How to Start a Farm: Planning Your Farm

How to Start a Farm: Planning Your Farm

Farming Business

     "If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I'd spend six hours sharpening my axe." ~ Abraham Lincoln

     Planning your farm will help you get started, and define where you will end up. So you've decided you want to farm {congratulations!}.--but what do you grow? What are the conditions you have to work with (such as soil/ location/ water) and what resources are you are able to invest?

#1. Do your Homework

Attend farmer workshops, conferences and visit the market to see what is in demand and the prices. Keep a notebook to track your findings. Read our farmer profiles and upcoming Emerging Farmer guides and resources for inspiration. The Zimbabwe Farmers Union and University of Zimbabwe host a number of  farmer workshops. Talk with established farmers in your area, they will usually have plenty of experience. You should really consider working on someone else's farm for a season or two. You will gain valuable skills and experience. Nothing prepares you better to farm than experience does.

#2. Draft a plan and set farm goals

Goal setting is important in every aspect of farming.  Since farming is a business, it needs a vision and plan on how to attain that vision. In most parts of Africa, you'll only have 2-3 months (winter) to plan for the next growing season. Set up a plan for your target income and from there work backwards. To do this, you should do your market research to find out which crops the market needs and at what price you can produce them versus the average price on the market. This will help you work out your expected profit per year. Growing food requires good timing and attention to detail.

#3. Map out Your Farm

The next step is to map out your farm. This will help with planning your crop rotation and in ensuring that your farm is being utilised to its full potential. Have your map drawn in a basic notebook, this map will guide in determining soil types of each field and in planning what, when and where next crops need to be sown in a particular field.

#4. Draft a Simple Budget

It's helpful to have a budget for what your farm is going to cost. You will need to invest things like seeds, farming tools, water and an alternative energy solution for powering your farm when the power goes out.

#5. Raise Funds

Can you borrow from family or get a bank loan? Have you saved up enough to get started? These are some of the questions you need to ask yourself before you get started.

#6. Look for Land

You don't need to own land to farm. You could look into leasing land from farmers with excess land. You could also consider growing food in your rural village.

#7. Source Supplies

Get your seeds, farming tools and equipment. Visit a farm supply store or research centre to purchase your seed.

#8. Get Growing

Get started with quick and easy crops like peas, beans, and tomatoes and learn what it's like to be in production. This will help you build relationships, and also your confidence.

#9.   Keep Records

This is very important because in farming there are so many ‘miscellaneous’ expenses and if they are not monitored, you will soon find himself in debt. Most farmers I have met are just like me when it comes to record keeping—haphazard and inconsistent. Unfortunately,  it is one of those things that MUST be done. The good news is that once you have a system it is easy to just add numbers and it easy to track expenses and income to determine the success of your farm. There is no ‘best’ way to do this, the important thing is to do it as simply and clearly as you can. My first accounting book was just a notebook with a line in the middle where I wrote every expense on one side and income on the right-hand side.

Ask for a receipt every time you purchase anything for the farm, then make sure that you reconcile all receipts at the end of the month. This step is important for the African farmer because there are many businesses that sell farming resources but do not have receipts! If you are computer literate, which I assume you are since you found this website, then there are countless apps and websites that you can use to keep all your farm records.

Examples of records every farmer should have: income, expenses, assets, fertiliser/ pesticides usage, wages, etc..

#10. Have Fun!


About the Author

Kundai is the co-founder and co-editor of Emerging Farmer. She is an award-winning emerging farmer. She grows, processes and distributes mushrooms and vegetables and raises pigs on her family's farm. Say hello @kundeezy

Alice in Vendaland

Alice in Vendaland

Farming Business Market Research

This is the woman that’s helping to push agriculture produce in the Harare city center. Alice represents the new face of vendors that is helping many farmers stay afloat. She lives in Epworth and makes her way to our farm in Ruwa every morning. I like profiling people it puts a human element to them and helps in addressing the needs of the customer. With Alice, is a vendor in her late 20s or maybe early 30s, she wants fresh quality produce early in the morning so that she can get to her stall and set it up before her customers come into the city.

 At 5:15 am I hear her shouting through my window:

 Mai Musarurwa mamuka sei?(Good morning Mrs Musarurwa, did you have a good night's sleep).

We guide her to the fields where she harvests her rape, kale and cabbages that she will later sell in town that day. Alice is an intelligent hardworking young woman who clearly understands business because she knows the farm gate prices are lower than buying in Mbare. 

So when she goes out to sell her produce she can sell it cheaper than the other vendors in town. Farmers like myself appreciate Alice because she is consistent, she comes to purchase every day. Not only that, though, she pays in cash. Any business should appreciate the customer that pays in cash! I have learned a lot about marketing and customer service from Alice. 

She is picky when choosing her produce and will tell me:

 Musasiye macabbage achikurisa kudai (Don’t let your cabbage heads grow this big, customers don’t like it.) 

Her constant feedback has probably saved me hundreds if not thousands of dollars.

So remember...look beyond the typical customer like veggie markets, restaurants, supermarkets and the like because there are many other untapped markets available.

Now it's your turn...

If you have found new markets, what are your tips? I'd love to hear from you and so would the other farmers.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kundai is the co-founder and co-editor of Emerging Farmer. She is an emerging farmer and entrepreneur. She grows, processes and distributes mushrooms and vegetables and raises pigs on her family's farm. Say hello @kundeezy

7 Common Mistakes Newbie Farmers Make

7 Common Mistakes Newbie Farmers Make

Farming Business

We work with many emerging farmers regularly on improving their farms. That means that we see a lot of the  mistakes they make. We made a LOT of mistakes when we got started. One of those mistakes was not changing quickly to market demands. We have learned a lot from our mistakes and adapted to move forward.

Today we want to share some advice to help you avoid common newbie farmer mistakes and help increase your odds of farming success.

So here are some common mistakes:

#1 - Not having a farm plan

Don't skip the step of farm planning. A farm plan helps you design your farm's layout. If you intend to build a dam you need to know the best site to place it. 

Having a plan will also help you get to know your land better; you will determine where if any the wetlands are located, the drainage patterns, climate and soil types on your farm. Knowing this information is essential because you want to grow your crops in the best soil and if you constructing buildings you don’t want to place them on the arable land.

#2 - Not having any farming experience

The reality of farming is you need practical experience. People underestimate how hard farming can be. Don't decide you are going to be a farmer and then go out and wing it. You can try it, but chances are you are going to end up wasting a lot of time, seed, fertiliser and water.

Instead get some experience by volunteering on a farm or farming in your current backyard. Then source high-quality information by reading, talking to other farmers and taking training workshops.

#3 - Growing (or raising animals) without a market

Getting a market is the first thing you must find before put your crop into the ground. Without finding a market, you risk running huge losses by growing produce that your market does not want or only wants in limited quantities. 

Your production needs to work together with your marketing. Customers don't (typically) just show up on your doorstep, so you need to go out and find them. For your main farm product pick something that people actually want to eat or buy in large enough quantities.

 

#4 - Thinking about transportation at the last minute

Transportation can prove to be very costly especially for farmers searching for distant markets. I have farmer friends in Honde Valley that grow bananas and have some of their buyers in Harare. 

You can imagine the logistical nightmares they would face if they did not organize their transport in advance. Talk with other farmers and plan your transportation to avoid your produce going to waste.

#5 - Not keeping or updating farm records regularly

Without records, you do not know if things are going well or not. Keeping records helps you see clearly where your money is being spent. If they are going wrong, it is easier to track at what point that they started to go wrong. 

Farm records also allow you to compare yields from the previous season, to compare animal performance, and detect wastage or leakage.

#6 - Not having enough capital

Growing aggressively without enough cash. When you expand quickly you will need to hire more people and spend more on equipment. This will likely strain your farming business. It is better to make sure you have capital and can manage cash-flow before you scale your operation.

#7 - Spending too much time and money on things that don't bring in income

Before you buy or spend your time on something ask yourself if the task or product is important to your farm's bottom line. Limit spending money or time on the wrong things that don't bring in customers or improve farm productivity.

Here is to farming better! 

Hope you got something of value out of this blog post. If you did, could you share it with one other person?

About the Author

Kundai is the co-founder of Emerging Farmer. She is also an award-winning farmer and entrepreneur. Say hello @kundeezy