Check out “A New Push to Make Farming Profitable”. This is an article written about Joel Salatin’s Polyface Farm from August 10, 2007. I know it is a few weeks old, but this is the first time that I have come across it. It is a pretty interesting article where he tells about some of the financial basics of his farm. I was pretty impressed that he makes $700,000 per year on his 550-acre farm. The one question I would have is whether or not that includes his book sales and speaking engagements. According to his website he charges $3,000 plus expenses for each speaking engagement … that being said, I would listen to him whenever I had the chance!
I don’t have the need to desire to gain $700,000 on the farm, but I do think that it shows what is possible. It is great to see his business plan getting publicity in a business magazine. His popularity is growing every year and there are quite a few people who are beginning to duplicate his model, but I still believe there is room for more people willing to do something different. I would like to know some more about his e-mail buying club. That seems like it would be something to pursue if we ended up on land near my dad’s farm which is about 100 miles from a big city.
I will leave you with this quote from the article. I think it best describes some of my fears when it comes to farming and the land a family needs to farm…
“The growing demand from legions of direct customers has led Polyface to lease an additional 700 acres of pasture over the last three years. Salatin says the profits from the weekend-farmer seminars as well as sales from instructional books he’s written “are allowing us to make the investment without having to resort to loans,” which are another bugaboo of traditional farming.”
The original 550-acres he started out with was in his family so he didn’t have go out and buy land … now he can expand his operation with money from speaking engagements. Hmmm… maybe I can turn this blog into my money maker to finance my land!
I would love to hear any of your thoughts on this article or experiences you have had hearing Mr. Salatin in person. Thanks for reading!
Ethan,
The link in the article above goes to an Amazon book, not to the article on Joel.
John
hogleg, thanks for pointing that out. I fixed it now!
Ethan, do you mean for the title to be “Farming…” with an ‘r’ after the ‘Fa’?
Oh, I meant to add, I’ve not met Mr. Salatin although I have read his articles and such. Good stuff.
On the blog income thought, I do get a nice check every month from Google. It’s not $700,000 but it’s a little bit extra that helps. 🙂
Thanks for the editing help. For a while my wife was reading and editing my posts … but, since I have posted so much lately she has kind of fallen behind. I do these posts during the day when ever I need a quick break to clear my mind and I’ve never been real good with spelling, punctuation, and such!
I have thought about the Google ads, I guess I have been afraid because I try to promote it a bit on the forums and I don’t want to make people think I’m going for the money … I just wanted to log what I’m reading and maybe point other people to the information and experiences that I’m taking in. Although some Google ads would be fun!