3 ms·

from what I understand / have read. yields go down per acre when moving from synthetic fertilizer to organic / natural fertilization. not just in the immediate,

from what I understand / have read. yields go down per acre when moving from synthetic fertilizer to organic / natural fertilization. not just in the immediate, but forever. soil health, nutrition, crop resilience all go up, input and input cost go down, but so does overall yield per acre. from all the reading I have done, and in my own experience with a shitty 3acre hobby farm, overall yield per acre never reaches an equivalent to modern destructive farming practices.

bluGill 4y ago
> soil health, nutrition, crop resilience all go up, input and input cost go down, but so does overall yield per acre. None of those are necessarily true. Sometimes they are, but organic prohibits some farming methods, but non-organic doesn't prohibit anything that organic does that work. Some of the natural chemicals allowed in organic are worse for the soil than the synthetic counterpart. In some cases there isn't a natural chemical that is allowed and so the farmer resorts to plowing the soil which is a horrible thing to do to the soil, and because of the fuel used more expensive than synthetic chemicals. Organic has found some useful things, but farmers are adopting them. Farmers have also found useful things that organic is adopting.
simmanian 4y ago
>3 acre hobby farm I've been thinking about getting a hobby farm as well. Do you have any recommendations on where to start or tips? I can't even tell if I can just buy a plot of land in some unincorporated area and use it for whatever I see fit (CA).
- Beached 4y ago
  My land used to be a traditionally farmed plot. It is expensive, time consuming and very laborous. Only do it if you like the out doors, you are home 90% of the time in planting and harvest season, and half the time during the growing season. I bought degraded land. I threw clover and mulch over everything the moment i bought it. (Bought the clover, called the local arborist to dump 30+ truckloads of mulch over the season for free) I let 90% of it sit there and do nothign the first two years, and that seemed to help rebuild the soil well. I live in Michigan, so I cant tell you how CA works. But in michigan, you can do crops and animals pretty much anywhere you can score 3 acres. I have a real issue with moisture, its a VERY wet lot. makes planting hard because of the mud and stuff. Whatever zone you are in, figure out what your bottle neck would be (For me its waiting for the water levels to go down enoguh to plant) and come up with a reasonable plan to solve that bottle neck before you buy the land. Dont plan to make money. This hobby farm is definately a net loss. It would be WAY cheaper to just buy my food from the grocery store. I do this because I like gardening, I call my self a large scale gardener most of the time, because i feel like a poser calling 3 acres a Farm (1 acre of that is house, barn, garrage, a small yard, etc.
- harpersealtako 4y ago
  UC has tons of classes and workshops on farming/gardening you can take, ranging from weekend workshops to apprenticeships to online courses to hands on training. Or honestly there are tons of forums and internet communities that have lots of free resources and advice if you look for them. https://ucanr.edu/sites/UrbanAg/Resources_and_Help/Farm_Training_Programs/ https://ucanr.edu/sites/UrbanAg/Resources_and_Help/Farm_Trai...
  - simmanian 4y ago
    Thanks for the link! I think I'm also interested in learning the logistics and legal aspect as well. I feel there are tons of resources out there on how to grow things, but not a lot on how to find land, what you need to look out for, etc. I've seen quite a lot of YouTube videos on this topic and I feel like I'm still missing quite a lot of info.
- hedora 4y ago
  Check these three things, at a minimum: - Zoning - Soil type - Water availability. Your local UC agricultural extension office can help.
  - mcguire 4y ago
    Extra thumbs-up: If you have any questions like this, check with your local state or county extension agents. They'll talk your ears off. They're lonely. :-) They can't always help, but they'll have good suggestions to think about.

bluGill 4y ago

> soil health, nutrition, crop resilience all go up, input and input cost go down, but so does overall yield per acre. None of those are necessarily true. Sometimes they are, but organic prohibits some farming methods, but non-organic doesn't prohibit anything that organic does that work. Some of the natural chemicals allowed in organic are worse for the soil than the synthetic counterpart. In some cases there isn't a natural chemical that is allowed and so the farmer resorts to plowing the soil which is a horrible thing to do to the soil, and because of the fuel used more expensive than synthetic chemicals. Organic has found some useful things, but farmers are adopting them. Farmers have also found useful things that organic is adopting.

simmanian 4y ago

>3 acre hobby farm I've been thinking about getting a hobby farm as well. Do you have any recommendations on where to start or tips? I can't even tell if I can just buy a plot of land in some unincorporated area and use it for whatever I see fit (CA).

Beached 4y ago
My land used to be a traditionally farmed plot. It is expensive, time consuming and very laborous. Only do it if you like the out doors, you are home 90% of the time in planting and harvest season, and half the time during the growing season. I bought degraded land. I threw clover and mulch over everything the moment i bought it. (Bought the clover, called the local arborist to dump 30+ truckloads of mulch over the season for free) I let 90% of it sit there and do nothign the first two years, and that seemed to help rebuild the soil well. I live in Michigan, so I cant tell you how CA works. But in michigan, you can do crops and animals pretty much anywhere you can score 3 acres. I have a real issue with moisture, its a VERY wet lot. makes planting hard because of the mud and stuff. Whatever zone you are in, figure out what your bottle neck would be (For me its waiting for the water levels to go down enoguh to plant) and come up with a reasonable plan to solve that bottle neck before you buy the land. Dont plan to make money. This hobby farm is definately a net loss. It would be WAY cheaper to just buy my food from the grocery store. I do this because I like gardening, I call my self a large scale gardener most of the time, because i feel like a poser calling 3 acres a Farm (1 acre of that is house, barn, garrage, a small yard, etc.
harpersealtako 4y ago
UC has tons of classes and workshops on farming/gardening you can take, ranging from weekend workshops to apprenticeships to online courses to hands on training. Or honestly there are tons of forums and internet communities that have lots of free resources and advice if you look for them. https://ucanr.edu/sites/UrbanAg/Resources_and_Help/Farm_Training_Programs/ https://ucanr.edu/sites/UrbanAg/Resources_and_Help/Farm_Trai...
- simmanian 4y ago
  Thanks for the link! I think I'm also interested in learning the logistics and legal aspect as well. I feel there are tons of resources out there on how to grow things, but not a lot on how to find land, what you need to look out for, etc. I've seen quite a lot of YouTube videos on this topic and I feel like I'm still missing quite a lot of info.
hedora 4y ago
Check these three things, at a minimum: - Zoning - Soil type - Water availability. Your local UC agricultural extension office can help.
- mcguire 4y ago
  Extra thumbs-up: If you have any questions like this, check with your local state or county extension agents. They'll talk your ears off. They're lonely. :-) They can't always help, but they'll have good suggestions to think about.