Starting or Revamping a Farm? Then Buy THE Book!

What makes a farm sustainable and successful? And what special qualities and skills are needed for someone to become a successful farmer? I go about trying to address these and other crucial business questions in my new book, which I think is a must-read for anyone who aspires to get into farming, or who wants to make their farm business more dynamic, profitable, and, above all, sustainable (in a triple-bottom line sense). Over an entire year, me and my husband- both experienced farmers ourselves- took a sabbatical and traveled the length and breadth of the United States to live and work alongside some of the nation's most innovative farmers. Many of my blog posts over the last year feature some of those farms we visited. Our daughter came along for the ride too, learning a great deal about US history, geography, culture, and bioregions. Along the trip we learned about farming best practices, and a whole lot about what doesn't work too. Our previous farming experiences reaffirmed many of the lessons we learned. My new book Farms with a Future: Creating and Growing a Sustainable Farm Business shares some of this collective wisdom in an inspirational yet practical manner; it will help beginners avoid many of the common mistakes that first-time farmers make. Just as importantly, it discusses positive ideas that can help make any farm enterprise more vibrant and financially profitable. Profiles of more than a dozen representative farms help round out the invaluable information and encourage farmers to embrace their inner entrepreneur. Younger growers, in particular, will benefit by learning about "the right stuff" from both their peers and longtime experts. This book provides a useful reference for beginning and experienced farmers alike. While many other books address agricultural production, there are very few that talk about business management for long-term sustainability. Farms with a Future offers an approachable, colorful take on building a triple-bottom-line farming business. Each chapter and topic has been peer reveiwed by outside experts- this book is a compedium of advice.

You can pre-order my new book here: Farms with a Future. Publication date is in November!

Comments

[Rebecca Thistlethwaite]

Victor- I know what it is like to search and search for good farmland. We looked for 6 years in California to no avail. Recently, it took us around 15 months to find our new homestead in Oregon. If this is what you want to do with the rest of your life and even into retirement (ha! farmers don't retire), you may want to take that time to find the property that meets the highest number of your prerequisites. Being surrounded by conventional ag is pretty hard to deal with. Being surrounded on all 4 sides might be next to impossible unless you can plant a serious, fast-growing poplar hedge or something along those lines. Maybe you should look in an area that is sorta transitioning from rural to suburban because you might be able to find smaller acreages (5-30) that is not surround by conventional fields. That is sort of what we did- our land is zoned 'rural residential' and is surrounded by lots of 5-10 acres. So things like horses, a few animals, big gardens, small orchards, natural habitat, but no commercial ag of any appreciable scale due to the acreage sizes. Good luck to you and thanks for reading my book! We passed through Kansas on our cross-country trip and visited The Land Institute, which was a pretty amazing experience.

[Victor]

Hi,

I've been reading your book it has given me a lot of useful information. We started growing vegetables three years ago in our back yard. We like it so much we decided to grow even more at my wife's parents house, they have 20 acres just outside of town, and take it to the local farmer's market. We decided to sell our home in town and look for a farm of our own. We sold our house last February and have been looking for a farm at the right price and location. We found one. It's everything we want. It has thirty acres, an outbuilding, barn, 5-acre pond and a small home. The only problem is that it is pretty much surounded by row crops. I haven't talked to the people that farm the land but they are most likely using GM seeds and pesticides. We live in kansas in the corn belt. We are wanting to graze animals and have a 5 acre vegetable garden. I'm not sure what would be the right course of action. We are tired of looking for a farm. Since this one has come on the market we haven't seen anything else. Did you come across any similar situations on your farm travels? If so do you have any advice.

P.S. I'm half way through your book and I'm finding it a very valuable resource.

Thank you

[milking machine]

i love this blog, thank you and keep it up!