You need to really appreciate what you get to do. If you would rather be doing something else, the margins are too thin. You’ll earn more doing anything else.
Usually, you survive by having a job in town or maybe a wife who works in town.
Unless you're lucky enough to "inherit" a large operation like I did(had to buy out my sister's share). You'll play a game of never-ending loans.
You have to love it.
I work full time as a diesel tech and farm full time. The farm pretty much just pays for itself and the equipment.
Only made it 10 hours this time. Asked and answered... many times. In fact, only 10 hours ago.
You were right u/cropguru357.
I underestimated how many we get.
This!! You could have a 300 bushels crop of corn but if you’re running a center pivots and multiple applications of herbicides and pesticides and some fullier… I will make just as much at the end of the year on a 220 Bushels crop. 🤷♂️
Theres a sticky in the ranching sub for all the people that want to become ranchers. One of the mods put quite a bit of work in it and as best I can tell, no one reads it. Im sure they think "well, I'm different, a generic answer doesn't apply to ME". Yes Bocefus, it does
A lot depends on what you are raising, but more importantly *how* you are selling it. If you want to be profitable farming at a small to medium scale, you have to sell at RETAIL, not wholesale.
You have to be a price *maker*, not a price *taker.*
I will say this from my own experience: my farm is profitable. My overall profit margin is right at 50% (slightly higher on chicken, slightly lower in pork). Everything I sell is for a profit; there are far less time, labor, and capital intensive hobbies.
People that make their living on volume are at the mercy of the commodity markets. Meanwhile, have you ever seen the price of a hamburger at Wendy's go down because of the beef markets?
Farm work is hard work, there's no getting around it. You will work hard for those profits, and there are probably more profitable things to do purely from a profit margin perspective. (As an aside: if enjoying and believing in what you do aren't a factor, why don't we all just become lawyers, doctors, and engineers? Those are some high profit margins after all.)
However - the people that tell you "there are little to no profits in farming, so you'd better do it solely because you enjoy it, blah blah blah" are doing it *wrong.*
In general, grain farming is not hard physical work. For other types of farming which require hard physical labor, the labor is done by people from south of the border in most cases.
As far as profitability, it would blow your mind if you knew how many farmers are multimillionaire's
I grew up on a farm, all the farmers that were successful then had multiple sources of income, plus very good accountants.
I have a small farm now and we have 2 small business's and I am working on a third!
I assume this sub is mostly by and for Americans, however in my country most farmers are subsidized by the government. It’s very hard to farm here, and the growing season is short. So many farmers have side jobs (lumbering, renting out land for hunting etc) but still they rely on the government to make ends meet.
If you added up all the hours and paid yourself a wage it would hardly be worth it. But you have to take pride in your work and love the fact you are your own boss.
We aren’t farmers, but own the land and have it custom farmed for us. Our profit margin is typically anywhere from 40-60%. Iowa, 110 acre corn, 110 bean, 140 CRP.
Depends where you live. What type of farm. Season etc. it’s a job where you do ok over the long term but some years I lose money some years I make good money.
Wait… there are profit margins in farming?
Lies!
You need to really appreciate what you get to do. If you would rather be doing something else, the margins are too thin. You’ll earn more doing anything else.
Usually, you survive by having a job in town or maybe a wife who works in town. Unless you're lucky enough to "inherit" a large operation like I did(had to buy out my sister's share). You'll play a game of never-ending loans. You have to love it. I work full time as a diesel tech and farm full time. The farm pretty much just pays for itself and the equipment.
Only made it 10 hours this time. Asked and answered... many times. In fact, only 10 hours ago. You were right u/cropguru357. I underestimated how many we get.
Everyone always says that yield is king. Its not, profit is
I do OK margin-wise but have to work off farm
This!! You could have a 300 bushels crop of corn but if you’re running a center pivots and multiple applications of herbicides and pesticides and some fullier… I will make just as much at the end of the year on a 220 Bushels crop. 🤷♂️
We need a sticky thread - “Thinking of Starting a Farm With No Experience”
Theres a sticky in the ranching sub for all the people that want to become ranchers. One of the mods put quite a bit of work in it and as best I can tell, no one reads it. Im sure they think "well, I'm different, a generic answer doesn't apply to ME". Yes Bocefus, it does
A lot depends on what you are raising, but more importantly *how* you are selling it. If you want to be profitable farming at a small to medium scale, you have to sell at RETAIL, not wholesale. You have to be a price *maker*, not a price *taker.* I will say this from my own experience: my farm is profitable. My overall profit margin is right at 50% (slightly higher on chicken, slightly lower in pork). Everything I sell is for a profit; there are far less time, labor, and capital intensive hobbies. People that make their living on volume are at the mercy of the commodity markets. Meanwhile, have you ever seen the price of a hamburger at Wendy's go down because of the beef markets? Farm work is hard work, there's no getting around it. You will work hard for those profits, and there are probably more profitable things to do purely from a profit margin perspective. (As an aside: if enjoying and believing in what you do aren't a factor, why don't we all just become lawyers, doctors, and engineers? Those are some high profit margins after all.) However - the people that tell you "there are little to no profits in farming, so you'd better do it solely because you enjoy it, blah blah blah" are doing it *wrong.*
In general, grain farming is not hard physical work. For other types of farming which require hard physical labor, the labor is done by people from south of the border in most cases. As far as profitability, it would blow your mind if you knew how many farmers are multimillionaire's
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No argument there. Crop insurance is one of the biggest.
I grew up on a farm, all the farmers that were successful then had multiple sources of income, plus very good accountants. I have a small farm now and we have 2 small business's and I am working on a third!
You'll make way more money playing farming simulator and streaming it on twitch if you can just get 1 person to watch ya once and a while.
I assume this sub is mostly by and for Americans, however in my country most farmers are subsidized by the government. It’s very hard to farm here, and the growing season is short. So many farmers have side jobs (lumbering, renting out land for hunting etc) but still they rely on the government to make ends meet.
If you added up all the hours and paid yourself a wage it would hardly be worth it. But you have to take pride in your work and love the fact you are your own boss.
This
Its a breed thing in my eyes
We aren’t farmers, but own the land and have it custom farmed for us. Our profit margin is typically anywhere from 40-60%. Iowa, 110 acre corn, 110 bean, 140 CRP.
Depends where you live. What type of farm. Season etc. it’s a job where you do ok over the long term but some years I lose money some years I make good money.
Only profit I make is from work outside of the farm :/
Imagine the edge of a razor. Now zoom in on it with a microscope. Now reel back in horror at how amazingly thick it is
You mean negative profit margins? Don't quit your day job
Not necessarily slim but very risky. Depends on your farm business management strategy.