How to get started with agtech and farming investments?

velvetsailor12 said:Walnut prices aren't actually that high right now. Most people plant them more for the long-term value of the trees themselves.
I remember hearing about some legend who planted half of a huge stretch in the Midwest and expects to be sitting on millions in about ten years.
To me, agriculture is a great move, you just really need to get trained and specialize. 👍

I mean, look, even the price for raw, uncleaned walnuts is pretty significant right now.......
As for farming in general, there’s definitely money to be made there, provided you actually want to make a living from the land.
You can live quite comfortably (financially speaking).
But the land requires a smart master who is also willing to be its most humble servant.
It’s just constant work, work, and more work. On the bright side, there's zero stress, and life tends to be much more relaxed and straightforward.

I’m honestly just looking for a bit of casual chatter here, but if anyone happens to be an expert on certain plant varieties that tend to grow really quickly... I'd love to hear your thoughts...

Megan Grant4 said:I mean, look, even the price for raw, uncleaned walnuts is pretty significant right now.......
As for farming in general, there’s definitely money to be made there, provided you actually want to make a living from the land.
You can live quite comfortably (financially speaking).
But the land requires a smart master who is also willing to be its most humble servant.
It’s just constant work, work, and more work. On the bright side, there's zero stress, and life tends to be much more relaxed and straightforward.

Fewer and fewer people are turning to agriculture out in the rural areas. It isn't because they're afraid of the grueling labor, but rather because that hard work often just isn't worth the payoff—assuming you even get paid at all.

I have a corporate job, and while it can be pretty high-pressure, compared to farming, it's nothing. My paycheck hits my account on the 15th like clockwork, and I can take my vacation whenever I feel like it. On the flip side, a farmer spends every single day worrying... will it rain? Is there going to be an ice storm? What am I going to do with fifty head of cattle? What if the buyer I have a contract with pulls out? When am I actually seeing the cash from today's sale? Not to mention having zero days off in a year.

To the folks bragging about their walnut orchards... I should probably mention that I used to have a few groves (not just walnuts) set aside for massive timber and other specialized uses, but during the war, a few shells landed right in the middle of them so... I don't expect a repeat of that, though you never know.

In my eyes, there is no such thing as a simpler or more relaxed lifestyle, which is exactly why I didn't go down that path. Most of the people running huge operations today who actually turn a profit mostly just rely on government subsidies, planting nothing or barely anything unless they absolutely have to.

Honestly, I haven't even had the time—or maybe just the willpower—to dive into every single post on this thread. My family is actually deep in the farming game. I was naive enough to go get my degree, and now I’m just grinding away at various bottling plants (hey, the current one is actually decent, at least!). Most of my family jumped into full-on agriculture, specifically dairy production, about five years ago. They’re constantly trying to stay ahead of every single food trend, breeding technique, and selection process out there. It’s a 24/7 grind because, well, you're dealing with living creatures. Plus, you're always looking at the sky worrying about the weather since you have to stockpile feed for the winter. The financial investment? Massive. The sheer amount of work? You can't even put a price on it. But the biggest headache? Land. You need as much of it as possible, and man, does it cost a fortune. Government subsidies are always lagging, and the big dairy processors are slow to pay out too, so it’s just this constant tug-of-war with your cash flow. Let’s be real: if you want to actually make a living off farming, it’s no different than running a corporation in a cutthroat market. There’s zero idyll here, and definitely no "less stress" promised. You only get peace when you're planting a few carrots in your backyard garden, and even then, you just end up disappointed when the slugs eat them all anyway.

fadedheron50 said:Honestly, I haven't even had the time—or maybe just the willpower—to dive into every single post on this thread. My family is actually deep in the farming game. I was naive enough to go get my degree, and now I’m just grinding away at various bottling plants (hey, the current one is actually decent, at least!). Most of my family jumped into full-on agriculture, specifically dairy production, about five years ago. They’re constantly trying to stay ahead of every single food trend, breeding technique, and selection process out there. It’s a 24/7 grind because, well, you're dealing with living creatures. Plus, you're always looking at the sky worrying about the weather since you have to stockpile feed for the winter. The financial investment? Massive. The sheer amount of work? You can't even put a price on it. But the biggest headache? Land. You need as much of it as possible, and man, does it cost a fortune. Government subsidies are always lagging, and the big dairy processors are slow to pay out too, so it’s just this constant tug-of-war with your cash flow. Let’s be real: if you want to actually make a living off farming, it’s no different than running a corporation in a cutthroat market. There’s zero idyll here, and definitely no "less stress" promised. You only get peace when you're planting a few carrots in your backyard garden, and even then, you just end up disappointed when the slugs eat them all anyway.

You didn't need to read the whole thread, really. Most of the posts basically boil down to people asking how they can strike it rich through farming in record time... which is obviously pure science fiction.

Around here, you rarely find anyone who focuses solely on farming... I know about a dozen major producers in my area, but most of them are constantly scrambling to hold down positions at big state-run corporations. They’ll keep maybe ten to forty head of cattle on the side while working a full-time desk job, all while taking out massive loans to buy the latest tractors and heavy machinery. Honestly, they don't get a wink of sleep because they're bouncing between the office and the fields all day and night. To be honest, I can't wrap my head around that kind of lifestyle; I'd much rather just scrape by and make ends meet than work myself into an early grave just to drive a shiny new truck or a fancy tractor, hoping I might actually get to visit the coast once I retire, if I ever make it that far... When I ask them why they won't just commit to agriculture full-time, they always give me the same old line about how it's too unstable to rely on alone, but then again, I suppose you can't exactly have it both ways...

Anonymous said:Maybe I'm a bit off base here...

I’m not really up to speed on what land is going for out in the Midwest lately... but I'm looking into it...
Does anyone have an idea of the rough prices per acre?
Also, how much can you actually make if you decide to lease the land out?

Based on data from the local IRS office El Paso, Županja branch office, here are the starting sale prices for farmland:

Class I ……………… $4680/acre
Class II ……………… $4212/acre
Class III ……………… $3744/acre
Class IV ……………… $3276/acre
Class V ……………… $2808/acre
Class VI ……………… $2340/acre

The baseline for determining land value starts with Class VI ($2340), and for every grade higher, the price increases by 20%, meaning Class I ends up being about twice the value of Class VI.

Anonymous said:Thanks for the input.
So, if I'm looking for some decent land right off a main road, I should probably budget somewhere between $3,200 and $4,300 per acre...
Assuming you can even find anything like that out in the Midwest...

It’s not actually as bleak as people think. On average, acre prices hover around $2,000–$3,000. If you’re grabbing a few acres in one go, you won't pay more than $2,000. You'll mostly be buying from retirees...
Look at it this way: buy 5 acres on credit—obviously. You get a 25% tax credit as a capital investment in the first year. Plant an orchard and grab a subsidy that covers your planting and sapling costs. Once the orchard is in, you convert the farmland into orchard space and start collecting an annual subsidy of
$0.83 per acre. 5 x 2,500 = $4.25. Loans run for about 20 years. My point is, investing in land pays off because the subsidies basically pay for the dirt you bought. Right now, the government is handing everything out—you just have to commit to planting. If a 20-year loan sounds too long, you can realistically pay off the land within 2–3 harvest seasons. And no, it’s not true that you need hail netting or fenced acreage to qualify for the subsidy. It’s simple—just plant the orchard.

On the subject of walnuts—don't assume you can just plant them, let the grass grow, mow it occasionally, and wait 10 years for a payday. Like any other crop, walnuts require actual work.

Cheers!

Edward Newman77 said:I’ve been chewing on this idea for quite a while now—though I haven't quite managed to track down the hard data yet... Does anyone actually know what the current market rate is for walnut timber? How many years does it take for them to reach maturity? And what are we looking at for the price of saplings these days? ...

If you take a moment to scroll back through the previous replies, you might find what you need, or you could just head over to www.usda.gov
where there's an entire section dedicated to walnuts—covering everything from planting and cultivation to intercropping and general maintenance—so we don't have to go through the trouble of rewriting all the details regarding grants and subsidies again...

gentlecanyon65 said:..... so I've been doing some deep thinking and scrolling through a ton of stuff lately ....

The price for farmland out here is actually pretty reasonable, so since I’ve got some decent cash sitting around and I’m definitely not the type to just sit on my ass all day, I started wondering why the hell I wouldn't just dive into agriculture
..... My big idea is to set up some permanent walnut orchards.... once they're established, they don't require an insane amount of daily grind, which means this doesn't even have to be my main hustle, yet it could still pull in some serious profit after a few years.... so my plan is to snag maybe 12 to 25 acres of land and plant a massive WALNUT grove ....

Now look .... I'm no professional farmer, but I know how to handle a shovel, and with a bit of reading and some solid advice, I think I could make it work .... but honestly, I just can't get the math to make sense in my head ....

I heard that USDA subsidies for walnut orchards can go up to about $13333 per acre ....

Come on, let me hear what you guys think about this!!! ☕ 🙄

If it's true that the subsidy per acre is $13333 for 25 acres
$133 You'll end up spending about 100 $0.00 while making 300 in the first year $0.00 without doing any actual work, if you ask me.
Yeah.. as if those walnuts are actually going to grow. Honestly, I wouldn't even bother harvesting them; the real money is just collecting the subsidy, mowing the grass, and selling hay.
Once those walnut subsidies dry up, you just chop the trees down and sell the timber to overseas buyers for 1,000 to 4,000 bucks a cubic meter.

It’s a solid topic, and honestly, pretty interesting. I feel like there’s still plenty of room to sharpen this up and dig a bit deeper...

Walnuts are solid (way better than wasting time on wheat or other junk that doesn't pay out), but if I were you, I'd look into raspberries or something similar.
They take off fast after planting—you're looking at a harvest within a year or maybe the next season—they produce year-round, there's no need for all that pesticide spraying, and the margins are great.
The only catch is you'll need to put in the work during harvest.
The yields are massive!

Everyone seems obsessed with walnuts lately, but I’ve been looking into olives. Since I live out in Northern California, it feels like a more viable option for my neck of the woods compared to other crops.

Why interesting?

Government subsidies—mostly designed to boost production before we fully integrate further into the USA economy, though expansion might hit a ceiling soon enough.

Quality. Usually, the cooler you go, the better the yield, and since Northern California is one of the northernmost spots where olives actually thrive, there's potential there.

Information accessibility. There's plenty of literature, plus we have specialized agricultural colleges right here in the region.

On the flip side, farmland around here is probably pricier than in the Midwest or elsewhere, though I don't have the exact numbers.

Finding usable land might be a headache because of the hilly terrain. Then again, I'm not entirely sure. From what I can tell, most of the big groves still use those tall, traditional trees that require hand-picking or vacuum tools, whereas overseas on massive estates, they seem to favor low-growth shrubs that are easier to shake with machines.

Maybe that's why it makes more sense to stick to smaller plots with fewer trees rather than going huge with other crops?

I don't really know, honestly. Just thinking out loud.🤔

Then there's the whole "organic farming" angle—whatever that actually entails.😬 It seems to be gaining traction. There might be a niche there; if I'm guessing right, the extra labor required means higher price points, which could make small-scale operations more profitable.🤔

P.S. The climate is shifting, too... and that's always a gamble when you're talking about long-term agricultural investments.🤔

I truly believe that over these next four years, agriculture is going to be nothing short of a gold mine... heh...

I find myself wondering about the actual quality of strawberries grown in those vertical greenhouse setups—you know, the ones using that upright planting system. Has anyone here actually gotten their hands dirty with them, or perhaps heard some reliable intel? Personally, I’d much rather hear from someone who has actually lived through the experience than just listen to hearsay.

Greetings to everyone, and I wish you all the very best in the New Year.

At the moment, I find myself contemplating the acquisition of some farmland out in the Midwest,
with plans to cultivate walnuts and hazelnuts, perhaps even integrating some varieties like raspberries, blackberries, currants, or maybe even blueberries.

I have already scouted a potential plot and gone so far as to take soil samples for laboratory analysis.

In general, this entire endeavor is becoming increasingly appealing to me.

Since I am just beginning to navigate this particular industry, I would be most grateful if anyone could offer some practical advice to help me ground my expectations in reality.

Otherwise, whenever I encounter an idea that captures my interest, I tend to lose myself in the excitement.🙂

Has anyone considered selling green walnuts to pharmaceutical companies, like Pfizer or something similar?😕

Last year, my neighbor took down an old walnut tree that was about 28 years old. He ended up getting 0.35 cubic yards at roughly $325 per unit, plus maybe another $50 or so for the thicker branches. Looking at what was mentioned in the post above, it makes me wonder why anyone would bother doing anything else. In American farming, there’s this unwritten rule: if all your math says you’re going to make $333, you should consider yourself incredibly lucky if you actually walk away with $33. It sounds crazy, I know, but that’s just the reality of the business. Only those who have actually been out in the dirt know how it really works. Give it a shot yourself.

At the end of the day, walnut trees are a solid investment. They’re definitely going to pay off. Honestly, your kids or even your grandkids will probably thank you down the road for planting them. That said, maybe it’s worth looking into poplars or black locusts too.

CNN from this weekend's resource investment conference... Turns out, the future is in wheat.