By Mojdeh Karimi

So you want to be a farmer? Not so fast.

Farming is a healthy way to feed your family and earn an income. Still, any farmer will tell you that farming is rewarding, but hard work. It takes money and labor, and more importantly, it takes “personality.”

There are special characteristics a person should have before starting to farm. Perhaps you bought or inherited land, and may be thinking, “What should I do with this piece of land?” Most of the time, farming or gardening comes to mind. But the question is: Can you do it? What is the first thing you need before making such an important decision?

Before breaking ground or buying seeds, you may want to do some self-examination by writing a resume. This resume doesn’t start with education, experience, skills or references. It starts with “personality;” that is, what personal traits you have.

No matter how many workshops you attend on farming, rarely does anybody talk about personality. Perhaps there’s an assumption that because you’re attending, you’ve already determined you have what it takes to be a successful farmer. Here’s a list of personality traits to consider and help ensure your success:

Passion: This is the most important characteristic you need to have as a beginning farmer. Whether you were raised on a farm, like me, or you lived in a city, you need to love what you are going to do as a career. For the first couple of years, you may not have the income, you might expect. Yet, you may find yourself continuously farming either as a side or full-time job. And by continuing to do it, the result is mostly positive. What keeps you going? How do you know that you are passionate enough? Because you are committed to devoting your time and effort to it, you find pleasure in every little success and it makes you smile. In farming, it could be just the feeling that comes from growing your own vegetables or your appreciation for seeing beautiful flowers and vegetables grow with just sun, soil, water and air. When you get your hands dirty working in the garden, you get so excited that it motivates you to do more and more. To me, the biggest motivators for farming are being enthusiastic and wanting to work in the garden constantly. You need to approach farming as something you desire to do, not merely something that generates income. Love it first; getting some kind of income is secondary—because if you start farming but don’t love it, you may not continue doing it for long.

Of course, we all experience being excited about starting something and later realize it’s not what we want. And that is why anybody who wants to farm for the first time needs to do it on a small-scale, trial-size basis to see whether they like it or not.

Loving what you want to do is a pathway to success.

Patience: Farming is not like the old times of just choosing a site, digging up the soil and planting vegetables. These days, many steps need to be taken before you even start farming. There are regulations to consider and decisions about choosing the right crops based on soil conditions, water availability and climate. So, you need to take your time to do online and in person research, contact the right specialists, attend different workshops and learn about marketing, financing and business management to figure out what needs to be done. It might take weeks, months even. So, take the process slowly, step by step, to get your farm growing in the right direction. If you miss some steps, it may make it more difficult to reach your goals.

By being impatient, you may waste your money and time.

Willingness to Learn: Be open-minded and don’t think that farming is a simple job. Once your passion for farming is ignited, you will need to know more and more. More knowledge means more control of what is happening in your life and that includes farming. If somebody told you, for example, one method is not an effective way to till, ask them, “What can I do? How to learn?” People are always willing to help, as long as they know you want to learn. And don’t be afraid to ask questions. Asking questions opens up a whole new world that you never knew existed. A question can be like opening a door. There are lots of programs available to help farmers that you will never know about until you do your homework. By learning, you are preparing yourself for the unexpected and for success.

Determination: Starting a new business can be a long and rough path, and farming is no exception. If there are rocks along your pathway, try to figure out how to move them out of your way, knowing that there’s always a light at the end of the tunnel. Surround yourself with people who can help you along the way and give you encouragement, because moving rocks with two or more people is much easier than moving them alone. Consider failing as being one step closer to success as long as you learn from your mistakes. If the path to get to your destination is too easy, there must be something wrong.

Finding the problem and trying to solve it takes determination. Network, make calls, read and research online to find out what went wrong and how you can correct it. Factors like flooding and drought are beyond your control. Keep going and don’t stop because if you do, you may lose track of what you were doing and then you may need to start all over again.

Love the outdoors: The weather can be brutal, sometimes very hot, and sometimes very cold. Farming requires hours and hours of working outside. There are specific periods of time for each plant that need to be planted in order to get a crop. The site needs to be prepared by tilling, making beds, installing irrigation tape and so on. You need to enjoy being outdoors. Working outdoors, gardening or farming is your moment to be alone with nature, to feel calmness and peace. Taking a good look at what you have achieved after many months of work will fill you with joy. For me, there is no better way to enjoy life than being close to the ground, smelling the soil and freshly planted vegetables and watching them slowly grow.

Yes, without a doubt farming is a hard work, but its rewards are priceless, and once you start farming, you can’t imagine doing anything else.

So, if you have all of these qualities, you know that you are ready to be a farmer. It’s such an honor to be a farmer, don’t you think?

Dirt or Soil?

We should all know how important soil is in our lives, especially in farming. Without soil, which provides growing environments for plants, we cannot produce our own food.

People sometimes call soil “dirt.” But what we have to understand is that there is a difference between “soil” and “dirt.” Dirt is a combination of rocks, sand, silt and more stuff mixed together. And it all is dead. Soil has all that plus nutrients, air, water and living things.

I remember when I took a soil course in college many years ago, and we had a very good teacher. The way he described soil I felt like he was talking about his child. He knew so much about soil that he used the word “soil” in a respectful and admiring way. That image of him passionately talking about soil stuck in my mind forever. The first thing he told us at the first session was “please do not call soil ‘dirt.’ ” Sure enough, by the end of the course, I knew what he meant.

There is so much that goes into making soil. It takes many years to break soil down by mechanical, chemical and biological means. I hope everybody takes the time to learn more about soil. By understanding and educating ourselves, we would have more admiration, regard and appreciation for soil. Soil is unique and essential to our lives. So, please from now on, make the decision not to call soil “dirt.”

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