How to start Row Crop operation without MILLIONS 

Was just thinking about this topic for a video the other day lol

How to make a MILLION dollars farming: Start with 2 MILLION!

years ago an old wise farmer told me "son, one of the best ways to turn a large fortune into a small fortune is to become a farmer"

I started farming back in 2013. I was starting from scratch. I bought my first white 2-70. I made due with that. I could see right away that I needed planting and combining done for me. So I went to work part time with the neighbor farmer in trade for my crops put in and taken out. I also hired him to do my fall tillage that first year. That worked well for the first two years but I quickly seen that I needed a bigger tractor for doing more tillage. I bought my second tractor that winter. I bought a white 2-135 that was stuck. I bought it cheap and fixed it. The knowledge I gained was incredible but the net worth that brought me was fantastic.

I started farming doing hay on shares when I was 18 years old it started around 44 acres and with in 2 years it went to 380 acres it went down and back up though the years now 35 years later I farm 80 head of cattle and haying around 200 this year I doing silage for the first time it takes years to collect your equipment without going broke around here not much land to farm left with all the housing going up thanks for your time to help others

Hey, that's a nice jacket 😉

I am a retired farmer and my girlfriend and I own an 84 acre farm. It is about 70 acres tillable and the rest is grass and creek. This is not the farm we grew up on. We cash rent it to a dairy farmer. He is a good renter and I try to help him if I can. For example when one of the silage trucks got stuck I pulled him out. I hope to put in 3 crossings in the creek so he can get to a little more of the farm plus I will be able to control the weeds. I am new to your channel.

Never thought about this since I was blessed and was born into a well established farm. Thanks for another great video

It's getting late in the evening, but I wanted to again tell you this a good video. Thank you for explaining al that stuff. And thankyou for identifying that fun planter you showed planting the fun plot. and.... I been reading some of these comments.... maybe some ideas... it's all good. nose to the grind stone - full speed ahead !!!

Great video and a great subject! I live in a farming community and am amazed at how much I don’t and didn’t know! Thanks for sharing your videos!!

I like the thought process. I have been trying to grow from the "hobby" setting to a more sustainable farm operation. I like the five pieces idea, keep it simple. Thanks for sharing

It kind of depends on the area you're located in as well. In our area,the big farmers keep getting bigger and the small farms keep fading away. The only way a young guy or new farmer can get a chance to buy any land is if the current owner passes away and has no children. There is alot of "old money" in this area. Land purchase will rack you $12,000- $16,000/acre, rent will rack you $300-$400/acre. Big guys snatch up all the ground before you even know that it was available. There's not much in the way of cheap used machinery,most guys have all or mostly new equipment. It's really tough to get started and keep it going, but this is where my roots are and I'll keep fighting the fight. Farming is a good life,but there's no halfway, you're either all in or all out.

I'm sort of in this boat. I didn't grow up in a farming family so my family owned ZERO tillable ground. I have a dream to farm. So I do what I can. I live in a rural farming area and own a couple acres at my house. I bought an old Oliver 550, 2 bottom plow, 5' disk, 2 row cultivator, and a 6 ft field cultivator. All cheap old three point stuff. I grow sweet corn and pumpkins on my property and sell them from a stand here in SE WI. Really tiny. But hey it's MINE. And it's fun to me. Hopefully I will get bigger one day. But here especially it's very hard to find land and when you do it's ungodly expensive for an ordinary blue collar guy to afford. I would defnitely consider myself in the hobby farm category. I do sell and make some money but it's so miniscule it can't really count. But I do have aspirations of buying more land someday. Always will be a hobby of sorts though. For anyone considering it, DO IT. An awesome hobby to have IMO. Gives me something even more to look forward to in the spring and summer. And it's neat to see people enjoy what I produce. Even if it's teency tiny. I love everything agriculture from micro hobby farm like me to big fellas like Millenial Farmer and IowANFarmer ( big to me lol).

I think this is one of my favorite videos, I’m 24 and I own a welding/fabrication company, I do a lot of mobile work, but my wife and I do a small hobby farm (I grew up on a farm). Eventually one day I hope to move out of hobby farming and into some crops. It’s nice to have someone break down affordable equipment and or other ways to get a job done without the equipment. Especially from another young guy!!

Great job as always, you are growing into your role model position well.

When I was 28 years old and farming I didn’t posses your knowledge and the only down force on our planter was gravity and seed in the hopper. If it plugged a row we found out when it didn’t come up, you were the monitor.

Great job on this video Ben, very informative!!

In addition to what you said in the video about tractors, lets not forget dealer support. You can buy a tractor that as good resale value but if you do not have excellent dealer support your value for that tractor decreases. Example, the knotter broke on my baler with about 200 bales left in the field. My NH dealer brought a baler over so I could bale the downed hay. I'll always buy from that dealer. Thanks.

praying for all you farmers. thank you for all you do. god bless you and your family god bless america and americans.

I love this video...My Wife and I are starting a farming business on 40 acres of land and I will definitely keep this info on file!

Outstanding video. You tell it like it is and offer a young man/woman good sound advise.

Damn, when did farmers get so smart? Brian can see you coming in the rear view.🏍🏍

I work a 200 acre farm in Massachusetts and our biggest tractor is a 6 series, we do all our ground work with that. We’re primarily a fruit farm tho

Another great video. Simple but informative. Thanks.

Good Grief , what a GREAT Presentation , thank you. Watched every minute and that’s not bad for a non farmer 😀👍🏾🚜🚜🚜🚜🌽🌽🌽🚛

Love the video and all your knowledge!

Thank you so much for making this video. This could help me so much when I hope to start a farm

Your fellow Iowan farmer, ColetheCornstar, did a great break down of farmer cost for 2018 with very valid number and assumptions. I highly recommend anyone who is interested in farming check that out. Farming is a very expensive career and I take my hat off to all those would work the land to make a living. My mother is a farmer’s daughter and I have spent many a day working on a farm in my younger years from bailing hay to walking beans back in the day. It is sad to see that the number of farmers has decreased over the years and the small time farmer is just about a thing of the past. Big time operations are just about the only way farming operations make money. I wish the best to anyone willing to take that risk, God be with you.

I raise cattle and hogs but your video gave me an idea. I could get a truck and grain trailer to get some extra income in the fall. That's something that I had never thought about. Thanks.

You're right about a combine. I'm a custom cutter and I have ceased operations for someone who went and bought an old worn down high hour machine. Not only are they paying to fix the issues they encounter, but they are also losing crop in the field. On top of all of this!!!! A combine is a very advanced machine that many farmer's don't understand and send to the dealership to fix. This can stack up especially with dealership prices. Trust me when I say my rates are good for you. I have been doing this for 43 years and I assure you the rates of a custom cutter are much better than going out and investing in a combine to run 300-700 acres. Past that point is when I believe it is viable to invest into a well maintained ~5 year old class 5 or 6 combine. Once you have invested you need to read that operating manual at least five times and be able to understand everything that machine throws at you. You must service the machine well. You must know how to set the machine. Don't just set the combine for a crop once a season... Stepping into combines in the ag industry is one of the most confusing things for a new farmer and I suggest it be the last thing that you purchase. You also have to know how to spec a combine for what it will be doing in your environment. I think you pretty much nailed this video down very well!!! PS: I am leaving this comment for the viewers who are actually considering starting a row crop operation, not for the farmers already at it.

Great realistic approach. Nice work young man.

Good vid, as far as you went. You forgot to mention the new cost of the equipment you recommended (either new or used). Also, assuming that land is available, is a huge assumption. How about talking about typical land rental costs, land quality types, and can you normally find land within a reasonable driving radius. (This rental game assumes 40 acres here, 80 there, and 120 way over there in the next county.) In other words you could easily expand on these themes in a number of future vids. Thanks!

Great video man. Fun stuff to think about. 🚜🚛🌽🌱

Interesting and informative video. Thanks for sharing.

yup i had watched mr. brocks video earlier. i was stuned at wat was lft in the bucket,good vid man i enjoy urs the one with ur buddy goat farmin was cool

Great video, really like how you walked through that.

Liked it when you said the 7 series I have 2-one is 19 speed power shift and another one that is power quad really do like them along with 4960 called the big pig and 7710-19 speed and a 6420 quad with loader.

Mark’ s video was excellent even for a non farmer.

Jump in the "Way Back Machine" with me to 1982. I was 12 years old. My dad with my budding interest in farming ability to fix things decided to go from a 165 acer hobby farm to 970 acer cattle/row crop farming operation. Of this acreage 550 was row crop. At that time our one and only tractor was 43hp. We soon bought a G950 MM for $10k, a 14ft disk for $600, a 16ft. field cultivator, and a 12ft grain drill. The first year we planted all 550 to soybeans. We had our spraying and harvesting all done custom. We added 3 more tractors between 1983/84. All were used and auction perches and were well below market value do to the poor farm economy at the time. In 1985 we added a used 545 Oliver combine on a parcel trade and a 16ft grain truck. We also moved up to a 28ft disk that we had to replace the front blades on before it went too the field $475. We also picked up a 5 bottom plow with only 450 acer on it for $370 and a 15 shank chisel plow for $775 that need a spindle on one wheel replaced. We also bought a 500 gal. sprayer for $150 that we had to totally had to be rebuilt. We also had hay equipment and over 70 head of cattle. We sold some ground in 1989 and went down to 360 acres and by 1993 we were out of farming all together and over $150k in debt.... And Dad never quit his day job through it all, but I missed a lot of school and graduated two years behind my class.

Thanks for the video. I'm a new farmer and have literally no money to invest.

I liked the video I will keep all of that information when I start buying stuff for my farm. Although I got a few years because I’m only 16 😂

Good job explaining the economics of farming!

Good advice for many enterprise's ; not just AG.... Sound thoughts

Very good info ......thank you .

My friend, as a city guy (Chicago), not my real choice, but life had another plan. I really enjoy your talk, I really hope you get to speak before newbies. We have some real delusional folks homesteading. If they were like you and your colleagues and family - Profesional All The Way- I would respect them. But they take up a lot of space trying to be considered farmers. No way they can compete with you guys. WELL DONE!

Super informative for a noob that wants to get into farming. Thank you kind sir 🙏🏼🙌🏼

Your farm videos is very good and I am thinking about doing it

Very interesting. Good job.

Not a farmer myself but do enjoy watching, listening and learning from you. Very solid business info for many types of businesses in that video !

Great vid👍know your tractors prices as Magnum is most selling tractor in Australia n you get cheaper then Puma. Hydraulic flow, weight, match equipment like ft=hp, make sure check specs n weather your tractor could be upgraded like fitting loader, GPS etc. if comparing CaseIH with others like McCormick, Claas as they share FPT engine n maybe transmission. In end we went McCormick for basic livestock tractor but still pull 18t chaser bin, spray, sow but if time is money then Magnum 215 like we have does everything with ease although hay feeder cart is overkill n loader on this tractor is awkward for size. Last thing McCormick hp/weight not ideal for tramlines when matching equipment size.

Great video

Glad to know that you can start farming without millions and a quater million will do.

We use an Allis Chalmers 180 tractor (without duals) to plant with a John Deere 12 row planter & pull 2 200 bushel wagons @ harvest every year. As long as it's not muddy or super steep hills, it's a great tractor for both jobs!

Good video!

I can remember back when you weren’t even over 2000 subscribers!!!

great topic . how much land do we need and how many row units per acre. I started with 2 and now have 15

Good video Ben. Should do a pie chart on row crop costs per acre, broken down so folks can see what goes in and what a farmer gets back. Or maybe looses on their crops. I know this would vary between crops like corn and soybeans. Farmer is so dependent on the weather which can make or break him or her. “Everyone needs a Blueheeler “!

John deeres first 2 cylinder tractor's were row crop tractor's. Thank you for the common sense talk i may be getting a full time job and my father owns a Farm and I want to start a Grain im glad you told me how expensive it really is i can Farm with my dad instead

I found your video from a friend. Keep up the good work! I'm a professional trapper from Missouri just starting out on you tube, I just posted a bunch of beaver trapping videos your subscribers might enjoy. Appreciate your help or input on how my channel might grow as well. Thanks for your help and awesome videos! Trapper Jinx, 👍😁

Nice one bro

Great video and content. I have learned a lot from you. So out of all the various jobs and crops you do, what makes the most money?

Big Frame 6s can be realy good for big farms. Here in Germany a lot of farms run something in the class of a 6810 for their main plowing/cultivating/seeding tractor. anything bigger is generaly used by farms several sizes bigger or contractors Honestly that size tractor is ideal for smaller farms, nimble, got enough power for small implements and some even big implements. a lot of em have loader attachments on em. realy get one of those and invest big time in all the equipment you need, smaller scale but that also drops the price.

Another informative video. Thanks Ben n Bandit. Did you add Annapolis Maryland to your map? Lol.

Excellent video You reaffirmed a few things I just did buying a new tractor. Research. But also Go drive it. play with it put it to work if you can. Not every tractor is suited for every person regardless of brand. I am the guy that the equipment will dye on my Hobby farm.

really like the point crop all starts with planter

Second question ...explain how subsidies work for farmers your size. Do you qualify for them ? So all farmers get subsidies? Are they for certain type of crops ? How much do you get typically? Are you in a contract with the government?

You have more loader tractors/skid steers than anyone I know. (except Andy @ FFF)

If you really enjoy farming look into these backyard gardens and hydroponic farms they can make a good deal of money especially if you know what your doing

You don’t even have to buy your equipment right then you can hire local farmers to plant and harvest for you. You save money

I also would rent a grainbin, so you can market better ... Great video btw ;-)

I used a 6410 JD for many years. Tillage and planting and haying farmed 400 acres. Now I went to a 135 Kubota it does great job on tillage. Way better fuel economy then JD

Would you recommend a 3point sprayer then over the highboy for the savings?

My dad had a hobby farm for 12 years. Quit because of bad wheat pretty much every year. He enjoyed it though

So whats your thoughts on someone who grew up on grandpa's small 80ac farm, saw and helped with a little due to my age I couldn't help a lot. But my wife grandpa has almost 1000ac they cash rent out. I'm currently putting a plan together to get financed through the fsa after I get my business plan together over this next year. Obviously I'm battling a lot of things off the start, but I'm tired of not chasing the dream of farming at 28 myself. I'm a union operator currently, so operating equipment is no biggie as it comes naturally to me. But tbh the knowledge I might have once knew I'm sure is completely different. Plus I'm going to have to buy everything and possibly repair the old grain bins some.

I have acreage willed to me. I have a tractor but don't know a 1st crop I can start with that I don't need 10 attachments. Like hay. U need lots of attachments.

This is the best description of resale value yet. The John Deere costs $5,000 more than the Kubota but you can sell the Deere for $3000 more at time of sale. Ok pause. In what world is that Deere only $5,000 more than the Kubota? Right from the tip of the JD models down to the bottom. In no way shape or form, does the “resale” formula make any sense. You are simply paying more upfront for green paint, you are going to get more when you sell it BUT YOU PAID MORE, A LOT MORE FOR IT TO BEGIN WITH YOU MONKEY!

Great video, Ben. I think many tractors will be autonomous in the next 10-20 years. What's your take?

This day and age if you don't already have land and you have to buy it or rent it your gonna have to have at least a million to get started.

I’d change one thing,instead of buying the semi setup and sprayer is I’d buy is a 6620 range combine and 1 or 2 gravity wagons

U gotta the stacks and chicken lights though lol

I hear good things about no till planting and wonder why everyone does not do that process?

Today I was driving through rural northern Indiana and saw something you haven't discussed to my knowledge. Several fields that had been corn this season now have round bails of silage. Since you are big into bailing hay, is bailing silage something you could do in order to maximize your corn plots ?

My buddy has a jd6415 with duals and pulls a 18ft disc with it. But they only do that when they need all hands on deck.

A few questions. #1 how many acres is your hypothetical farm? Where do you consider the breaking point is for hobby farm to Farm INC. ? I think this directly affects the size of your equipment. #2 how many row planter is your 7810 pulling with all that no-till doodads?#3 What about a 3pt mounted sprayer for the 7810? Ie a FastAg set up like Black Earth Excavating has? #4 does your hypothetical farm have grain storage or or you paying Co-op for storage till you sell?

7810 just hit the market with 10000 hrs on it and a loader, looks good, in sask

Hey man how much crop acreage do you need to make a living off of row crop farming?

And I was a good video Ben thank you for explaining it. And what you left out is is, training that pretty girl you hang out with 2 be the accountant so she can keep track all your books that you don't have to do it all the time, LOL! And then she can get after you when you spend too much money! Lol

Anothe ol Hill Seed guy.

How do you like the front boom on your hagie sprayer ? Does it stay clean?

Come up to forest city

So im still at the research stage, but don't you need like plows and stuff like that too?

Is 300 acres enough or do I need more?

How many acres were used in this hypothetical situation?

As a row crop farmer........I sleep 6 months of the year........what do you do ?

So which brand of equipment do you think is better for your money to start off for hay making. # Great Video

I want to try and start farming but have nothing i have to start from scratch land and everything

This video was informative but would've been WAY BETTER if you included the price of the equipment (new vs used) and the total ballpark range you're looking at. "Not having millions" is a pretty big margin and vague descriptor.

Ben , are John Deere tractors more expensive than Case tractors ?

Whats ur though on 4440 john deere

Why Kubota - just curious ?????????