That's really interesting, farmershort. I'm always fascinated to read people's stories
.
Yes, this may sound absolutely mental, but I dont see any harm in trying to put a business plan together and see what happens!!
A business plan is a good place to start I suppose. The trouble is, there's no such thing as renting "a farm", or indeed "a smallholding". They'll all be different, and will need different approaches to get the best from them. Our three nearest neighbours all run very different types of farm operation, according to the ground they've got and what they've found works for them. If there's one thing I've learned in six years of smallholding, it's that context is everything!
So, your business plan will have to be tailored to the farm you want to take on. I think your biggest challenge will be getting good enough data to know if that plan is workable or not. Then of course you'll have to sell it to people who are probably much more knowledgeable than yourself.
I'm just thinking aloud here, but I hope this is helpful:
We're all chasing the sweet spot at the centre of this Venn diagram, right?
So whilst the answer right now may seem like 'give it all up and go farming', where does that fit on the diagram? Would you love it? (maybe). Are you good at it? (not yet). Does it pay well? (
).
There is a way of getting started with less risk though. If you find a small parcel or two of land to rent, you can get started with sheep for instance, and then could use references from the first landowners to secure other land to build up your business and the numbers of livestock. You could do that to test the water without giving up your IT work (maybe you'd have to move job or location for it, but you could still keep that as the thing that pays the bills until you're sure). You might even find that having farming as an interest outside work gives you enough enjoyment to enable you to stomach the "rich but bored" of your day job. I'll be honest, that's where I find myself right now.
Also, if in a few years time you wanted to go for a full farm tenancy, you'd be a proven winner, rather than "hey, I've got this crazy idea", which I think would put you in a much stronger position?