend. Google WWOOFER Ireland and a list of host families comes up on the site. They give you free food and accomodation in return for 5 or 6 hours of work a day. Also most of them sell their produce in the markets so you could see your competition at first hand. Think I spelt WWOOFER right. Sorry about the CAPS but i think that's the way they write it.

pathway33

oh yeah and if you do go full time and say only break even, there's a thing called FARM ASSIST from the government. They give you €200 per week if you can prove you are legitimately farming full-time. It's means tested so once you have more than €20,000 in the bank or other external income the weekly payment reduces but it's something to tide you over in a bad year. That's for a single guy. You get a little more for wife and kids.

I think you have to be farming at least a year before you can get this though as they need to see accounts