Looking for advice purchasing a farm

I wouldn't be overly concerned about the nutrient quality of the soil at first, drainage characteristics are more important than anything.. how is the slope, is there too much clay, is there any accumulation of ground water? Cannabis likes well draining soil, wet feet make for unhappy plants. Work as much manure in as you can and do appropriate cover crops.

I love the idea of raised beds, I think at that scale your really going to appreciate how beds give you more freedom to deal with nutrient and pest issues.

What is your typical fall weather like? Where I'm from it gets really cool and wet which is mold city. If your doing this for income and your life depends on it, I would grow everything in hoop houses / greenhouses so your not dependent on mother nature when it matters most. This will allow you to control soil moisture and humidity/temps better, plus run foggers if you want to burn sulfur or knock down a bug problem.

As far as the farm itself- is it in an area that has access to stores you might need- like farm/ag supply stores or landscape supply for bulk compost? How are the locals with pot?

All sorts of things to consider ... micro climate, local political landscape, local ordinances and zoning laws etc, etc, etc.
All of this is more important than the local soil...
the local soil won’t matter much if the sheriffs office is fining u $2k a day for unpermitted greenhouses and other bs zoning violations,
I would talk to local growers about the scene, local Leo etc.
The cannabis scene is fast changing and a farm that was in a good location one year can change and become a hot bed for zoning and water board harassment all the way up to arrest and prosecution.

Check out the butte county thread ro read a little about what happens when a county goes from pro cannabis to anti cannabis in a year or two.
A lot of land property owners stuck with farms that are worth less than they paid

Just saying, there is a lot more to consider

mowood3479 said:

All sorts of things to consider ... micro climate, local political landscape, local ordinances and zoning laws etc, etc, etc.
All of this is more important than the local soil...
the local soil won’t matter much if the sheriffs office is fining u $2k a day for unpermitted greenhouses and other bs zoning violations,
I would talk to local growers about the scene, local Leo etc.
The cannabis scene is fast changing and a farm that was in a good location one year can change and become a hot bed for zoning and water board harassment all the way up to arrest and prosecution.

Check out the butte county thread ro read a little about what happens when a county goes from pro cannabis to anti cannabis in a year or two.
A lot of land property owners stuck with farms that are worth less than they paid

Just saying, there is a lot more to consider

Click to expand...

This is great advice. I have 40 acres of great land, was planning a nice little business. Went before the town select-board to get the OK and this lead to multiple town meetings which lead to them banning all REC business indefinitely. But my soil is great haha!

Thanks for the pointers folks!

The area is full of farms and as such has lots of farm supply stores around as well. Should be able to source everything locally.

Regarding zoning and general "political climate" etc. it is fine. The farmers already heard that medical cannabis will be legalized and are already gearing up and talking about getting engaged in it as well. But they have no clue about cannabis, like at all.
All land I looked at was in agricultural and industrial zones, both will be acceptable to grow and process in.

How do I make sure that the soil is well draining aside from looking for slopes? Just make sure it isn't mostly clay?

Fall weather is very mild. Temps can stay in the 20s (°C) with sun and dry weather up until November. In a good year, I should be able to flower even late finishing Sativas outdoors.

I was planning to first go with a mix of greenhouses and true outdoors in raised beds/fabric pots or straight in the dirt. See how the plants react and then potentially fill in the outdoor plot with more greenhouses if I prefer the greenhouse method.

But from what I could gather, greenhouse and outdoor are not exactly the same and I want to see how huge of trees I can grow by going straight into dirt when the dirt seems very fertile and the sun/environment is so good. But if it turns out that I need the additional environment control that greenhouses afford me, then I will simply add more of those and ditch outdoor farming altogether.


Regarding the legal framework:
Of course I can't change if that changes again in the coming years. But right now, it looks like (still waiting for the law to be ratified so I can actually read it) it will be favorable.
Locals don't mind pot. The country has been very anti cannabis for a long time but mostly due to misinformation and animosities towards places where it comes from (usually in the form of hash). Now that it has been legalized for medicinal purposes (with rec surely following soon as it will undoubtedly give an insane boost to the tourism economy there, which is very important), people talk very favorably about it.

I think places like the US bible belt or ultraconservative strongholds like Texas etc. are an anomaly on this globe. I doubt there will be many other places where things go like in the US with the whole "do we want it or nah?" back and forth between liberals and conservatives or what have you.

I believe in most places, once it is legalized, it will be widely accepted and I doubt there will be many rollbacks or insecurities because of "what will happen on the federal level? can we use banks?" and the like.

Dig a hole, put water in it. Percolation test. You can drive a stake in a few places to check compaction.
Figure all the land in the area will pretty much have the same subsoil, there may be pockets of sand, but it has all had the same influence from surrounding mountains et al.

Nice h.h.

what do I look for as the result of the percolation test?

Say I dig a 30 cm hole (that's what they told me the soil sample should contain, first 30 cm), how fast should it drain?
I mean it is obviously bad if it is still full of water the next day but should it drain overnight, in a couple of hours, minutes ...?

Mine will drain right away. You don't want it puddling. On the other extreme, if it keeps taking water, you may never build up a water table. Either condition can be dealt with by using compost and mulch.
Like was said about the nutritional quality, you can fix it.
The prime pieces of land were claimed years ago and when they do go on the market, locals in the know snatch them up fast. We get the worn out fields to repair.

I've watched over a dozen noobs like you come out to Oregon buy land try and then cry selling.
Your on the caboose dude dudette, left behind, seriously the market is flooded bad allover the usa,
prices are dropping everywhere due to the Cali and Oregon crap being diverted,
the worst of the worst is being driven out East.
Serious, do you think you can you make a living selling $400lb weed when average outdoor yields are 2elbows nugs.
not anymore. shit I give away top shelf to whomever wants to get head on...
or with no experience run a tractor etc know the pest when they start to invade and treat a week before they hit?
it's fun but not easy, I've been Ranch farming all my life,
after reading the thread only 2 people have any ideas here
recently we've watched over 20 farms go down this season after their first grow.
right now there is still over thousands of rotting nugs plants in the fields all over Oregon
go see for yourself peeps.
especially the rec scene wanna be farmers. flooding with crap
damn I drive by a sad field of 20+acres of rotting nugs, because of the green greed, in Wimer off Queen Branch Rd
try if you can. good luck.
find your notch, specialize find the veggies you can sell locally

So far, nobody is talking about getting rich. Sometimes it's just for the love of doing it.
It has to be.

Well I am not talking about starting a farm in the US.

I am talking about starting one in a country where the legal framework is being changed as we speak.
A new and emerging market.

Think of Cali, Colorado, Oregon etc. when it was just legalized.
The first few years, there was definitely a killing to be made there or am I mistaken?

You now have a not saturated but oversaturated market over there in most places that's why, naturally, prices drop etc. until an equilibrium is reached. The market is at that stage now over there, in some places a price equilibrium might have already been reached.
Other places, like Nevada, are still in the emerging stage and people are making a killing down there currently.


I am not looking to get rich as h.h. stated. I am just looking to support myself and my family, doing something I love and believe in and that I believe I can do well.
But I see two phases ahead during which I could make quite a bit of money.
The initial gold rush for medicinal cannabis which may last a few years and then the gold rush when recreational is legalized a few years after medicinal.
So for the coming 5-10 years I believe the market will be emerging/expanding and leave plenty of opportunity to make good money.
After that, I am fully prepared to go back to something else if I haven't been able to build a brand until then etc.


Also regarding the fields:
I hear what you say h.h. re the prime fields being taken and if they get open, locals snatch them up.
But I think that is not necessarily true for the region I am looking in.
The locals have been struggling financially for more than 5 years now and simply don't have the funds to buy a prime field when it opens up. Or there wouldn't be that many available. Some of them really do look very healthy with my limited knowledge.



Overall I agree that I sound like one of them noobs who go all in on a farm in Oregon and then cry and try to sell with as little loss as possible a year later.
And in terms of farming etc. I might well be. But in terms of business/economics, I am definitely not and I believe that is the more important part of the equation.
The farming I can either learn to do myself or I can hire cheap employees (another benefit of the region I look at, a lot of cheap labor available, hand trimming for example will be easily and cheaply done).
Another big factor that will not apply to me is the funding issue. Most people who start a farm will take on money from banks or investors. I understand the allure of that and even the financial/commercial aspects that can lead one to believe this is the "smarter" option.
But I will take on no investors nor bank loans. I have a little saved up and will get some support from the family but I will keep everything small and do it in a way that at worst I would sink 50k into the whole thing if all goes to shit. The field, the house etc. will not become worthless suddenly and if necessary, I can sit on them until the market allows me to sell them for profit. But I will have no obligations to banks or investors and therefor will have a lot more freedom and a lot less pressure to hit certain targets.

I will only NEED to pay off the initial investment and earn a living for my family and myself. I doubt I can miss these marks in an emerging market that fills a demand that has been steadily fostered over decades of prohibition.

And if exports will be allowed and I can build my brand successfully, then getting rich is definitely on the table as well.
But not my primary concern.

Also: Don't discount the possibility that some Eurodudes and Dudettes over here might have ideas and abilities to do things different and dare I say even better than some of the folks did in the US. I doubt it would be hard to become what Subcool became in the US here in Europe.


I will speak with slownickel later on.

Will update with what we discussed tomorrow or so.

Cheers for everything so far lads!

BBB

Capital won't cut it. If the locals have no money, you'll have no customers and they will start growing themselves. They probably already are, hence they legalized it.
People are the same all over the world. The same thing will happen over there as happened over here.
I'm not complaining from a customer's point of view. The market price has dropped down to a realistic point. Quality is starting to suffer in some circles. Many circles, but there is always the option of grow your own.
The ones getting rich, had the contracts before legalization. For the rest of us, it is all about the money we save.
Diversify. If you're next to a DIY store, sell soil amendments, castings. Sell to those who think that they're going to get rich. Of course those guys met their own fate. Hydroponic stores were opening back to back.
Sell tomatoes.
Every time we have a great idea, somebody else has the same idea. The world evolves simultaneously. It's always a race or a rush.
The day you open shop, there will be ten others opening shop. Each with twice as much money as the last. Each and every one looking for that low wage worker to carry the burden.

I agree that people are the same everywhere, to an extent. They are also different everywhere.

Example:
The locals do not have money to buy land but they do have money to drink 5$ cappucinos at the beach. Know what I mean?

It's a bit different there in many respects than elsewhere on the globe. One example I can give is that almost every family there owns some piece of land in this village or that. As a result, these folks often go on what you could describe as a week-long-bender where they go shopping, relaxing at the beach, drinking cappucinos etc. etc. (living in relative wealth) and then after that week, they go live in their family's village (living in relative poverty). They eat what the land provides and go to work in the city, spending close to no money at all for their day to day life. Then after a few weeks of doing so, they go on another week-long-bender.

If the market is restricted to local, I agree that the purchasing power of the country is very limited and since I won't be the only one, there likely won't be much to gain there. But I believe export will be on the table sooner than later and that could open quite a few doors.

And the bigger players don't only make life so hard for us small guys. They also pave the way and as a small guy you can follow in their wake without having to jump through so many hoops.
Competition is also generally good for business and I have learned that especially against the big dogs, as a small niche guy, you can often offer things to customers that the big dogs can't. They simply don't have the flexibility and are restricted in other ways that you don't have to be.

My family has done business in niches for many decades now successfully and I believe I will do the same. Carve out my niche in that market and maybe not get rich but definitely live a comfortable life (financially speaking).

And the farm is the start for me. I have to wait and see how things shake out but I have contacts and an in to pharmacies as well as production facilities for things like pills etc.
I also have contacts in the medical field (doctors) that would ensure people who want to buy from me get their prescriptions as well as owners of establishments ranging from cafes to clubs along prime locations in tourist or large cities that would work with me the moment they can legally.
Like I said, still have to wait for the legal framework to shake out to know what route I will take but as it stands, I would be covered in either direction (whether they go the dispensary route like in the US, meaning pharmacies or they go the club route they went in Spain).
What I would not like is if they forbid the sale of flowers and only allowed medicine in the form of sprays and pills. But I could deal with that as well if necessary.

I wasn't considering opening a hydroshop or whatever but kind of similar to how build-a-soil started, I will likely need at least this or that soil amendment and once I sourced it for myself, I will offer it for sale to others as well, obviously. Same with my contacts regarding genetics and other specialized things like lights etc.
I won't have stuff stockpiled but I will advertise my ability to get these things for a good price while making a buck from it still.

And yes, I plan to have other cultivation on my farm. Like tomatoes, chili peppers and the like. But that will be for personal consumption, mostly. I will also plant some trees and "infect" their root systems with truffel spores and harvest some truffels in the future. An aquaponics system which would lead to my farm doubling as a fish farm is also being discussed and I am doing research in that direction.

A lot of possibilities and i am not going into this without a plan B or C.

Worst case scenario though will be me sinking some money into the whole ordeal and moving back to where I was born and work some 9-5 job at a bank or insurance. They would all take me, I just wouldn't want to work for them. Don't think I could look at myself in the mirror at night if I would.

Or just turn the farm into growing something else entirely and become a farmer like everyone else.

We will wait and see.

Quick update after my talk with slownickel:

We talked a bit about this and that and as luck has it, he knows some people who are farmers near the area I am looking at and offered to get me in touch with them.
Waiting to connect and have a talk with them and see what they can tell me.


A big thanks at this point to Lester Beans for suggesting to contact slownickel.
The guy is awesome and as far as I can tell, really likes helping people out for the love of the plant. He has helped several people with their farms already according to him and I feel blessed to have his and you guys' support.

Cheers!