Agriculture

I'm 19 and currently in my first year at community college studying Farm & Food Systems; I've seen the relatively low profit margins and median salary of farmers and I'm beginning to worry about whether or not I'll be able to do what I love and still live comfortably. I'm not from generational wealth/farming family and am paying for school out of pocket (with financial aid, my tuition is negligible).

Do I have a reasonable chance of a profitable career in plant-based agriculture (owning a farm or greenhouse)? Should I look into other related fields like agro-mach or academic botany/soil science?

Edit: I'm in New England

Why Agriculture and Farming Should be Taught in Schools

Just curious.

I'm also looking for reading material for the same topics, more along the lines of textbook style.

Is this a thing? Would it be a good idea? I'm a software developer looking for side projects with non-profits and this idea just popped into my head. Thoughts?

Hi, not a farmer. Just a 13 year old interested in getting into agriculture some day.

At dinner me and my dad started talking about education in agricultural studies and what type of degrees you would need (stupid discussion, I know) and it led to us talking about the future of agriculture.

Stuff like urban farming and hydroponic farming.

I wanted to know your opinions since I know most of you guys are more traditional, so feel free to say what you think about all that new technology.

Has anyone had any luck with using a gaggle of geese to graze a pasture? I've been keeping ~30 ducks this past summer and I have found that they do a load of good as far as weed and insect control goes. But the downside, from a regenerative agriculture perspective, is that they seem to require a significant input of grain grown off-farm. I'm wondering if I can create a similar land benefit without having to use the grain, or at least not as much grain.

Do you graze geese? If you do, what does your stocking density/impact look like?

Thanks!

This week's post is a book review on what was probably the most critical book in putting me down a zero-input agriculture path in life.

I am a college student and I'll be graduating in spring 24' with an associates in science and a certification from MSU for fruit and vegetable crop management. I am trying to decide what I want to do going forward with my career/education and I'm curious what kind of jobs people in the ag industry enjoy and find the most rewarding.

Thanks for reading and responding!

This week's post is a snapshot of the current state of my zero-input vegetable garden, where I grow without irrigation, mulch, pest control or imported fertility. The space is being reclaimed after a season of neglect during our record floods.

Hello everyone! I am not a farmer, in fact, my profession involves working on a computer for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. However, in recent years, I have developed a passion for agriculture. I have a somewhat distorted and romanticized view of it, consisting of sweat and hard work, but also of being outdoors, magnificent sunrises, and fairy-tale sunsets...

Now, the problem is that, without any real theoretical knowledge of agriculture, I have found a wonderful house in the countryside with 4 hectares of land, of which 3 are arable, and the idea is really tempting me! Obviously, it would not be my primary activity - I would continue with my main job - but I would dedicate my free time on weekends to it and entrust most of the work to a contractor. However, I have no idea how much work is necessary to sow and care for about 3 hectares of land.

How crazy is this idea?

Back to blogging about my experimental, zero input farm after taking the summer off. Find out more about ongoing results with goat rotational grazing, mulch experiments, breeding a new species of vegetable and learn if I managed to break my ice-cream addiction with the power of unripe persimmons.

Hello all, Could I please get some suggestions for books on plant science, soil science, sustainable agriculture, and horticulture? I recently graduated with a BS in environmental science and I’m still hungry for more knowledge in my field. I am interested in pretty much anything that has to do with the topics I listed and beyond. I have done some research on the internet but there are so many to choose from I am feeling a bit overwhelmed. Thank you!

Hello there! I am going to write my master thesis soon. The topic will be possibilities for sustainable agriculture (especially with focus on carbon sequestration and climate change) that are actually feasable for farmer.

Here in Austria we have the problem that many of the methods and practices adviced by scientists, such as low-or no-till have the image of beeing to expensive or work intensive for farmers to apply. My motivation/goal for this masters-thesis is to find a method (or a set of methods) that help to keep the soil fertile and help sequesting carbon in soil in order to fight climate change, while at the same time beeing simple and cheap enough for farmers of small to medium scale to be able to afford and apply this methods. So I basically want to find methods that can convince even the most radically conservative farmer to start transforming onto a more sustainable path...

My first thought was trying different fertilizers, from manure to vulcanic dust (if cheap enough) or maybe stinging nettle manure (which has several other benefitial properties). I thought about trying to apply some of the methods that my grandmother uses in her garden to produce redicolous amounts of food (we had a university project on that) on a bigger scale (this includes stinging nettle manure for example).

To measure the carbon sequestration I would just measure TOC/TC in different timespans and soil depths. To measure feasability I'd conduct some interviews or forms.

I wanted to ask you guys here for your opinion and maybe for some additional ideas which method could be worth taking a look at in this regard.

Thanks for your time if you stayed thus far. Kind regards

Edit: My goal as (future) scientist is and will always be (at least i hope so) that my science and my findings are practical. I want my research to be of practical use for farmers and for the world - not to be just another scientific paper that gets read only by other scientists. I know it's a high goal but thats what i aim for.

Edit2: Thanks again to all the nice replies. I learned a lot here. Today I had a meeting with my professor and he liked my ideas. So much for the good part. However, he said (and he's totally right) that I need a project that's already started by a farmer. Which kind of puts me in the hands of if some farmers have interesting topics and projects for me. I will keep you updated!

Over the years it seems that the public have turned a blind eye to supporting young farmers. It may just be in my personal community but assume not. 20 years or more ago it was very common for an older landlord/farmer to sell off a 40 to help a younger upcoming farmer get his feet on the ground. Anymore about 90% of landlords I have seen would bat an eye at that and would rather claim top dollar cash rent to the big time operator. The funny thing is that these are the same people who claim to be big supporters of the local FFA and 4-H groups and would even be willing to buy kids' livestock at the fair for $800 but when it comes to actual business or even providing a learning opportunity they are nowhere to be found.

This week I did a post on my experiences with chickens, and my reflections on fitting them into an integrated small farm.

[Posting in Permaculture as it includes it, though another subreddit (that I couldn't find) may be more adept for it]

So I'm looking to socialize an internal challenge I've been having. Let's leave aside for now the woes that come with creating community if it's not well structured from the get go.

The financial structures as we know them are about to fold. They may be continuing just fine thereafter with more money printing, but I'm noticing that many don't want to be part of it anymore. Which is why over the last 1.5 years, I've been working on a system for building scalable communities nation wide and eventually international. Over the last 2 years, We have been living a couple hundred dollar a month lifestyle with the family to get used to not needing anything except for basic water (not even running), food (agriculture) and shelter (simple). Life has been nothing short of AWESOME this way. Having some chickens and a garden while buying the bare necessities from the fresh local market has been nothing short of a liberation.

The Challenge - one of many

As I can't seem to sit still and world events are bringing people to a point where they all express their interest in my now rigorously changed lifestyle, we will be working on scaling community models of 50 to 200 acre plots of land. The lands each have abundant water, some don't have any electricity connection yet, and the climate is incredibly fertile. A stable 50-68 degrees pretty much year round.

Now the main question here is, if we are going to host anywhere between 15 to 40 families on each, what resources can point me to optimal layouts for these types of plots? I would LOVE your suggestions and input. What type of expertise (the name of it) can potentially help us so we can all get educated on it? I believe it may be very hard for me to structure and plan a layout as I need to learn a variety of skills, while someone else could visit and help us with this.

Building Types

Barring the usage for electricity and other requirements, we are looking to build solely in harmony in nature, which means that no cement will be used. In this climate, working with the soil and doing super adobe/regular adobe could work, but I'm not happy with how much plastics are used for super adobe. We would like the buildings to be circular so the energy can flow. Any thoughts/suggestions? Our thought was to start out with a yurt of sorts so we can plant ourselves there, until the buildings/houses are up.

Agriculture

Given where the plot is situated in the mountains it is often used for coffee. Considering we would like to be fully self sustainable in case of supply chain disruption or other calamities, what types of foods should we think of to keep a nutritious diet up at all times?

Animals

The nature in these areas is generally WILD. This means that if we keep chickens, we better make sure it's a solidified structure that doesn't allow predators to snack on them. Besides chickens and a cow for milk (yogurts, labneh and so on), what would you identify as recommendable animals to keep in this type of climate?

Big fan of the work of Joel Salatin, truly a spokesperson for having a scaled farm that respects nature's cycles!

I would absolutely love your insights, and I hope that it's OK that my questions are quite mixed between different fields.

[wow this sub has the coolest people!!!!]

[Couple edits for clarification]

• I have written about 60 pages for consideration on the above issues. I kept it simple for the sake of getting uncomplicated feedback on the larger challenge. That doesn't mean I don't know what I'm talking about. I have been studying and practicing permaculture and more for about 1.5 years now.

• If you don't believe I'm a millionaire, that's ok. The title of the post is pretty blatant and I can understand how this honesty can rub the wrong way. I still appreciate your feedback at all times, thank you.

• I'm a bit surprised about some of the attack comments, suggesting I don't go through with it, leave it with people that know etc. I suppose this comes with the reddit territory. I hope we can keep it cool. I assure you this post comes from a good place even if I haven't written what I know thus far in it extensively.

• I have learned an incredible amount already from those that contributed to this thread, I thank you so very much!

A Kickstarter project to essentially automate monitoring a hydroponics system (I imagine it could easily be ported to aquaponics, correct me if I'm off-base here).

It would be interesting to see what data we could mine from our systems from a project like this.

Anyone have success/failure stories from using monitoring hardware like this?

EDIT: Figured it would be good to include the link ()

Hi ,

This is my first post here, but I wish to learn from you all and hope to be a contributing member of the community in the future.

My wife and I recently moved to the East Cascades from Kona, Hawai’i. I’ve spent the last 12 years as a scuba instructor, tender boat, and tour boat captain. Admittedly, there are not many dive sites or cruise ship passengers on the east slopes of the Cascades. My wife was able to land a role as a sustainability coordinator for a local company, so she has been able to maintain her career in conservation, education and sustainability. My plan, other than continuing to let her be my sugar-mamma, is to start a small, family-owned, hydroponic vegetable farm.

I’m currently looking for the right piece of property to purchase (irrigation rights, agriculture permitted, southern exposure, etc.) to get started. I intend to build the business from the literal ground up. I’ve done several backyard style grows before, and I’ve been researching tirelessly to be as prepared to enter the market as possible, but the truth is that I know very little about the business side of agriculture. I have so many questions, but my first question to the community is this:

What is the single hardest lesson you’ve learned in commercial hydroponic agriculture?

Any other advice on a commercial hydroponic agriculture start-up is greatly appreciated as well! I have so much to learn, but I’m excited to take on the challenges and I’m looking forward to this new adventure. I plan to share some of the knowledge I gain along the journey with the community, as well. Thanks for your help!