So, you wanna farm?

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   By Murray Harris, Guest Blogger

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Note from Garth: After his post explaining the economics of owning cows in a world of food inflation, tariffs and Trump, I asked career agrarian Murray Harris to address allegations here that farmers grow rich while families struggle to put meals on the table. Is this a good career path and business opportunity? Or a life of passion and manure?

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While binging on Bonanza, Yellowstone, or Heartland (depending on your vintage) you may have thought: ‘I want to be a farmer’. Having farmed for decades I’m asking you, why?

If you are into a vocation for the money, don’t try farming!

If you love, sunrises, sunsets, the smell of freshly turned soil, the sound of an August breeze rustling through corn stalks, a nuzzle from a cow, birthing a calf, or the lift in your heart from hearing a drought ending rain pelt down on a steel roof, farming might be for you. Or, if you just have the perfect disposition for being self-employed.

If you want to farm and raise a family, be certain your household has at least one source of off farm income. If you are an efficient 1st quartile ranking farm operator of a 4,000-acre farming operation in Ontario, the farm will carry itself – but it may not enable rep sports and university education for your children.

Farming will teach your children work ethic and how to manage money. Farming will be ingrained in their hearts and their souls.

Many intergenerational farm families lack transition plans which can result in extensive litigation and heart breaks. Here Less than 15% of farmers have written transition plans. 40% of Canada’s farmers are expected to retire in the next ten years. Here

Supply management sectors of poultry and dairy come with prohibitively high over-head costs of quota, and livestock housing. So, let’s consider growing crops on your farm.

Oh wait. You don’t have a farm yet. Thinking of buying one?

Farmland in Canada, according to Farm Credit Corporation, has increased in price 85% in the last ten years. Here If you seek negative P/E investments, farming may be your opportunity.

Garth’s blog suggests renting, not buying houses. Cash flow tells you to rent farmland, not buy it. At a cost of over $25,000/acre the gross income per acre from soybeans would not cover one half of the interest charged on the mortgage at prime plus 1%. (5.7%)

Land rentals range from $300 to $500 per acre for 3,000 heat unit land in Southwestern Ontario. Here and Here

If you are renting you need to rent the right type of systemically tile drained soils. Heat unit maps are readily available, based on the number of days needed to produce a mature crop. Here

Having found suitable land to rent at $300 per acre, you decide to grow soybeans. Why? Lower input costs, reducing risk. Everybody loves tofu, soy-milk, and beyond beef burgers. Smile!

The direct input costs for soybeans with all cropping done by custom operators is $465.50 per acre. Here

Total rental and input cost per acre $300 + 465.50 = $765.50.

And what return can you expect. The Ontario 10-year average for soybean yields is 49 bushels per acre. Here

Current price of soybeans in Ontario, $14.76 per bushel x 49, for a gross return of $723.24 per acre. Approximately the 10-year median price.

Average net return of NEGATIVE $42.26 per acre. The good news is you only rented 100 acres and you only lost $4,226. That was if you had a good year, with no hail, frost, or drought during the growing season. Here

This is where the off-farm income stream rescues the farm. In return, you saw your soybeans planted, sprayed, and harvested by a custom operator. You had no investment in equipment nor risked losing money on having invested in farmland.

Many farmers profitably grow crops in a rotation of corn, soybeans, and wheat. The successful farmers, like successful real estate agents, financial advisors, and direct sales people are in the top quartile in their vocation, ranked by crop yields, marketing through futures contracting their crops, and weighting their crop portfolio to that year’s most profitable crop. How much granary space do you have for when China stops buying, or there is a US tariff imposed, because the Leafs won ‘The Cup’?

A 2022 University of Guelph study, details mental health stress based on a survey of nearly 1,200 farmers. Here

“Many respondents also reported they had been thinking about suicide. Suicide ideation was twice as high in farmers compared to the general population. Additionally, one of four farmers surveyed reported their life was not worth living, wished they were dead or had thought of taking their own life during the past 12 months.”

Debt can eat hearts and souls!

So you want to farm?

About the Blogger: Murray Harris (who posts as Cow man) is a 40-year dairy farmer having developed his Burnview Holstein herd to one of Canada’s highest production herds. Community activist and Charter Member of Burlington’s Sustainable Development Committee, he has held positions on several Agricultural Committees and Conservation Halton. Married to his Trophy wife of 52 years, he’s a father of two, grandfather of three and continues to serve the community as a school bus driver. 

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About the picture: “Recently, I saw a picture of Bailey on your blog who was steadily standing on a massive ball valve from Toronto’s renovated Summerhill resevoir,” writes Ward. “I now present to you a rescue dog, Cleo who I fostered for Golden Rescue. Cleo hailed from Cairo, Egypt as a street dog and her behaviour of resource guarding certainly indicated such. We had a few good weeks but the experiment ended badly when she bit me! I have recovered nicely since, but Cleo had to be removed and sent to a behavioural specialist which I really think is a doggie gulag.”

To be in touch or send a picture of your beast, email to ‘garth@garth.ca’.

Source: https://www.greaterfool.ca/2025/11/14/so-you-wanna-farm/