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Money In The Bank...The Soil Bank That Is.

You've dreamed of owning a small farm. Retiring from your present job early. Getting up early, raising a few beef cows or horses, planting some strawberries or dry beans, or something to peddle at the local farmers market to make enough to pay the overhead. It is not the money you are after..it is the simple hardwork of good honest living that comes from growing or raising something. Like everyone did on the family farm that they grew up on back long before there were foot prints on the moon. If you have some extra cleared ground you plan to grow into, but that is not needed in the scheme of things today, consider calling the Natural Resources Conservation Service nearest you. The NRCS folks can visit your farm, take soil tests, and decide if taking this parcel of ground out of production and placing it in the soil bank is possible. If the ground qualifies for the program due to soil type, erosion, slope and the most important feature...funding availability, you can bid for so much an acre for a ten year program. You will have to seed the land down with a special conservation mix of clover, grasses, etc and you put it to bed so to speak...giving it a rest. If you bush hog each year, the cutting simply rots into the ground for good organic material to build up the soil. In ten years you may have the option of renewing for an additional four years or more. If you receive $50 an acre for the CRP land, it helps defray your taxes, keeps the farm intact and down the road will come in handy as a bread basket to feed folks as you put the enriched fortified ground back into production. Part of the rationale of the program is if we don't keep farms farms, but rather see them busted up into smaller recreational or house lot usage, it will be the death of the small family farm. Larger farms, and fewer farmers is the trend nationally. Look into the CRP program to help with your overhead costs. NRCS is part of the USDA Federal program. In the Southern Aroostook Maine Area, their office is located in Houlton on the North Road on the corner of US RT 1 and the B Road. Real estate brokers listing farms to sell would be wise to look into and spread the word on the soil conservation program and the income it can generate to subsidize the farm expense ledger.

Posted by Andrew Mooers | Northern Maine Real Estate / Aroostook County Broker on 09/08/2007 05:42 AM

Comments (2)

farming, maine, real estate, broker, conservation, resource, soil bank, land, mooers realty

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2 Comments on Money In The Bank...The Soil Bank That Is.

Interesting stuff. Being a farmer is hard work but rewarding.

09/08/2007 05:47 AM

by Ki Gray - Austin Real Estate (Escapeso Austin Real Estate)

The soil bank helps you be a pretend farmer so it creates a little income to cover taxes, and keeps farms intact...rather than being broken up!

09/14/2007 08:09 PM

by Andrew Mooers | Northern Maine Real Estate / Aroostook County Broker (MOOERS REALTY)

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