Organic Hobby Farming. Andy Tomolonis
the growing season was solved organically. Such meticulous records are like having a two-way crystal ball that looks into a property’s past and can help you divine its future.
Even without records, the previous owner should have answers to the following critical questions.
Is the Acreage Right?
This is more a question about you and your ambitions than the actual size of the property. Many new farmers find that too much land turns into too much work. Maybe you should look for 5 acres (2 ha) instead of 20 (8 ha).
How Was the Land Farmed?
If the land wasn’t farmed organically and you want to market your produce as organic, you’ll need a three-year transitional period before you can legally advertise your goods as USDA Certified Organic. In addition, land that has been farmed with conventional practices may need cover cropping and repeated applications of manure or compost to eliminate weeds and regenerate the soil microbes that play such a crucial role in sustainable agriculture.
When looking at a new piece of land, find out how it was farmed. Repeated use of machinery could mean compacted soils. If chemicals were used to control insects, weeds, or diseases, you will have to farm organically for three years before you can legally call your goods organic.
Has Anyone Plowed the Land Before?
A field that has been used for pasture may not have been plowed or renovated. If so, boulders or even ledge may be lurking just beneath the surface. One indication that rocks have already been cleared is the presence of stone walls. The picturesque walls around New England that date back to colonial times were built more out of necessity than for aesthetics. Rocks in the field were lugged to the perimeter and stacked in rows to create those now-scenic walls.
How Frequently Was the Land Tilled?
There are good and bad answers to this question. Land that has been cleared, plowed, and tilled should be relatively free of rocks. But a long history of being worked by farm machinery could mean compacted soil, erosion, and the loss of nutrients and humus. The ideal field is one that has been used in a regular crop rotation, with minimal tilling performed to incorporate cover crops and organic matter into the topsoil.
Are Any Diseases Lingering in the Soil?
Knowing about past diseases will help you prevent them in the future—or could give you pause about whether the land is right for your purpose. For example, one of the worst diseases for a vegetable farmer is clubroot, which affects cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, mustards, and other Brassicas, severely stunting their growth and even wiping out the crop. Once clubroot is in the soil, its spores can live for a decade. And if it’s in one field, a farmer must clean and disinfect equipment before working another field to prevent the disease from spreading. The bottom line, says Mitchell, “You don’t want soil that has been contaminated with clubroot.”
What Kinds of Weeds Are Present?
Perennial weeds like bindweed, quackgrass, and yellow nutsedge are difficult to eradicate because broken bits of roots and plant material can sprout new weeds. One of the most pernicious of annual weeds, Galinsoga, can spread thousands of seeds that germinate, grow to maturity, and release more seeds in a matter of weeks. If the previous farmer has controlled the weed-seed banks (eliminated weeds before they went to seed), crops will be easier to grow. And if weed-killing cover crops were planted and the fields were mowed around the perimeter to prevent incursions into growing areas, fewer unwanted seeds will be waiting to be raked to the surface where they can germinate.
Weeds that go to flower and seed near your vegetable fields can create a nuisance for years to come. But a well-planned meadow garden somewhere on the property will increase diversity and encourage beneficial insects.
Did the Previous Owner. Sell the Topsoil?
I once looked at farm property that had been stripped of its topsoil. The farmer or previous owner had sold the loam from his unused fields to a developer, leaving mostly sandy subsoil with little organic matter. A farm that is missing much of its topsoil would create a serious setback for future farmers, potentially requiring seasons of cover cropping and tons of manure, compost, or other organic matter. Finding out general information on a property is helpful, but a site inspection should reveal more details.
After you’ve received all the information you can get from the previous landowner, public records, and local historians, you can look for more answers online.
Creative Ways to Find Farmland
Want to farm but can’t afford to buy land? One solution may be to hook up with a farmer who wants to sell or lease his land with a creative financing option. Some retiring farmers will offer flexible terms and financing options just to ensure that their properties are passed on to others who want to continue the farm.
Land Link programs in many states look to pair young and old farmers for just such arrangements. In many instances, a retiring farmer can work with a would-be successor and learn about the operation as the transfer of ownership progresses. (More information is available at the International Farm Transition Network website: www.farmtransition.org)
Another option is buying land under an agricultural easement. An agricultural easement is a legal restriction voluntarily placed on a piece of farmland or ranch land ensuring that it will never be used for anything but farming. No strip malls, no housing developments.
Sometimes a farmer will have donated or sold those rights to a conservation land trust. The benefits for farmers are the immediate tax advantages and the long-term comfort of knowing the property will never become a shopping center. The benefit for the community is the preservation of open space.
New farmers can benefit because once an agricultural easement is in place, the property can only be resold at its agricultural value. That means new farmers can occasionally pick up an old farm or ranch in a pricey location for well below the fair market value. The drawback is there are restrictions on the types of buildings allowed on the property—possibly including the house you want to live in. And, if you decide to resell the property, you’ll be restricted to the agricultural value, too. Buyers generally have to bid on a property and provide a farm plan that demonstrates continued productive use of the land in agriculture.
Canadian growers who need a place to farm can meet up with landowners to accommodate them via Landshare Canada, www.landsharecanada.com, an online agri-networking website that “brings together people who have a passion for home-grown food.” Users start by logging in and creating a profile. Then they post listings as either growers in a specific area looking for land to farm or as landowners in a specific area who will allow farming on their properties in exchange for maybe a cut of the harvest. The website also has a tutorial, sample legal agreements, blog postings, and maps showing where landowners and farmers want to get growing.
To find out about opportunities in your area, contact farm advocates and land conservation groups in local communities. (For additional information, see “Resources”.)
Gathering Additional Information
The previous sections illustrate just a few of the questions that need answers before you invest in an agricultural business. Some of the information, as discussed, is easy to glean from knowledge of your own property or the previous owner’s knowledge of his or her property. But thankfully, when you can’t get the answers you need, you’ll find plenty of reliable sources for information. If the former property owner is no longer available, you may be able to get information from a real-estate agent, local historian, community’s assessor office, or neighboring property owners. If the property was farmed before, state or county agricultural officials should be able to help you learn about its past.
Going Online
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