Buying Property/Soils Test?

[cherprit]

Hi,
Just wondering from you experienced farmers, what you would look for in a piece of land that you wanted purchase to farm vegetables. Would you have the soil tested? Would you look at the surrounding area to see what is grown? Would the state ag departments have info on the land? What would definately make it unsuitable in your mind (aside from the obvious low lying land or too hilly). Thanks so much, still planning and dreaming.

[Rod]

Soil tests are a definite, Also the State Ag. Departments and extensions services usually have very good technical people to help out including vegetable specialists. Also the NSCS ? used to be called the Soil Conservation Service anyway. The have soil maps with crop capability ratings and on site technical help which can be valuable especially when doing overview selection of different properties.

[Rob FLory]

Hi,
Every county in the US has a book about its soils put out by NRCS/USDA. The book is the Soil Survey of XX County, State.

Starting with a road map, you can find the property in question on a map that shows what kind of soils are there. This is a good way to learn about problems like poor drainage that might not show in June, but that you wish you knew about when your field is waterlogged in April.

It will tell you typical crops etc. also.

Rob Flory

[Crabapple Farm]

The NRCS Soil Survey is a great resource. Obviously you want to look for the best piece of soil you can find. Equally obviously no piece of property is going to have everything you could desire.
I personally would look more at the physical properties of a soil than the chemical analysis, as fertility is much easier to fix than, say, drainage or slope or stoniness. We’re farming vegetables on soil that isn’t really suited to it – not good drainage, some slope, glacial till that grows new stones annually. The soil limits our production ability, and takes a toll on the equipment, but vegetables are still our main income. We’ve got a small-scale, direct sales market approach, because we don’t think it makes sense for us to compete with the much larger veg farms on ideal soil down in the valley in wholesale markets. It all depends on what you want to do, and how you want to do it. There are some pretty amazingly productive mountainsides in italy and peru and china, going to show that you can turn almost anything into farmland if you want to.
Drainage: it’s easier to add water than remove it, assuming there is a water source. However, with drainage comes leaching of fertility. Dry soil also warms up quicker in the spring, giving you a head start on the season. We’ve put up hoophouses, so we can have stuff at market before the folks with nice warm dry soil.
Stones: break equipment and your back. Frost heaves more into the plow zone each year. But it’s certainly satisfying pulling a boulder out of the field. And they build character.
Slope/aspect: if you’re gonna plow, look for less than 5% slope. South and west facing are warmest, east and north cooler. A slope can shed frost, so in the same area at the same elevation, a sloping field is less likely to get hit by a late or early frost than a flat one. But cultivating on a slope can be tricky, and you can run into erosion issues.
Layout: if there are buildings, are they conveniently and centrally located? Are the fields visible and accessible? It’s tricky to manage fields that are out of the way, because it takes a special trip to see how they are doing and what needs to be done.

-Tevis

[Anthony]

NRCS Web Soil Survey: type in the address of the property you are looking at, select the area you’d like soil maps and data for, click the soil map tab, voila! (if they have data for the county, some counties do not work. if this is the case, the local library usually has soil survey books.)

[cherprit]

I really appreciate the answers, the links, and the patience you all have with a wannabe like me! Thank you.

[Author]

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