Making ground pay for itself

[Deleted]

I'm looking into buying the 4 acres next to me. Would love to own it so my house won't be on the edge of the property. It won't come cheap so it needs to help pay for itself. This ground is actually in city limits, so technically no livestock allowed. I'm in the country and no doubt my sheep, horses, and chickens will make their way over there occasionally. This ground is out of the flood plain (unlike my pasture), so going for organic certification is a possibility. I already sell eggs from a cooler at the end of my drive, so a customer base is already in the making. 

I'm almost 60 and have had both hips replaced, low growing crops are not my thing. I do have a good tractor and loader. Central Illinois. Any suggestions for crops that could bring in some cash?

[PNP Katahdins]

What is the land being used for now? Can you describe it a little? What kind of fencing if any? Zoning?

Good luck and I hope it works out for you.

Peg

[Deleted]

Jun 24, 2015 17:06:08 GMT PNP Katahdins said:

What is the land being used for now? Can you describe it a little? What kind of fencing if any? Zoning?

Good luck and I hope it works out for you.

Peg

It is just a flat open field of grass. Zoned commercial. City building department is difficult to work with. Anything I put up would go on skids, so I avoid that problem. If I had the equipment I would just bale it up and save on my hay bill. No one local to reliably hire to get it hayed. Hay guy never showed this year or last year. 

No fencing except the one side I share with it. My thought is to fence the other 2 sides and leave the road access side unfenced. Would put up cattle panels there, so I can move the fence as I want. 

[Deleted]

Try to get it rezoned, or at least get a permit from the city to grow produce on it. The buy yourself a small four row planter and scour Craigslist for an old, new idea corn picker.
Find a local farmer to work the ground initially for you, then plant it in sweet corn.
Sure, you will have to fertilizer the ground yearly if planting corn on corn, but, sweet corn should yield an average of about $5000 an acre at $3/dozen.
Plant 4 rows or 8 rows a week. Once it starts getting ready to pick, you will only be picking those 4 or 8 rows per week. Just remove the huskers from the pickers.

Yes, you will have some costs involved, but you should be able to buy seed for around $85 an acre.
Once all of the corn is out, seed the field with a mixture of rye and oats, let them grow until just before they begin to seed, then chop them and allow them to act as a weed barrier/mulch until its time to plant corn the next year.

You could also split the field in 3 sections. Plant sweet corn on one section, pumpkins on another, green beans on the third. Have a U-Pick pumpkin and bean farm, and sell the sweet corn from a stand. Rotate your crops between the sections. Pumpkins, next year beans, third year corn, repeat. Still planting the oats and rye as a cover crop.

[Callie]

Your location would make a difference. How about raspberries/blackberries or blueberries? Initially, you do a bit of work with the planting but you don't have to get down on the ground to take care of them or replant every year.

[Deleted]

Corn maze, pumpkin patch, hayrides, honey, jams, jellies, pies. Sky is the limit....James

[Deleted]

I agree with Callie. Look at fruit production.

[Deleted]

I like the idea of a berry patch. I've done well with raspberries and blackberries before. Not sure how many blueberries I have killed. I would like to stay away from chemical sprays, that makes pretty apples really hard.

I think asparagus would go well. Short season is an advantage too.

The ground was growing Christmas trees when I moved here 28 years ago. Those have been gone at least 20 years. Just an unharvested grass field since then. I do have a couple big compost piles, so I can supplement my soil.

[paquebot]

Right at this moment, only people here taking in money off their ground are Pik-Ur-Own strawberries. Most of those also have customers coming right back for the raspberries. With the profits, apple trees are added and there's cash flow all summer without a lot of work once established.

Martin

[Deleted]

There's a place I tried to pick up, and planned to pay for with sweet corn the first year, sweet corn and U-pick strawberries/raspberries the second year, and sweet corn/strawberries/raspberies/apples in subsequent years. This can work, if you have the market for it.

[Maura]

Look for someone else to cut the hay. Doesn’t have to be a ‘hay guy’, could be a someone with cows or horses that would keep the hay for himself or split it with you. He would want a long term commitment if he is going to have to make improvements ( he may want to disc it and plant alfalfa, add lime, or something), but that shouldn’t be an issue for you, since you don’t seem to want the work of a commercial crop and you can’t have livestock on it. However, if you go to the township and ask, they may allow you to rotate your animals onto it to graze.

[Deleted]

How about Christmas trees?

[Deleted]

[quote author="Maura" source="/post/37965/thread" timestamp="1435263741"since you don’t seem to want the work of a commercial crop and you can’t have livestock on it. [/quote]


It's not about "not wanting the work of a commercial crop", it is about realizing that I am not 21 and there are some things I just can't do.

[Deleted]

Jun 26, 2015 0:04:34 GMT @deerjohn said:

How about Christmas trees?

Actually was in Christmas trees when I moved here 28 years ago. Locally we already have several established Christmas tree farms.

I'm thinking berries and asparagus are good starting places.

[Deleted]

Fruit trees.  Apples, pears, plums, cherries,, peaches.

Asparugus.

Berries.

If you really hate the neighbors, sunchokes 

[Deleted]

. . . or kudzu. . . .

Just a thought: any chance you could work a deal with someone local to do the work, sort of a share-crop arrangement? I know of one guy locally who has a deal set up like that where he grows watermelons (and something else--some kind of squash maybe). The melons are paying off the land for the landowner, and partial payment for the grower's place as well. The note on the leased land is a little longer than I might like (I think it was 12 years originally) but it works for them.

[Deleted]

Jun 28, 2015 0:35:55 GMT @justjim66 said:

. . . or kudzu. . . .

Just a thought: any chance you could work a deal with someone local to do the work, sort of a share-crop arrangement? I know of one guy locally who has a deal set up like that where he grows watermelons (and something else--some kind of squash maybe). The melons are paying off the land for the landowner, and partial payment for the grower's place as well. The note on the leased land is a little longer than I might like (I think it was 12 years originally) but it works for them.

I've got a guy in mind for just that! Need to talk with him and see what his interest is and what the wife says. I let him do meat birds in my north pasture this spring. I think he invested way more money than the wife liked. I don't have a good read on her, not sure what her level of commitment is to his wanting to farm.

[mollymckee]

How much does the commercial zoning ad to the price? Could it be re zoned.

[Deleted]

Jun 28, 2015 19:13:47 GMT mollymckee said:

How much does the commercial zoning ad to the price? Could it be re zoned.

I doubt that it adds much value. On the very edge of town. Next to a 4 lane highway but that is about 40' above the ground, so no direct access. 

I'm sure it could be rezoned but I don't think that matters. I doubt that I could get the city to un-annex it (they like the tax money). So it would still not be allowed to have livestock.

[mollymckee]

If the commercial zoning doesn't add a lot of initial cost, it sounds like it would add value to your property as well as give you a buffer. I would certainly explore buying it. I would see if the county agent could give me estimates of different crop options. If it would devestate your finances if you don't m make enough money from the land, I would be very careful.

[Deleted]

Jun 29, 2015 14:23:34 GMT mollymckee said:

If the commercial zoning doesn't add a lot of initial cost, it sounds like it would add value to your property as well as give you a buffer. I would certainly explore buying it. I would see if the county agent could give me estimates of different crop options. If it would devestate your finances if you don't m make enough money from the land, I would be very careful.

Don't expect the seller to want to change zoning to reduce the price so I could buy it cheaper (would be nice).

Buffer is the whole reason I want to buy it. It's right next to my house.

[mollymckee]

The commercial zoning could make your place more valuable at some point as well. If you are thinking about hay, take the shape and the fences into consideration. If there isn't someone that can make small bales with older equipment, you may have a hard time finding someone willing to jockey the bigger, newer, large equipment into a tight field that isn't very big. Turning big equipment in a smaller or oddly shaped area can be a nightmare!

[Deleted]

I would do it just for the buffer. Plus they aren't making any more land but they're making a lot more people! Buy while you can.

[Rustaholic]

So are you any closer to deciding what to do for sure? 

[Deleted]

Jul 15, 2015 2:39:26 GMT Rustaholic said:

So are you any closer to deciding what to do for sure? 

Nope. Can't do anything until the guy is ready to sell.