We all have this picturesque dream of living on a farm someday – an escape from the chaos of the city. Yes, it is indeed a beautiful dream, but it can also be a nightmare if you are unprepared.

Farming is a calling. It is not for everybody, and it is not a walk in the park. It is also not just about growing crops, harvesting, and selling them. Or putting up a homestead as “bahay bakasyunan” and everything will go well. 

To help you decide if a farm life will best suit your needs or not, here are some of the disadvantages of living on a farm based on my observations and the challenges we have encountered:

Security of the Area

I placed this as the top priority among the farm tasks. Now that inflation and global economic recession are likely to worsen in the coming years as experts predicted, anything on your farm is of value to anyone who does not have them. Trespassers and stealing will be a common challenge at the farm. 

Just recently, may mga umakyat ng bakod namin dito sa main house in broad daylight to harvest our rambutan. To think na nasa poblacion ito at hindi sa bukid, we have 3 guard dogs pa, and andito lang din kami sa bahay. Pina-blotter namin sa barangay dahil may mga kapitbahay na nakakita sa kanila. 

Sa bukid naman maraming constant na trespassers at paguwi ay may mga dalang ni-forage nila galing sa mga tanim sa loob ng farm. Nanakawan din ang farm house namin ng sink, mga pinto, etc. back when walang nakatira doon.

You might want to read articles re trespassing laws in the Philippines to get tips on what to do if ever you encounter a similar issue.

Barbed wire fences don’t offer much as deterrents, but are only useful as land markers to delineate boundaries. If you want to keep your farm secure, you have to invest in electric fences (quite expensive especially if you need to cover lots of ground area), CCTV cameras (lots of them), and other anti-theft devices. 

Know the Surrounding Community

What type of community surrounds your property? If you plan on living at a farm after retirement, will your family move in there with you? Because if not, it might be too risky to live there alone or with just your spouse when both of you are senior citizens already.

Who else will you be living there with aside from your parents? Are your children willing to relocate and transfer homes, especially if they grew up in the city? 

It’s best if you have neighbors whom you can call for help during emergencies. They are also the best persons to ask re the topography of the land especially if they lived there for quite some time already.

Assess the Area for Water Sources & Electricity Connections

A farm needs to have a reliable water source if the area is not yet covered by your local water provider. If the property is located near a river, make sure the river doesn’t dry up during the summer season. Also, is it near the main power lines? Kasi kung malayo pa, ang mahal mag-invest sa solar panels. 

Determine Flood-Prone Areas

A river near your farm is a good water source, but rivers can also pose a serious threat during heavy rains and excessive flooding. You will incur more crop losses if the river near your farm is one of the major rivers in the area where all surface runoffs from the surrounding mountains converge.

Identify The Type of Soil

Identifying soil types is important if you plan to plant crops. Some soil types are not arable meaning you can’t plant anything. Also, if the farm is located on a mountain slope, it will be prone to landslides. 

Accessibility to Farm-To-Market Roads

Ease of access to the town proper/city will lessen your transport expenses. The nearer your farm to a major thoroughfare, the better when transporting your products because you can save on fuel expenses. 

If you need to cross how many streams and mountains to get to the farm, you will be cut off from civilization. In this case, seeking help during emergencies will be very difficult. If it’s also not accessible by any vehicle, all the more difficult when it comes to logistic planning. 

Hiring Farmworkers

Hiring farmworkers to tend the farm so you don’t get overwhelmed by doing all the tasks yourself is an additional monthly expense. If you’re retired already, your pension might not be enough to hire a farmworker. On top of the regular upkeep and maintenance costs of the farm, you also need to consider expenses for your daily needs and maintenance medications. 

Farm May Or May Not Earn A Decent Profit

Depending on the crops you choose to grow at your farm, you might not earn that much. Climate change and unpredictable weather patterns make it difficult for farmers to adjust and recover from any losses.

If you will have your farm rented out, there’s a high chance the property will be misused and after the lease contract ends, you might have more problems in terms of land degradation, nutrient loss, and biodiversity imbalance which will take years to restore. If you plan to convert it to a resort, the same concept will apply.

You might consider looking for an additional source of income later on. This will serve as your buffer in case of severe losses and damages to your crops during calamities. Your options will vary depending on your need. If you prefer a passive income, you might want to explore lease opportunities. Online selling looks like it will be a mainstay in the marketing strategies of different businesses.

Tedious (And Costly) Processing of Paperwork (Land Title, Property Tax, Land Survey, etc.)

There is no easy process in legalizing a property whether you inherited the land or bought it. Oftentimes you would need to go back and forth to different government offices in the province or city where your farm is located. Some paperwork may take months to be processed and for some, it may take years. 

Image Copyright: Christine Lailani Ginete-Rome

Farming Requires Grit and Passion

To those who are interested to transition from the corporate world to the agriculture industry, the work environment will be very different. In a corporate setting, you will be working with air conditioning. At the farm, you will be exposed to the heat of the sun while working.

Being hands-on in the management of your farm also means supervising farm tasks daily. I am not in favor of micromanaging so looking for skilled workers who can perform the tasks well is a must.

If the heat of the sun is something you’re not comfortable with, then expect your comfort levels to decrease even more when bugs and mosquitoes start to pester you anywhere you are on the farm. There are also some farm tasks that you have to learn to do yourself, especially the basics. Farmers, in a nutshell, have tanned skin (with blisters from insect bites) and callused hands, even if you’re a woman. 😉

But if you are passionate about farming, these challenges will be your stepping stones to achieve your goal of living sustainably on a farm. Your own set of problem-solving skills will also be very different as well as your system in managing your team of farmworkers. They are skilled laborers, but most of them weren’t able to graduate from college. You do have an option to mechanize all your farming inputs to lessen the number of workers needed at the farm.

But personally, farm mechanization is my last resort. It is still our priority and goal to offer as many jobs as possible and help farmworkers and their families achieve a better life. If the new generation of farmworkers has stable jobs, then I believe that will be the only time we will shift to farm mechanization.

And then of course there’s another set of challenges when it comes to employee management, which I will no longer discuss here in detail.

Consider buying a farm if you have extra money you do not need and wouldn’t mind if the farm earns a profit or not. If this is your only investment fund like a retirement fund, you might be better off with another type of investment that will give you a fixed and consistent income. Again, acquiring and maintaining a farm requires a huge capital and might offer limited ROI to keep your farm sustainable in the long run.

“We can make many plans, but the LORD’s purpose will prevail.” – Proverbs 19:21

From your Bicolana Farm Girl,