It's still a side job for me, and I'm building it up a little bit every year. The biggest reason some people fail is because they don't have a marketing plan. How do you plan to market it? Can you get your foot in the door at a successful farmers' market? If not, start small and start offering CSA shares. Banking your success on farm stand sales is extremely risky.

Leaf crops don't necessarily require chemical pesticides. I grow mine using insect screening and the very occasional application of Bt and/or spinosad.

The stuff in the grocery store is already several days to a week old when it arrives in the store. Don't compare those to crops produced locally. Most customers expect a one week refrigerator life for greens (in my experience, two to three weeks is more typical if they are hydrocooled quickly after harvest) and one to two weeks for many other vegetables (which in reality is more like 2-3 weeks).

Have you considered urban farming? The rent is minimal.

I think every small farmer needs a spouse with a good job :(

At least you can be a valuable tax deduction.

I have considered a marketing plan, but there are big issues. I would ideally have my own market because it would eliminate the middleman, plus I would probably have a hard time finding a market willing to buy my produce. Part of the issue is finding out how much you will actually make. Theoretically, something like this should be a huge success. I live in a mid to upper class area which should theoretically mean people have more money to spend; I live in an area with a larger liberal population, who tend to prefer this even though I'm not one; Agritainment is huge here, I live near a farm with a top ten haunted attraction in the US which brings in millions, and another farm has huge success with pick your own; current trends prefer organic.

Theoretically, fresh fruits and vegatables should sell above market price, eggs should sell for about $3.50 a dozen, baked goods should be a hit, and farm visits should be huge. However, this is only THEORETICAL, and will never happen the way it sounds. The biggest issue with agriculture is a variable income, especially when running your own business.

And while it's nice to have a spouse with a good job, it's something I don't expect and don't even consider part of my plan. The guy is usually the one with the "good job", and most women won't be looking for some guy who wants to start a farm. I would quote honestly be lucky to marry any woman if I go down this career path...

I'm sorry, but I've met a lot of women, and I don't think I met one who wanted to marry a poor farmer. I've also had many people even women tell me that it's hard for a poor man to find a woman. It's sad, but it's harder for women to have good jobs too because they have the liability to mother a child and they truthfully are less capable physically. I respect everything they do though, don't get me wrong.

Yes, but that's just on average. You may end up finding someone who is just as capable physically, and does not mind being the primary breadwinner. I'm just saying that you shouldn't factor that as a serious obstacle. But as long as you're single, I think a part-time farm and (part time or full time) job is the way to go.

Although I am not a big advocate, I think you need to investigate SPIN FARMING. Their books contain the info all in one place on production and marketing. The web has tons of resources to make business , production and marketing planning. You said you have 8 acres in one spot and 4 in another but say the land is not good. I have a couple thousand square feet and can produce a hell of a lot.

Reading the OP, I feel like I wrote it. I live in a small municipality just outside a major metro area with a solid and growing local food market. I too have a job much like horticulture (urban forester) in that salary range. I'm a bit ahead of you in that I'm married with two great kids. We have been dreaming and scheming for years to get some more land and aspire to all the things you have mentioned. Land access is the #1 obstacle to getting started in Agriculture. You have to already have full access to acreage and infrastructure to make it a living. Currently, I have a 1 acre yard. Half of it is ravine and woods, the remaining half split between front yard, house, garage, and back yard skunkworks. That doesn't leave me with a lot of room to work. I have a 50x50 veg. plot and I just this past year put up a 12x32 pvc hoop house. My local municipality cried no joy on that, and I was fined, ordered to remove, appealed, and ultimately given a restrictive variance on it. No "farm" animals of any kind are permitted here, including chickens. I have some bee hives hiding in the way back I hope will not get spotted by the fuzz. I have managed to shoehorn in many fruit crops where I have the light. A friend of mine got me linked up with a well to do downtown restaurant and I have a niche market selling Heirloom tomatoes there. It's not going to bring me home from my day job, but it is financing all my other growing endeavors. Again, we aspire to more, but I wonder if we can afford the land. (we will definitely be looking OUTSIDE our current municipality) It's hard to look at the big farms around that are making it work with the pick your own and agritourism. In our area, we have several of them, but I also know it is the only way some of these family farms are going to make it. Urban sprawl has eaten up more land around here than you can imagine. Hugely rising land values in these areas make it almost impossible for farmers NOT to sell to developers. The most productive farmland in the world is being scraped off, built up, and sold to the McMansion set who then wonder why it's so hard to find local produce. The family farms have to justify holding out. Some are making it, a lot are not.
I feel like I'm going on an old fart rant here (even though I'm not old)... Anyway, we are working towards it, starting small and dreaming big. If I have any advice for you, it would be to find a small niche market and focus on that. Rome wasn't built in a day, and you might get in over your head trying to do everything at once.

This obviously isn't garden related, but I always thought a good market niche is free range chickens. People actually have been realizing for years how crappy their eggs are at the grocery store, and how much better free range eggs are. There's a guy with a website who has a free range farm as a "living", and while he does make good money, it's not his primary career, he has two others. He recommends a book that's actually about raising free range chickens as a living, but the flaw is that it was from 1912, when people could make a living off it, because people paid more than 12% of their income on food.

This again is an issue because white eggs are about $1.72 a dozen, and the true value of free range is $3-4. We also have "Cage Free eggs" at my families produce store for $2.50, which is a scam once you know what that really means. People who are willing to take free range eggs typically raise their own chickens.

I feel like produce is the same way, and it's a real shame

Hi,
I don't usually add much to forum discussions but I felt compelled to add my two cents. I live in suburban central NJ and farm on 1/3 of my back yard. I focus on crops that bring in high returns such as berries or pea shoots. Yes, I do have a full-time job. However, I do manage to bring in a pretty good side income considering my small acreage. My suggestion would be start small, find a good niche and grow as you see opportunities.
Mike

I agree with mbrown. This is where i am at. Focus on highest dollar crops. More money per square foot. Grow stuff that's not in your area. Like what I am "trying" to grow.... No one is commercially growing it. I live in Canada and I'm currently growing vanilla, tropical herbs, Jalapenos, specialty peppers, etc. Think outside the box. Outside the realm of carrots and potatoes.

I'm a 1st year farmer with no previous farming experience farming 2 acres that are leased in Bucks Co Pa. An acre is plenty of space and work for 1 person growing veggies if you focus on the high dollar crops as suggested in the previous post. Of course if you want animals you'd need a little more space.

I'd highly recommend checking out Eliot Coleman's New Organic Grower and Jean-Martin Fortier's book The Market Gardener. Also Curtis Stone's Green City Acres is a great example of what someone can do SPIN farming.

Make sure your market is well educated. If you have to choose between a market in a college town and a market elsewhere choose the college town every time. The better educated your clientele the more money they will spend on food from small local sustainable farms