How To Start A Farm With No Money (2024)
In this post, we are going to be talking about How to start a farm with no money. Many times we hear people who are interested in farming express their discouragement because they don’t have the money to start a farm because of the cost of land, labour, equipment, seeds, and livestock. This agitation drove us to put together a post on how to start a farm with no money.
It is natural for someone seeing this to jump to a hasty conclusion and say that we are scams, but gladly our methods have been tested and confirmed to be successful by farmers around us. All you need to do is to be attentive and follow the steps.
How to Start a Farm With No Money
The basic need for any farm startup is Land, Labour, and Capital. If you can resolve this then you are on your path to your dream. So how can a person with $0, €0, or 0 Naira, start a farm?
1. Be a Laborer on an Already Existing Farm
How can a person go about this? Here you have to apply to work on a Farm that already exists. Not just any farm but one that you can earn and learn from and one that has your desired style of farming.
The success of this step will depend on how diligent you are in your work. Farmers are naturally good people and love to show off diligent workers to their fellow farmers.
In so doing, you are earning money (wages), learning experientially, and gaining connections. We advise young people who desire to farm or start their farm to first go through this step of service even though it might be time-consuming to a certain degree.
2. Split Payment
Suppose you have become a Laborer on an already existing farm. The next step you should take is to know if your boss has an unused building or even unused equipment. The success of this will depend on the relationship you have while working with the farmer and your manner of approach.
You can request to make the payment for that unused parts as your wages come. Doing so in no time, you must have settled building or equipment with no direct money.
3. Borrowing Money (Loan)
You can borrow money to start a farm from some development banks like CBN loan, Bank of Industry, Bank of Agriculture, NGOs, Foundations (e.g. Tony Elumelu Foundation), and USDA Farm Service Agency. Commercial banks also give startup loans all you need to do is to apply and pray that you qualify.
Another means to get Start-up loans is from Family, friends, and the farmer you are helping. All you need to do is make them believe in you, come to good terms with them, and make sure you succeed.
Experienced farmers always advise people who start farming with loans to make sure they channel it into a type of farming that will bring fast yield and income like meat production and easily harvestable market-demanding crops.
4. Source out Resources From The Wild
No one owns the resources in the wild, therefore you can get seeds, flowers, and even livestock from the wild to start farming with. An example is picking up mango seeds that people threw away or finding stray animals and rearing them.
In some states or countries, open fishing even without a license is allowed, instead of catching to eat or for fun, you can catch to rear. This is an ancient method but it can be useful today.
5. Grants
The government of many countries has put in place for people who want to farm but don’t have money, all you need to do is to apply and qualify and the government will gladly give you the amount you desire.
But during this, you will be asked for a business plan and necessary personal documents, and you will also be accessed to know if you are worth their investment.
6. Networking (Become a Middleman)
How can a person start a farm with no money just by networking? It’s quite easy, just be a connector. Connect farmers to consumers and take your commission.
Take, for instance, you want to start a farm and you have no money, you happen to know a man that farms catfish and you connect buyers to him, in doing so you are earning to start your farm. Just be the bridge. Wealth is made by solving issues. And in some cases, both might give you a commission if they are pleased with you. But this is best done if you have gone through Number 1.
7. Renting Land
Another way to start a farm with no money is by renting land. In some parts of West Africa, people are allowed to farm or cultivate lands that are without owners or community lands after which they pay a kind of fee after harvest and sales. Though some landowners insist on payment before usage, many are patient.
Many farmers who started without money always emphasize cheap land, so look for that dump site around you that no one cares about, clean out a portion, and start a farm right there.
8. Use The Available to Get the Desirable
Take for instance you are interested in Ranching and you don’t have money to buy livestock but around you, there is an almond tree or orange tree that you people use for pleasure. Start selling fruits.
If you happen to have a waterlogged portion of your house that waterleaf grows in, instead of sitting there to wish, make do with what you have by trading them for money. This is a way many people start to farm with no money.
9. Be alert to Auctions
Farmers living in Florida, Texas, and Australia will easily attest to the fact that some of their implements and equipment were obtained from auctions. Normally auctioned properties are far cheaper than new market products. As a beginner, you are to have your ears on the ground and even the walls.
Be aware when neighbours, farmers, and people moving out are auctioning or giving things out freely. This is another way you can start a farm with no money.
10. Make Use of Your backyard, Veranda, and Garage
Which rule book said that you can’t use your backyard to start a farm. Many farms in Africa started in their backyard. Whether spacious or not think of what you can make do of that backyard. By doing this you won’t be paying extra rent and you will be able to start a farm with no money.
Veranda or Porches are also places where people can start a farm with no money, all you need to do is employ some conservative farming technologies like sack farming, or vertical farming.
The same is true with garages, why will you be desperately wishing to own land before you can start farming when you have a garage? Turn it into a greenhouse or even a chicken pen or a vertical farm, depending on the type of agriculture you desire.
11. Form an Alliance
Another way you can start a farm with no money is by allying strictly for business. If you happen to know people who are like-visioned as you, ally with them for the better good.
Maybe you know a friend who has an unused piece of land, another who has woodwork skills and another who has money but has no land, and another who has a reliable labour force (maybe children), you can approach them, pitch the idea to them and see to it that all of you people work has a team.
As the business matures, you can now take your gains to start yours or even buy it over. This is how multiple farms in Europe in the early 1900s started.
12. Make Use of Conservative Farming Technologies
Today there are agricultural trends like vertical farming, Aquaponic farming, sack farming, and roof farming. All these are cheaper ways anyone can start a farm with no money or little money if compared to the cost of land.
Take for instance sack farming, instead of beating yourself up for not being able to buy land, you can just get empty bags, perforate them, fill them with farming soil, get a few seeds, and plant in them. All these are conservative technologies that can help you to start a farm with no money.
Also Read: How to Start a Rabbit Farming Business
Conclusion
How to start a farm with no money is possible. Throughout this post, we have been critically looking at how possible it is and how we can go about it. We talked about being laborers at already existing farms to earn, learn, and connect from and to other farmers.
Another way to start a farm with no money highlighted in this post was splitting the payment. The reason for this is to make it easy for you rather than waiting to get all the money.
There were other ways a person could start a farm with no money, like forming alliances, using conservative farming technologies like vertical farming, using the available to get the desirable, etc.
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