Is it possible to live on a farm and get by these days?

I've just graduated and am looking at what im gonna be doing the rest of my life. I don't wanna live in the city, or have a normal day job. What are my options? Is taking out a mortgage on a small piece of land feasible, and then turning it into a small organic egg farm with a small orchard and moderate sized garden? Do you need to have some kind of investment to get a mortgage? Sorry about the list of questions haha, but my parents aren't easy to talk to and these are hard to answer questions for most people. I hope this is possible.

 

Yeah there are many. People are working together. It's where it's at.

 

Like communes? Are there any in B.C or vancouver island?

 

the marketing boards hav pretty well finished the small farmer ....now it's all about quotas and to buy someone's quota is expensive ....there are still some unregulated products but the money makers like milk and such are way over regulated and the marketing boards practice what i would call elitism........gone are the days of the small family farm ...

 

B.C is the commune heaven for Canada, there are hundreds there for you to look into . Good luck in your search

 

Organic is the way to go...self sell. Farmers markets. etc.

 

Banks won't give mortgages for land unfortuneatly. Aparently it's too much of a risk, or more specifically they have nothing to gain from that risk. The reality is unless you're born into a farming family the only way you'll make it is if you're successfull enough at something else first so you can make the downpayment on a piece of land. Then it's a matter of managing to balance some sort of income that can both provide for your daily needs AND allow you to begin developing your property. Difficult to say the least especially in the rural areas where land is still relatively affordable because that's generally an indication that employment in the area is nill.

Ironically the only reason most multi-generational farmers are able to make it these days is that they've taken out a mortgage on thier land (and were talking hundreds of acres here) which has increased in value enough to allow them to invest in the neccessary equipment to run a big time agro-bussiness operation. This essentially means they're slaves in that they're often overwhelmed with operational overhead but seem to pull in enough to keep the banks from taking it all away...like pretty much everyone else in society but on a much bigger scale.

Systymatically everything is set up to keep the little guy from being successfull the only real advantage you have is your ability to develop relationships of trust with other like minded folks.

either way man, best of luck

 

To get a mortgage you have to have good established credit history. Do you have any loans, lines of credit, any credit at all?

You could always rent land to sow and seed. That's what they've been doing in Europe for generations and when settlers came here, they were renting out land, but I don't know how you'd go about finding land to rent and work.

 

Mortgages do not just come from banks. There are many (a lot more these days) private investors that will lend people money to buy property (either vacant land or with buildings).

Generally speaking, you will pay a slightly higher interest rate for them, but you will be dealing with a person rather then a corporation, which makes things much easier.

But very few are going to lend money to someone with nothing. They will want to see that you have a way to pay them, including if things don't work on the property. Besides that, you need some way to pay bills and survive til the farm is up and running.

You do NOT need an established credit, nor do you even need one that isn't negative. It all depends on the investor and your ability to talk to them.

 

Stock left-overs from dinner, George Castanza style.

 

I would also be interested in farming actually.

I'm ready to get away from the beehive city and just live out my days with plants and animals. It would be a dream come true . . . but there are a lot of real difficulties in making this happen.

I'll see what I can find in BC communes.