Hello! Wow - what a wonderful find this site is. Very new to all of this, although the thought of homesteading/farming has been with us for many years. Hubby is now retired, son out of highschool and we are definitely ready and in the right frame of mind to make the move. However, at the current time, finances are a bit of a problem - we would need to sell our current home first(this is not a problem). My question is that we were told that there are "subsidies" (not really sure that this is the correct term) available - ie. govt. pays so much an acre not to grow tobacco, etc. Is anyone aware of these things, and if so, how do we get info.? We are currently looking in the Highland, Pike, Scioto co. areas and have found some wonderful places, but most seem to be just out of our price range.

Thanks in advance for any help any of you might have for us.

Chris and Jack

-- Chris Cheatham (CCheatham@cinci.rr.com), February 15, 2001

Answers

Basically the federal government is trying to take itself out of the crop subsidy business, and they are being phased out. I receive a couple of thousand a year since at the time I bought my farm, and for a couple of years thereafter, the fields were used for row crops. The focus will be on disaster (e.g., drought) relief instead.

Contact the Agriculture Stabilization and Conservation Office in any one of the counties cited and they can inform you what programs may still be available.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), February 16, 2001.

Read Joel Salatin's book "You can Farm" and it will give you some practical advice on your ability to make a living on the farm. Also Ken has a free email book on making money on the farm. Wonderfully helpful, I hear (I haven't read it because I am going in a dozen different directions already). Amy

-- Amy Richards (tiggerwife@aol.com), February 20, 2001.

When we bought in Highland county, we wound up with a subsidy only because the former owners had been renting it to someone who had been growing the wheat/corn/soybean rotation. We inherited the remainder of his contract. They pay on a SMALL percentage of the total property (basically the yard and barn area), and you weren't eligible unless you were already under cultivation. The total amount they sent each year would just about pay our feed bill for a month. If I remember correctly, they have phased this program out completely, and when the contract runs out, it will not be renewed. For tobacco, unless you wind up buying property with a 'base' included, you haven't a prayer of being allowed to grow it (for sale), much less get paid not to. I haven't done tobacco in years, so past that, I don't know what they are doing with it now.

Good luck finding something! If you tell me how many acres you are looking for, I'll keep my eye out for you.

-- Connie (Connie@lunehaven.com), February 22, 2001.