Rule 1: Avoid Debt! Why is this 1? Why does it have an exclamation point after it? Because—listen up—in the past fifty years, debt has tanked more farms than drought, plague, and pestilence combined Legions of great producers have abandoned their farming dreams simply because they couldn’t pay their debt when the bank came calling. In a nutshell, debt (borrowing money, with interest) allows us to accelerate our goals, turning dreams of tomorrow into realities of today. While borrowed money might buy us a tractor, a new barn, or even the land we’ll be farming, experience, the most valuable farming asset of all, cannot be purchased. Experience doesn’t come with a Bachelor’s Degree in Agriculture, and it certainly doesn’t come from a book. #Agriculture is fraught with uncertainties, surprises, and intellectual challenges. Adding monthly payments to this intimidating list financially handcuffs most people right from the start. So does this mean ‘never take on debt’? Certainly not. There are plenty of times when leveraging assets makes sense. As you gain farming experience, and create reliable cash flow in your business, these opportunities (or necessities) will become clearer. In the meantime, however, embrace this generalization: avoid debt as much as possible.
Rule 2: Allow Yourself the Opportunity to Fail Wait a minute. This was supposed to be about not failing, and now we’re saying failure’s an opportunity? Ironic, I know. Bear with me. Our culture seems obsessed with failure, simultaneously terrified and captivated with the concept. I know people who spend their days avoiding the humiliation of failure at all costs. Some of these people fear failure so much; they never try to accomplish anything. The thought of failure paralyzes them. If failure is a major concern to you, here’s a spoiler: in farming, you will fail. 100% chance. In fact, with apologies to Benjamin Franklin, failure on a farm is every bit as reliable as death, taxes, and Paul Schaffer calling a rim shot. But here’s what no one ever told me. It’s okay to fail. Moreover, in farming, it’s important to fail. While painful at first, failure can be an enormously useful tool. It helps us learn our personal limits of time and energy. It’s an instrumental timesaver in the long run, letting us know what works well, and what a complete boondoggle is. Failure provides us perspective for future enterprises, making us intellectually stronger, more emotionally resilient. So, thumb your nose at that sagging bookshelf loaded with self-help books telling you you’re not a failure. Yes you are! Get out there and fail! But while you’re failing, fail well. Fail gracefully and thoughtfully. It’s the only sure way to recognize success when it finally arrives.
Rule 3: Identify Your Market before You Start Farming Before you plant that first seed, take the time (lots and lots of time) to figure out where you’re going to sell your products, who is going to buy them, and how you’re going to do it. Once you’ve done this, create a backup plan. Then, come up with another backup plan. Chances are you’re going to need them. Small and niche producers spend an enormous amount of effort finding their customers. This is every bit as important as growing the food to begin with, because without appropriate sales channels, fresh produce will quickly languish. When all those watermelons ripen at the exact same moment, you’ll need a place to sell them—and fast. Have a solid marketing plan prepared well in advance.
Rule 4: Match the Land to Its Suited Use We can try to force our human dreams onto the land, or we can work with what nature gives us. Conversely, a few years back, we tried raising free-range ducks. We learned the hard way how they evinced their waterfowl instincts: In a matter of weeks, they turned acres of pasture into muddy ponds. They methodically tipped over their automatic watering troughs (it’s a long story, but trust me, they did it), creating sloppy watering holes in our pastures that we dubbed ‘quack mires.’ In their own way, ducks were telling us that they belonged near water, not out on pasture. We listened. The following season, we stopped raising ducks and have been happier ever since.
Rule 5: Grow Your Passion Everyone knows that farming is hard work. So do yourself a favour: grow something that you love. If you grow what you’re passionate about, it will help mitigate those difficult days when the sledding gets rough and things don’t go your way. It may seem like common sense, but we often find our decisions driven more by finances, tradition, or inertia than by something we truly love.
Rule 6: Set Reasonable Goals Take care of yourself. Burnout is big in farming. You already know that the work is physically taxing, with unique emotional demands. Find your pace. Visualize a fifty-year career, and set annual, reasonable goals that will get you there. Check in with yourself frequently. And by all means, if you raise flowers for a living, be sure to “stop and smell the petunias” from time to time.
Rule 7: Don’t Worry About What Other People Think. In 1994, when I was twenty years old, I found myself talking to an older farming couple at a local picnic. We both raised cattle for a living, but they sold their animals straight to corn-fed feedlots. They asked me about my farming ambitions, and I told them of my dream to sell 100% grass-fed beef. The cattle would be completely organic, and I’d direct market the meat myself. I told them our farm could provide food for several hundred families once I really got going. Their reaction? When I had finished speaking, they turned to each other, made eye contact, and burst into uncontrollable laughter. Eighteen years later, despite this withering response from my elders (they apologized for their behaviour after they managed to stop laughing, bless their hearts), our farm has accomplished all of these goals and much, much more. If I had worried what my neighbouring farmers thought of me, I certainly wouldn’t be sitting here now, typing this list. Believe in yourself, and just go for it. As for that couple? Five years ago, they put a sign up at the end of their lane: “Free-Range Beef for Sale.” The sign is out there at this very moment. Pardon me while I indulge in a moment of uncontrollable laughter.
Rule 8: Have a Sense of Humour When it comes to farming, it’s only a matter of life or death. On any given day on a farm, things die. And not in any noble, dignified, or discreet kind of way, either. Frankly, it puts this whole farming thing in perspective pretty quickly. And faced with the possibility of daily mayhem, a sense of humour can be a handy-dandy coping mechanism.
Rule 9: Read. Ask Questions. Share Your Knowledge. Read everything that hits your intellectual radar. Get up near the teacher if you want to learn anything. Be generous with your knowledge, especially with people who want to learn from you.
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