SouthEastern United States-Small farm

by Dale
(United States)

Hello,

I own roughly 9 acres of land in the Southeastern United States. Out of the 9 acres, roughly 3 of it are located near a creek and are more damp lands situated beneath a tree canopy. Is that enough acreage to be profitable? The remainder of the land is relatively flat and most is in direct sunlight.

The land was once farmed but that was more than 50 years ago.
Do you have any recommendations on the types of crops to grow?

Thanks
Roger Crawford

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starstarstarstarstar 		What to farm? It depends.
by: Scott

Thanks for your question Roger. To answer your first question, you absolutely have enough land to operate a profitable farm.

My CSA market garden at it's largest was about an acre and a half. We used another acre or so for pastured pigs and poultry.

If you see my article Are Small Farms Profitable you'll find a few other good example of successful farms on small acreages.

But deciding what to grow is very much a personal process. What skills and experience and assets can you bring to the business? Where and to whom will you sell what you grow? What's your competition in the area? How much money do you need from your farm?

To minimize risks, you need to be able to answer all these questions before you commit a lot of time and money to your farm.

If CSA is an option for you, my book Bootstrap Market Gardening might be worth a read. It will show you how to get answers to all those question.

-Scott

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