How to get started with agtech and farming investments?

And $2? Honestly, you're getting an absolute steal for anything near the coast. Seriously, go ahead and do some digging to see what else is out there.

What you can actually build depends entirely on the local zoning board. Usually, they’re looking for at least a couple of acres of cleared land—and according to the property records, it can't be zoned as forest land.

I’ve even seen people try to pass off some crazy fairy-tale villas with pools as simple "mixed-use residential" buildings.😁

So, I’m looking at planting about 4 acres of sour cherries right now—just a small start, really. I could use some advice from anyone here who’s already running a cherry orchard. Specifically, what’s the absolute best setup if I want to make sure everything is optimized for mechanized harvesting? I don't want to deal with manual labor headaches down the road, you know? Any suggestions would be hugely appreciated.😉🙂

Hello there. I have quite a large supply of walnuts on hand, so I am curious about the minimum quantity required to qualify for a government subsidy. Additionally, my walnut trees aren't all located in one single plot; they are actually scattered across several different parcels of land.

Douglas Sullivan9 said:Does anyone know if there's a specific plant or fruit tree that plays well with walnuts? I have a feeling they might be great neighbors...

Honestly, walnut is probably the least profitable fruit crop out there! My sister and I have about 200 of them planted, and this year we're looking at a total of zero, $0.00! If you're going to start a walnut orchard, you really should mix in some other fruit trees that produce earlier, because once those walnuts spread their canopy and take over, you basically have to cut the other stuff out

Sophia Lee74 said:Hello there. I have quite a large supply of walnuts on hand, so I am curious about the minimum quantity required to qualify for a government subsidy. Additionally, my walnut trees aren't all located in one single plot; they are actually scattered across several different parcels of land.

When you're filling out the paperwork for the subsidy or logging everything in Arkad, you just list the specific portion of the plot where the walnut trees are located. Like, if you have a 20,000 square foot lot, you just report the 1,000 walnut trees on it and mark the rest as farmland or whatever else it is. It’s all pretty straightforward when you look at the satellite imagery, but you really need to head down to the office where you file everything and make sure you have your property deeds or lease agreements ready to go.

Peach trees go right between the walnuts

Charles Howard74 said:Peach trees go right between the walnuts

I wasn't really talking about different species here, I was just saying they get pushed out once those walnut branches start spreading out! In that specific setup, I know for a fact you can go with peach trees because they fruit pretty fast, but since they don't live all that long, some of them will just dry up once the walnut canopy takes over. I've even seen people mix walnuts with hazelnuts before!

Listen up everyone, if you own any land, you really need to pay attention because the United States Department of Agriculture is currently working on some big changes to the Agricultural Land Law on behalf of the Federal Government! You can actually head over to the USDA website right now and submit your comments on the Draft Bill

Honestly, the way they've laid out the proposal for state-owned land seems like it was tailor-made just to benefit guys like Ivica Todorić and his circle

Plus, this whole plan to force people to deal with the Agency for harassment regarding how private land is leased or sold is nothing more than a massive headache designed to create unnecessary expenses for landowners

I’ve got about 50 walnut trees planted on my property, along with a few hazelnut bushes that mostly just serve our own kitchen needs.

The walnuts went into the ground back in '95, and honestly, I’m pretty happy with how they’ve turned out. They aren't some fancy, specific cultivar—just a solid, homegrown variety I picked up from a local nursery—but they produce these large, pale nuts. Back then, you didn't have nearly as many options to choose from as you do today. We stay on top of them, though—liming, weeding, and fertilizing regularly—plus we keep the grass mowed around the trees all summer long with the mower. Because of that extra care, they've grown surprisingly fast for their age, especially since walnuts can be such slow starters. Right now, the yield isn't massive—maybe around 50 pounds once you shell them—but we’re hopeful those numbers will climb in a few years.

It’s a bummer... I really wanted to post two photos, but I can't get them to upload because the allowed file size
is absolutely ridiculous; whenever I try to shrink the images down, they become completely invisible...

I was hoping to ask some of the fellow members here—since I see quite a few of you have committed to growing walnuts—how you deal with the leaf situation. It’s becoming a real headache for us. Every autumn, we gather up all the leaves; usually, we just haul them over to my uncle’s farm to be plowed under, or we toss them into the compost pile. But as the volume keeps increasing, hauling them to my uncle’s field and managing the compost is becoming a massive chore. I’d love to hear how the rest of you handle this mess...

Drew Mitchell76 said:I’ve got about 50 walnut trees planted on my property, along with a few hazelnut bushes that mostly just serve our own kitchen needs.

The walnuts went into the ground back in '95, and honestly, I’m pretty happy with how they’ve turned out. They aren't some fancy, specific cultivar—just a solid, homegrown variety I picked up from a local nursery—but they produce these large, pale nuts. Back then, you didn't have nearly as many options to choose from as you do today. We stay on top of them, though—liming, weeding, and fertilizing regularly—plus we keep the grass mowed around the trees all summer long with the mower. Because of that extra care, they've grown surprisingly fast for their age, especially since walnuts can be such slow starters. Right now, the yield isn't massive—maybe around 50 pounds once you shell them—but we’re hopeful those numbers will climb in a few years.

It’s a bummer... I really wanted to post two photos, but I can't get them to upload because the allowed file size
is absolutely ridiculous; whenever I try to shrink the images down, they become completely invisible...

I was hoping to ask some of the fellow members here—since I see quite a few of you have committed to growing walnuts—how you deal with the leaf situation. It’s becoming a real headache for us. Every autumn, we gather up all the leaves; usually, we just haul them over to my uncle’s farm to be plowed under, or we toss them into the compost pile. But as the volume keeps increasing, hauling them to my uncle’s field and managing the compost is becoming a massive chore. I’d love to hear how the rest of you handle this mess...

Just pile 'em up and burn 'em.

Drew Mitchell76 said:I’ve got about 50 walnut trees planted on my property, along with a few hazelnut bushes that mostly just serve our own kitchen needs.

The walnuts went into the ground back in '95, and honestly, I’m pretty happy with how they’ve turned out. They aren't some fancy, specific cultivar—just a solid, homegrown variety I picked up from a local nursery—but they produce these large, pale nuts. Back then, you didn't have nearly as many options to choose from as you do today. We stay on top of them, though—liming, weeding, and fertilizing regularly—plus we keep the grass mowed around the trees all summer long with the mower. Because of that extra care, they've grown surprisingly fast for their age, especially since walnuts can be such slow starters. Right now, the yield isn't massive—maybe around 50 pounds once you shell them—but we’re hopeful those numbers will climb in a few years.

It’s a bummer... I really wanted to post two photos, but I can't get them to upload because the allowed file size
is absolutely ridiculous; whenever I try to shrink the images down, they become completely invisible...

I was hoping to ask some of the fellow members here—since I see quite a few of you have committed to growing walnuts—how you deal with the leaf situation. It’s becoming a real headache for us. Every autumn, we gather up all the leaves; usually, we just haul them over to my uncle’s farm to be plowed under, or we toss them into the compost pile. But as the volume keeps increasing, hauling them to my uncle’s field and managing the compost is becoming a massive chore. I’d love to hear how the rest of you handle this mess...

I usually do some shallow tilling in my orchards during the fall, including the walnuts! During the summer, I run a disc harrow through them a few times, let the grass grow out after mowing so things aren't a muddy mess during harvest, and then once the leaves finally drop, I just go in for a light till. I'm actually heading out tomorrow to plow part of my plum grove; I already finished one section, and I'll get to the walnuts a bit later!
Generally speaking, if you can till your orchards, you really should! If you leave them as just grass, you don't get any moisture retention or good organic buildup over the winter!

You might find it worth checking out the Agriculture subforum.
We've got threads covering everything from walnuts to hazelnuts and more.

wiredjackal40 said:Just pile 'em up and burn 'em.

That’s actually what we’ve been doing—only instead of burning everything, we’ve just been tilling it all into my uncle’s field right next to our plot. The only real catch is how much longer he'll let us use his land before he tells us to get lost.

We don't even have the space to do any controlled burns, and honestly, with this autumn weather, everything is so soaked with rain that starting a fire would be a total nightmare...

Sean Fox60 said:I usually do some shallow tilling in my orchards during the fall, including the walnuts! During the summer, I run a disc harrow through them a few times, let the grass grow out after mowing so things aren't a muddy mess during harvest, and then once the leaves finally drop, I just go in for a light till. I'm actually heading out tomorrow to plow part of my plum grove; I already finished one section, and I'll get to the walnuts a bit later!
Generally speaking, if you can till your orchards, you really should! If you leave them as just grass, you don't get any moisture retention or good organic buildup over the winter!

As for plowing, that’s just not an option for us. Our setup is designed specifically for mowing with standard lawnmowers, so we prefer immediate mulching—it just works better for our workflow. We don't bother collecting the grass because, frankly, we have no use for it.

If we started plowing, we’d be forced to level out the entire field again just so we could mow it properly, and that’s just extra work we don't need.

For the time being, we can still move the fallen leaves over to another field to plow under, which suits us perfectly. We were actually thinking that down the road, compost might be our only real option...

Henry Edwards33 said:You might find it worth checking out the Agriculture subforum.
We've got threads covering everything from walnuts to hazelnuts and more.

Thanks for the tip! :-)

I noticed there’s already an active thread about walnuts over there—fingers crossed I can pick up some useful advice while I'm browsing.

Drew Mitchell76 said:As for plowing, that’s just not an option for us. Our setup is designed specifically for mowing with standard lawnmowers, so we prefer immediate mulching—it just works better for our workflow. We don't bother collecting the grass because, frankly, we have no use for it.

If we started plowing, we’d be forced to level out the entire field again just so we could mow it properly, and that’s just extra work we don't need.

For the time being, we can still move the fallen leaves over to another field to plow under, which suits us perfectly. We were actually thinking that down the road, compost might be our only real option...

Sure, you can plan on mowing with a mower, but remember that walnut trees need high-quality soil to really thrive!
It’s way faster for me to just run a disc harrow through to kill off the weeds, which helps lock in the moisture and lets me till in some manure or synthetic fertilizer! I leave the grass alone until it's time to harvest the walnuts so the ground doesn't turn into a muddy mess, then I just zip through it with a string trimmer real quick! Just yesterday, I finished tilling about two acres of orchard! On the hilly parts, I don't bother plowing at all—I just mow, and we've always left the grass standing near the trees to keep the mice from making a nest.

You can easily make compost by setting up a few piles right there in the orchard!

At the end of the day, Agriculture is a business when you look at the production costs!
You really have to approach it with that mindset and adapt your whole operation accordingly!

Sean Fox60 said:Sure, you can plan on mowing with a mower, but remember that walnut trees need high-quality soil to really thrive!
It’s way faster for me to just run a disc harrow through to kill off the weeds, which helps lock in the moisture and lets me till in some manure or synthetic fertilizer! I leave the grass alone until it's time to harvest the walnuts so the ground doesn't turn into a muddy mess, then I just zip through it with a string trimmer real quick! Just yesterday, I finished tilling about two acres of orchard! On the hilly parts, I don't bother plowing at all—I just mow, and we've always left the grass standing near the trees to keep the mice from making a nest.

You can easily make compost by setting up a few piles right there in the orchard!

At the end of the day, Agriculture is a business when you look at the production costs!
You really have to approach it with that mindset and adapt your whole operation accordingly!

I appreciate the advice, truly, but a few years back we tried nothing but heavy harrowing, and we ended up with a massive headache trying to get the ground level again for mowing.

The soil itself is excellent, so we aren't struggling there... 🙂

The real issue is our lack of heavy machinery; investing in it just isn't cost-effective or practical for us right now. We even gave the sickle bar mower a shot, but then we ran into issues with the grass buildup. So, for the time being, our best bet is a standard mower that shreds the grass—it saves us from having to collect it later, and it basically acts as a natural fertilizer.

We cultivate, lime, and fertilize the walnuts every single year in December, so by the time the snow starts melting in the spring, those minerals have already worked their way deep down toward the root systems.

As for the leaf litter, composting is really our only viable option—burning isn't an option since we're short on space, and tilling is off the table for the reasons I mentioned earlier.

I wanted to upload a photo to show you, but the system won't let me—there's a 27MB total limit and a 9.8KB limit per file. Though, honestly, I don't think I've ever successfully posted a photo on this forum before? That's strange...

But regardless, thanks so much for the tips and the feedback!

Henry Edwards33 said:This is the Economics subforum, so let's keep the discussion regarding investing in Agriculture focused on the bottom line. If you want to geek out over crop yields, pest control, or whatever else, head over to the Agriculture section instead.

Look, everyone needs to wrap their heads around one simple thing: agriculture is basically just a commodity when you look at it through the lens of production costs. It’s just how the math works.

When you're looking at expected gross product per acre, it really all comes down to what kind of fruit you're growing and the local climate you're working with, so there isn't one single number that fits everyone.
When you look at the expected gross product per acre in livestock, honestly, it all just comes down to the local climate and how much tech you're throwing at it. Raising cattle in a feedlot setup is definitely going to be the most expensive route you can take, whereas sticking to pasture-raised methods is a whole different ballgame entirely.
If you're seriously looking to sink some money into buying land, you can't just stop at the purchase; the next big move is sitting down and really figuring out what you’re actually going to produce on that soil and exactly how you're going to make it happen.
Look, if you're just messing around with this as a hobby, that’s one thing entirely, but once you start talking about actually putting real money on the line, we're playing a completely different game. $0.33 So, the real question boils down to how much you can actually pull back on your initial investment. $0.33 ?

I really hope everyone out there actually gets what it takes to run a country and understands just how much risk is involved in keeping things moving.

Looks like we’re staring down a rough season where we'll probably get hit by a killer frost first, only to have the whole thing baked by a massive drought right after.

Some folks really went all in on planting corn this season, putting down about 4... $2000 I ended up plowing under the burnt stalks on about an acre, which honestly feels like such a waste. I lost roughly five acres of fruit to that killer frost we had, so there goes my projected income right out the window. Now I’m looking at paying for the soil prep using grant money just to stay afloat, and if this weather keeps acting up next year, I'm probably going to be stuck spending everything on a chainsaw to just clear out the dead trees.