Digging in to Farming

These last two Saturdays I have been on a course in Ottawa called Digging in to Farming, specifically for people who are past the "mm I'd like to think about farming" but before the "I'm running this farm as a business right now" stage.

It was not a perfect fit for me, as I will - at least next year - be an employee rather than a business owner, but some of those tasks may fall to me and my partner in this venture, Lindsay. In some ways we are a venture within the parent organisation - a program, a subsection - and will have quite a bit of autonomy in terms of day to day. We'll have a budget, and unlike a small business won't unilaterally be able to go to the bank to raise money to invest in the business, and so on.

It was a very, very good course, though, and I did get a lot out of it. In fact a lot would help *anyone* starting a small business that is more complex than my current IT consultancy/freelance work - proper business plans were circulated, the talk was about financing, profit & loss, marketing, finding the right enterprise, and so on.

We had an amazing group of about 20-25 people, two seasoned farmers as primary tutors, plus a local farmer who has been running his own business for the last couple of years, after being farm manager before that.

The group was diverse in business ideas - and it really brought home that "farming" really is not a big enough word to encompass all the activities possible.

One "frightening" thing to me, in terms of scaring me off becoming a "proper farmer", is that it really is not just about working the land. Again, like any business, as it grows the proprietor will tend more to a managerial and administrative role.

I don't want that. I used the word "homestead" last week and I'm beginning to think that that is more what I am interested in. Have some land, grow food for myself and sell any excess (or preserve it), raise a couple of pigs for the manure and meat, a few chickens for eggs. Not... business plans, forecasting, analysis to show I can (probably) make money to pay off a bank loan.

So that's the rub. I want to be outside, growing stuff, making use of the land. Not in an office, dealing with HR, interns or employees, form-filling and so on.

What is going through my head right now is that a) if I did run a business I would categorically NOT want it to grow - I would want it to be small enough that I could manage most of it myself, with MAYBE some hired help at peak times, and b) if I go the homesteading route, I could spend my life saving money - "earning" money by only rarely having to go to the supermarket, and perhaps selling the occasional bag of veg to the neighbours.

As they said at the course, realising that you do NOT want to run a farm business is just as much a success for the course and helping people realise they actually do.

I have next year mostly tied up (small CSA work two days a week, soapstone workshops now and again), but there will be lots of spare time. Just trying to work out... what to do with it.

I might just buy a small piece of land, plant an orchard and nut trees, and "potter" - grow veg. And the economics be damned. Good luck to the small farmers making a go of it. I'm just seriously thinking the business management side of it is not for me.

It does rather make me laugh - do all the work of figuring out your business, show you have a high likelihood of turning a profit, work like a demon, and the bank will probably lend you money at a rate of 4, 5, 6%. Where after your costs you might make 2 or 3%. Including the countless hours most farmers don't really count up.

I don't know. Maybe I'm just lazy. But have you seen the profit banks make in Canada?!

Do I "love farming"? Maybe, maybe not. But I know if I was out working 12 hour days to make debt repayments I would be extremely bitter. So perhaps this is not for me.

Just thinking all that through makes the course absolutely worthwhile, and if you are considering running a business of any type I couldn't recommend a proper, industry-related course like this one enough.

Huge thanks to FarmStart for putting it on. I know a lot of people got a lot of different things from the two days!