Customer Reviews

Making Your Small Farm Profitable: Apply 25 Guiding Principles/Develop New Crops & New Markets/Maximize Net Profits Per Acre

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

First, let me begin by saying what this book is not. This book gives zero advice to practicing small or large farmers on how to turn a profit. This book is not a how-to guide for those starting out. Nor is it a step-by-step method on how to get rich by working the land. If that were the case, then every small farmer in America would have read the book and gotten wealthy, instead of banks and other creditors foreclosing on family farms and putting them on the auctioning block.

Now, let me elaborate on what this book really is. This book is a very polite warning by two very seasoned, jaded individuals who are aware of the escapist notions and romantic fantasies many people have about farming. They have been around long enough to have become intimately familiar with the Back to the Land Movement, a Return to Simplicity, and Environmental Sustainability/Sustainable Agriculture- aka The New Improved Agriculture. It took me a while to realize this (three readings in fact!) and understand the dangers associated with one pernicious stereotype about farming.

Many of us on the sidelines believe that anyone can farm, and all it takes is a willingness to work hard (the trite saying about hard-working ditch diggers getting rich comes readily to mind). When we think of the farmer, we often have one (malicious) stereotype in mind- that of the dumb country boy with a 'gee aw shucks' outlook on farming and life. Basically, we really do not think it takes brains in order to farm successfully. I mean, after all, you take some seeds, toss in a little fertilizer of your choice, water them and come back in a few months to collect your crop and get your pesos (almost literally)- just how hard could that be?

Well, speaking as someone who is thoroughly new to farming, never once has farmed, and is inquisitive about the practice of agriculture, after considerable investigation I can tell you the prospective reader that no matter how hard they work, dumb people will not be able to stay on the farm for long. We on the sidelines do not think farming is difficult because we do not think about the Practice of Farming and the Business of Farming. If your experience of farming up to this point is shopping at your local natural foods co-op, perusing the stalls at the local weekly farmer's market, or wandering the aisles at some trendy, eco-hip retailer like Whole Foods or Wilds Oats (who have skillfully co-opted environmentalism as a path to insane riches), and you are considering going into farming as a vocation, then I do not think you will hear the polite warning contained in this book. If you are someone stuck in a dead-end or high-paying but otherwise unfulfilling career (like this reviewer), and you are seeking an out, a means of escape (what we politely but laughingly call a 'transition'), then you just might catch the polite warning consistently stated throughout this book.

Farming attracts many people not because of its business or financial aspects but because of the lifestyle many people associate with farming. If you are an MD, then you are in the business of healthcare. Your business and your lifestyle are completely different. In fact, whether your business is highly successful or modestly successful, your lifestyle could be lavish, it could be modest, or it could be parsimonious- it's up to you and your personal preferences. If you don't like your current situation, from where you work, to who you work for (read HMOs) to your clientele base, you can make a change without changing your lifestyle- too much that is.

Now here is the polite warning: if you are drawn to farming because of the lifestyle, and you turn this lifestyle into a business, then it behooves you to make damn certain that your business can pay for itself, because after all, your business is your lifestyle and your lifestyle is your business. The lifestyle will not work out if the business end does not pay. In fact, the business end may place quite severe limitations on the lifestyle you can reasonably expect to achieve, which in many cases will be well below what you are currently accustomed to. Unlike a 9 to 5 gig with some godless multinational, you can not simply just pack up and leave (this assumes implicitly that the heartless .......... have not fired you in the latest round of restructurings), and if the business end does not work out, you lose not only your lifestyle, but also your home.

For me, the true heart of the book and the real message of the text were contained in the Foreword by Budd Kerr Jr and Part I- Getting Started. In terms of content, the book contains little on the techniques of farming, and has eleven chapters divided into four parts- Getting Started, Farming, Planning and Marketing, and Management, with a handy appendix chock full of useful resources on the Business and Practice of Farming. The text is specifically pitched at a level that almost anyone can understand, and there is a noticeable bias towards the environmentally minded reader.

That said, the true purpose of this book is to get you, the prospective reader who may be thinking of getting into farming, to start thinking about the Practice of Farming and the Business of Farming, all romanticism and eco-hip verbiage aside. This book is of no use to someone who is already farming, and in need of help. The best time to read this book is before you get into farming whole hog as they say down on the farm.

Even though it took me three passes to finally get the message, I am glad that I did read it before taking any action.

Read this book several times BEFORE you venture into farming, not during or after.

As a librarian in a small farm library, I review a lot of books for aspiring small farmers. This is one of the best overviews for those who want to start a small, sustainable, and profitable farm. It has useful principles for planning the business, management, and production aspects of farming.

Ron Macher KNOWS what he's talking about! He publishes a great magazine called Small Farm Today (if you don't subscribe, you should!) that's literally packed with PRACTICAL information in every issue. If you're considering a career change to sustainable agriculture or small farming, you need to start your research with this book (and subscribe to Small Farm Today).

The flow and content of this book was fantastic. As an organic farmer I was happy to see that most of the practices encouraged are very eco-friendly. Although a little redundant at times, the author makes some excellent points about crop sustainability and business planning. Lots of good reference info here as well.

This book is about the business of farming. It is not about how to produce a specific crop or livestock. There are many other books out there that cover these subjects. Some people rated this book poorly because their expectations for the book conflicted with what the book's subject is.

If you want to know about the buying equipment, how many hours of your time and how much capital you'll need to expend on various livestock or crops and how much you can expect to profit by those efforts, this is the book that will help you.

Ron Macher's book "Making Your Small Farm Profitable" should be required reading for anyone who is producing agricultural products on a small scale. Ron's background, experience and ability to communicate through his writing is unsurpassed in the field of agricultural journalism. The section on "Selecting Your Enterprise" alone is worth the price of the book. Dwight N James, Vice-President, Bank Independent

I enjoyed Mr. Macher book. His realistic examples and stories on how to get started have convinced me to leave writing software and become a business man who's products are farm products.

The appendicies are great with current information about where to get more information.

His true stories boxes let you know that he understands what beginging farms needed in the way of encouragement and information to help them make the decision to farm.

He is correct when he writes "to survive as a farmer you must have a market before you start to grow and you must provide a quality product with even better customer service."

Worth the money and a pleasant read for anyone thinking about starting a business or farming.

If you want a no bull guide to profitable farming - this book is it. I absolutely loved this book. It read as though I were having a chat with the authors over the back 40 fence.

I kept reading and reading looking for the exciting practical information promised by all these reviews. Then the book ended. Then I looked back at the reviews to see what I'd missed that (mis)lead me to believe there was practical information in it. They use words like 'overview' to indicate that there ain't much in the way of real meat in this book. I can sum it up in one sentence: Find yourself a niche market locally and grow what they want. If you need details about producing the product, this is not the book you're looking for.

For extensive, detailed, practical information about making money by pasturing mixed species of livestock, look at books by Joel Salatin. But even he could still bring in more complementary planting for winter forage. Greg Judy has a detailed book about making money with livestock without owning the land or the livestock.

There are lots of books written about how to grow things, how to raise animals, organics, etc. However, this is one of few on the subject of small farming that actually puts the whole picture together in terms of creating/sustaining a business and a lifestyle. The author expects that the reader is serious about surviving and thriving from his/her farming activities and shares information specific to the "business" of farming in a sensitive and ethical manner. It shouldn't be a secret that the small farmer needs to take advantage of every asset on the property year round, in addition to wearing every hat in a small business: Planning, marketing, sales, accounting, production, maintnenance, networking, etc. Excellent general information and many specifics, too. Well worth the read if you are serious about learnting to farm for profit.