How to get started with agtech and farming investments?

slydrifter39 said:Awesome, thanks, these tips are solid. 👍 One thing is I don't even have soil yet, so I've got room to choose. Aside from the actual growing, I'm interested in books and info on different soil types, what to look for when buying stuff, and so on.

Just a heads-up: land prices vary wildly depending on where you are, so most of the cost is driven by location rather than how good the dirt actually is. If it's not too far 25 miles from a major hub like Chicago, I could actually rent you a little plot that would be absolutely perfect for getting your feet wet.

Jacob Sanders82 said:Just a heads-up: land prices vary wildly depending on where you are, so most of the cost is driven by location rather than how good the dirt actually is. If it's not too far 25 miles from a major hub like Chicago, I could actually rent you a little plot that would be absolutely perfect for getting your feet wet.

I want to learn the ropes before I drop any cash. Need to know what I actually need first. 😉

Anyway, just shoot me a DM with the details.

Look, I’m offering you 10 acres and a crew of skilled workers. Where else are you going to find a better deal? Everything comes included in the yield. Take it or leave it. 🤷

So, what exactly do you mean when you say I need to "get an education"? Are we talking about calculating how many beans I'll harvest from a single seed, or maybe estimating the total weight of tomatoes I can get out of one little seedling?

Robert Hall7 said:Look, I’m offering you 10 acres and a crew of skilled workers. Where else are you going to find a better deal? Everything comes included in the yield. Take it or leave it. 🤷

🤣 What am I supposed to do with that when I don't know the first thing about any of this?

Jacob Sanders82 said:So, what exactly do you mean when you say I need to "get an education"? Are we talking about calculating how many beans I'll harvest from a single seed, or maybe estimating the total weight of tomatoes I can get out of one little seedling?

For starters. 😁
Like how to plant tomatoes. How much water they need. Which toxic chemicals to spray them with. What kind of soil works best. Stuff like that.

slydrifter39, slow down. You'll find those answers in the literature. It’s unrealistic to expect people on this forum to break down the entire production process for every single plant you might (potentially) grow. Books are your best bet for preparation—get a handle on the fundamental concepts and basic principles first. Once you have that foundation, then you can start asking the real questions... 👍

Austin Baker86 said:slydrifter39, slow down. You'll find those answers in the literature. It’s unrealistic to expect people on this forum to break down the entire production process for every single plant you might (potentially) grow. Books are your best bet for preparation—get a handle on the fundamental concepts and basic principles first. Once you have that foundation, then you can start asking the real questions... 👍

That’s my point. That’s why I asked for book recs before I go out and buy 25 acres or lease some farmland in Iowa. 😬

slydrifter39 said:That’s my point. That’s why I asked for book recs before I go out and buy 25 acres or lease some farmland in Iowa. 😬

Look, you can't get anywhere without putting in the sweat equity. You aren't going to master this just by flipping through books if you haven't actually gotten your hands dirty. I run my own vegetable garden, and honestly, I just figure things out as I go when it comes to irrigation or pest control. Some years the tomatoes thrive all on their own, and other years you have to jump in with organic sprays—you just can't learn those nuances from a manual. You have to watch how the plants react in real-time and adjust your strategy accordingly. For someone just starting out with a home garden, you really only need about ten raised beds, maybe totaling 1,000 to 1,500 square feet at most.

Practice is worthless without theory. If you actually want to learn, you start by studying the specific requirements and characteristics of the crops you intend to grow—especially the technical specs like planting windows, depth, spacing, soil types, water and temperature needs, fertilization rates, dosing, cultivation, and irrigation. These aren't suggestions; they are hard numbers. There is absolutely no room for error if you’re aiming for quality and high yields. I know slydrifter39 doesn't go for intensive farming, but if his crop fails, he's going to be crushed, and it's a waste of all that grit and effort. To get the job done, you have to understand what and how to do it. Go to the local library and see what resources you can find.

slydrifter39, swing by my place first. then head over to those other forum users actually getting things done, arm yourself with some literature, and make your move. don't let them settle in.

Robert Hall7 said:slydrifter39, swing by my place first. then head over to those other forum users actually getting things done, arm yourself with some literature, and make your move. don't let them settle in.

Swing by your place? You offering a guided tour with expert commentary? 😁 I'm down. 👍

slydrifter39 said:Swing by your place? You offering a guided tour with expert commentary? 😁 I'm down. 👍

And hell yeah, a decent lunch on the way, too. 🙂

Robert Hall7 said:And hell yeah, a decent lunch on the way, too. 🙂

Sent you a PM. 🙂

I work through a local cooperative and honestly, I couldn't be happier. The co-op brings all the fruit growers together. We can't really find common ground with the vegetable farmers, though—they mostly stick to selling at local farmers' markets while the co-op handles distribution to the big retail chains.

Yeah, this is a spread-out country. Having a shortage of specialized experts is a major headache for me, too. I’ve barely managed to pull together 10 acres, and even then, it's split across four different locations. One of those spots is my own house, so that's not much of an issue. The real problem is the mindset of the neighbors. Once they realized I actually knew how to grow and sell my own produce, they started trying to squeeze me on land prices. I wasn't having any of it. Why would I try to get rich 😂 off someone else's family inheritance? That's just not how we do things here.

So, I am looking for some advice from those who actually know what they are doing
I’ve inherited some land—it’s been sitting neglected and completely unworked for about 15 years now.
The acreage is decent, but it's a mess of small, fragmented plots—some of which have terrible access, and most lack any real irrigation potential (at least based on my assessment; there really ought to be a municipal water line nearby)😕.
As it stands, consolidating the parcels isn't an option.
So, where does that leave me?
It feels wrong to just let it sit there rotting, so I was thinking about rehabilitating it for the next generation—nothing grandiose, and certainly nothing involving a full-time job or dreams of massive profits.

Oh, and one quick disclaimer: I am 100% a city person.

So, where exactly is this land located?
What kind of acreage are we looking at?
Was it originally a field, a garden, pasture, an orchard—or maybe just a rocky patch?
And how far of a drive is it from town?

The area surrounding the ravine
It’s about 1.7 acres—there's an old plum orchard that's stopped producing, a completely neglected vineyard, and what used to be a garden once upon a time.
A mix of tillable land and pasture, though I can't quite tell them apart myself.😳
For the most part, the terrain is flat, similar to where neighbors out here mow their grass for hay.
There's some woodland nearby, though I couldn't tell you exactly where it starts—the access road has been swallowed up by brush, and even when it was clear, I heard people say it was nearly impassable—they mentioned needing pack animals just to haul anything through.
It's roughly a thirty-minute drive from New York City.

Adam Taylor12 said:The area surrounding the ravine
It’s about 1.7 acres—there's an old plum orchard that's stopped producing, a completely neglected vineyard, and what used to be a garden once upon a time.
A mix of tillable land and pasture, though I can't quite tell them apart myself.😳
For the most part, the terrain is flat, similar to where neighbors out here mow their grass for hay.
There's some woodland nearby, though I couldn't tell you exactly where it starts—the access road has been swallowed up by brush, and even when it was clear, I heard people say it was nearly impassable—they mentioned needing pack animals just to haul anything through.
It's roughly a thirty-minute drive from New York City.

I've actually managed to consolidate quite a bit of land myself—doing a mix of trading properties, selling what I didn't need, and then buying more. Honestly, irrigation is pretty much at the mercy of whenever God decides to send rain around here. As for the pasture, it’s lower-quality soil that used to get mowed just once a year, while the rest of the time it was used for grazing livestock. The meadows were either too difficult to till or just swampy. The cropland was typically worked for corn, wheat, or potatoes; usually, you'd fertilize it heavily with manure first, then plant corn the first year, wheat the second, and after the wheat, you'd let it sit as hay for two or three years before starting the cycle all over again. For the orchard, you'll need to clear out the deadwood, cut down the dried-up trees, and prune whatever is still alive; then, plant young saplings in between the old ones to give them room to grow, perhaps transplanting some of the older fruit if you can. You can find the best nursery stock at a local specialist out near the outskirts of town—they even carry some of those old-school heirloom varieties. Regarding the vineyard, if it's completely gone to seed, your best bet is to rip it all out, plow it under, and start fresh, or if there are a few good old vines left, try to rehabilitate them........................😉