How far would you travel for land?

[Justin Hagedorn]

Hey all. My grandma asked me if I would like to rent her quarter from her... but its about 25 miles from our farm. I would love to get it, as it would get my feet in the door and help some of the older farmers from back home recognize me as a fellow producer. The timing would be right too, I'll be graduating from SD State with an AST major this coming spring. My question: is it worth the road time or would I be better off hoping/praying/waiting something comes up closer to home? Thanks for your time and thoughts

 

[Brett Rausch]

Do it!  That's close enough.

[Ray Hewitt]

Yeah definitely do it! I am renting a farm 25 miles one way and it can be trying at times but you have to jump into farming at some point.

[Adam]

Pretty far for just a 1/4  Depends what you're raising though. 

[Justin Hagedorn]

Yeah, I suppose. It would be half corn and half soybeans.

[Ray Hewitt]

That far away i think i would consider putting it all to one crop because in the middle of harvest when you are busy it sucks having to run that far twice. If that is your only farm i can see why you would want to plant both corn and soybeans though.

[Matt Folsom]

Yeah distance is ok but one crop it so you dont have to travel twice.

 

 

[pooboynotiller]

I'm over 45 miles spread.   In my neck of the woods ya take what you can get, might never have the oportunity again.

[Brian Sackett]

My advice would be to rent the ground. 25 mile is not bad to travel. We are traveling up to 50 mile to find good ground to farm. When we first started we passed up ground that far away and now we wish we had it under our control. They do not make dirt anymore so if its a good farm try it and see how it goes.

[David Ernst]

GIve it a try.  See how it works.  Like you said about other farmers recognizing you,  there are other benefits to farming the land as well.

 

[Brian Grossman]

25 miles is not bad at all, we are spread out 60 miles north to south and 40 east and west.  Take it now while you have the chance and like you said, it can be your step in the door for that area. 

[Tyler Behrendsen]

I say go for it, ground is ground. I have gone as far as 35 miles away for good ground. You just gotta make shure you have everything you need with you cause it really sucks when somthing breaks and you dont have the right tools or parts with ya.

 

[David Wheeler]

I am with the other guys.  We are going up to 35 miles also.  I think it is a no brainer, especially since it is family.  They are right.  Traveling sucks and eats up precious time.  But this year we were able to plant at the farther away farms when it was raining at home, so the planter never sat idle.  I say don't look at the negative.  Land is very hard to rent, and even harder when you have limited capital.  This would give you a very good opportunity with out having to over-extend yourself to try and rent something closer.