I get lot of queries from different people who want to shift from their cushy jobs to farming/agriculture. Here are some of my thoughts, which I intend to keep updating often.
Some notes and disclaimers to start with..
1) These are random thoughts, without any proper order. However, some of these were my forethoughts and some are after-thoughts based on learning over the last 5 years.
2) These points are very specific to India and some times applicable only in Karnataka.
3) I don't intend to discourage anyone from getting into farming, but I have noticed that many of them do it without thinking through and regret later. This post is targeted to avoid such situations.
4) Switching profession is different from retirement. If you are looking for retiring into farming, many of these points many not be applicable. If you are serious about taking it as a profession, you need to consider many variables mentioned below.
5) Feel free to provide your comments or suggestions to update this list.
- First and foremost thing to note is that it looks romantic from outside. Don't fall for it just like that. Try to understand the pain points before diving in, as you are neither going to sacrifice anything by getting into farming, nor you are going to do any social service through it. Unless you are passionate about farming, it's not your cup of tea.
- Shun idealism and think practically before making the decision to get into farming. You don't have to compromise on your ideals, but be assured that ideals may not feed you and your family. If it can, without any compromises with your ideals, go ahead and I envy you!!!
- Try it out as part time for an year or two before you are convinced that you can do it and you really want to do it. For this, keep the distance in mind as you have to balance between your regular job and farming.
- If possible, try to do something like an "internship" for a few months after taking a sabbatical from work so that you can get first-hand experience of farming.
- Learn from both traditional and progressive farmers. Make it a point to visit such farms regularly and get the best practices from them and implement as appropriate.
- Don't assume that the traditional farmers don't know anything and that is why they are suffering. At the same time, don't follow them blindly. Mix of traditional knowledge, new inventions, new practices and your own brainstorming is the best.
- Have backup plan in two parts. One - How do you feed yourself and your family in the initial years when you are still spending money on the farm. Two - What to do in case things don't go as planned. Keep in mind that it may not be easy to get back to your previous job or field unless you remain in touch with the field and keep updating your knowledge even after quitting.
- If you inherit the land, that is the best option for anybody as the land cost can be huge for buying.
- If you are buying land, keep the availability of water and workers in mind, apart from the soil type, distance from the market, main road, school, shops, wildlife and the threats from them, local populace, etc. Also look at the potential for the land value to appreciate because if everything goes wrong, you still have the option to sell the land and exit with reasonable amount of money.
- Safety from outsiders, cattle, wildlife(monkeys, elephants, wildboars, etc) are important points to consider.
- Consider the expenses for water sources like wells/borewells/ponds, pumpsets, rain water harvesting, labor quarters, fencing, etc. as appropriate.
- If you bought an empty land, plan and design the layout of your farm/field with accessibility for trucks, tractors, tillers and other farm equipments in mind. Even if you are buying a ready farm, check out these points before making a decision.
- Observe water flow during rains so that you channelize it in order to save water as much as possible.
- Be prepared to get your hands dirty. Old "jamindari" attitude doesn't work any more. Work along with your workforce or even alone.
- Don't get carried away by different claims of some people having made lot of money through farming. Most of the times they just got plain lucky at that point of time. All said and done, the weather and market conditions play a very important role and therefore the situation is not "reproducible" forever. Some times they just didn't get their accounts right!
- Think about what you want to grow and what is your long term objective of getting into it. Don't get into farming with a short term goal. For example, if you want to get into horticulture, be prepared to keep spending upto 7-8 years without getting any returns as most of the horticulture crops (like mango, coconut, etc) will take that much time to start giving reasonable yield.
- Ideal option is to have a mix of short-term(taking few months like vegetables, etc), medium-term (an year or so like banana), perennial, long-term and spanning generations (like timber wood) planting.
- Don't get confused by different farming practices like chemical, organic, natural, forest, permaculture, hydroponics, etc. If you are clear about what you want to achieve by farming and the timeline, you can make a decision based on that.
- Avoid herd mentality. Just because the market rates for some thing are very good this time, it doesn't mean that it will remain like that next time. Plan wisely and think 2-3 years ahead. Also time the planting if you have short-term crops.
- Too many variables (known and unknown) that can make your entire plan go wrong. Be prepared for that.
- Don't get into farming relying on subsidies. Yes, there are lots of subsidies available from the government, but you will end up spending lot of time running around for that. Even after that you can get it only if you have the right contacts and bribe different people. Also note that most of the items are prices higher with subsidy and lower without subsidy. Effectively it doesn't make too much difference with subsidy. You would rather spend more time on farming.
- Free electricity for agriculture is also farce. You will hardly get any electricity when you need it. Particularly during peak summer you will get it 2-3 hours in the wee hours (around 2-3pm)
- Those who come from the corporate world will tend to work with targets and deadlines in mind. Most of the times it doesn't work in farming and it gets very frustrating and demotivating. Be prepared to handle them with a deep breath! Rural life has its own ethics and rhythm and just get used to it! Also notice that there is so much importance to human relationships than anything else. Learn to appreciate this.
- One more caution for those from corporate background: Few things that we had ignored or taken for granted during our job years (like health insurance for our family) suddenly become important.
- Be prepared to forego your annual (or more frequent) long vacations at least in the initial years.
- If and when you decide to take the plunge, go for an optimal sized farm - not too big, not too small. In my experience, minimum required area is 3-4 acres as the effort involved in smaller area will almost be the same. If the farm is too big (say more than 15 acres) it becomes difficult to manage. For example, if you chase the monkeys from one side they will come back from.another side because they can't imagine that it also belongs to the same person!
- Invest in tools and machines as much as possible, but step by step.
Before closing this post let me remind you this: "It is very easy to find hundred reasons for not doing something. But you just need to find one strong reason to do it!"
