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Whatever your dream farm encompasses—peach grove, poultry farm, or mixed-vegetable market garden—nothing is more important than its location. The right property forms the foundation for everything else you do on a farm. You can tear down small buildings; you can clear and plow fields; you can grade roads and string fences. But features such as clean well water, shelter from prevailing winds, soil that drains well, a southern exposure, and proximity to a population center with potential customers are all attributes that can’t be altered once you settle in and begin farming. So before you even pick up a shovel or place your first seed order, you need to do some research.

Assessing Your Own Property

Dreaming of an organic farm on land you already own? You may be able to make it happen. Just consider some basic information about the property. You might find that the land is perfectly suited to an organic farm, you may need to make a few adjustments to make it work, or you may decide that you’re better off purchasing more suitable land. Start your assessment by asking the same questions you might ponder when scouting a new property:

 • Is there enough level land with a sunny exposure to provide growing space for all of your vegetables?

 • Is the earth beneath your lawn, backyard, or field deep.and loamy? Or is it lean, thin, compacted, and riddled with rocks?

 • What is the climate? Is the season long enough to grow the crops you want to produce? Is the seasonal rainfall adequate?

 • If you need to irrigate, will there be ample water, either from a public supply or a pond and private wells?

 • If you want to farm commercially, are there enough customers living within your geographical area? When you answer this question, consider whether you will farm for yourself, sell to restaurants and farmers’ markets, run a farm stand, or sell CSA (Community-Supported Agriculture) shares to customers who buy a season’s worth of vegetables and to pick up their goods each week.

 • Is the property zoned for agriculture? Can you keep chickens, goats, cows, or other animals? If so, how many can you have?

 • If you want to keep animals, is there enough land to grow hay? Or are there nearby growers who can supply it?

 • What kinds of shelters are allowed on your land? Can you have a barn, stable, chicken coop, greenhouse, and storage shed for tools and equipment?

 • Is your land safe for growing fruits and vegetables? Has it been contaminated with lead, heavy metals, or other pollutants that will make it difficult to grow and market food?

 • Does it border a farm that uses pesticides? If you want to be certified organic, you will need to create buffer areas that stop pesticide drift.

Chances are you already know the answer to some of these questions, but it pays to look at your own property with the same critical eye that you would use on other land. The conditions could be enough to warrant a move.

Issues beyond the Land

It’s true that land issues are the primary concerns when looking for an organic farm property. But there are other things to think about, too—the farmhouse, the community, the neighborhood, and your personal preferences. Some things to consider:

 • Is the farmhouse up to your standards? Many farm homes are older and may need upgrades to heating, electricity, plumbing, and structure. The cost of fixes in the first few years could add significantly to your overall price.

 • Is the house’s foundation strong? Does the basement leak? Is the roof in good shape? Hire a good home inspector.

 • Are the outbuildings in need of repair? A barn, shed, greenhouse, and any other structures that need work will add to your financial burden.

 • Is the property fenced and is the fencing adequate? If you’re keeping livestock on a large piece of land, fencing can become a big expense.

 • Does the climate suit you? If it’s snowy and you’re located at the end of a private road, your most valuable piece of equipment may be a four-wheel–drive truck with a plow.

 • Beyond irrigation needs, how is the water? Is it potable or are there too many minerals? Have the wells been tainted by fertilizer or chemical runoff? Check municipal water records.

 • Is the community to your liking? Consider your proximity to neighbors, shopping, good schools, hospital, and your place of worship.

Your land may have everything you need for an organic hobby farm. Check zoning regulations to find out if you can build a chicken coop and raise layer hens.

Assessing New Property

One sure way to get information on a piece of farm property is to interview previous owners, who should be able to tell you everything from the approximate date of the first frost to the spot-on location of each submerged boulder in the fields.

Organic farmer John Mitchell, owner of Heirloom Harvest CSA in Westborough, Massachusetts, says there is no substitute for the information you can glean from a farmer who has worked the land before you. Mitchell leases his farmland from a church parish and says he is fortunate that the previous lessee was also a certified organic farmer. To maintain their certification, organic farmers must keep records of crop rotations, soil tests, and types of fertilizers used, along with information on weeds, pests, and diseases and how each problem encountered during the growing season was solved organically. Such meticulous records are like having a two-way crystal ball that looks into a property’s past and can help you divine its future.

Even without records, the previous owner should have answers to the following critical questions.

Is the Acreage Right?

This is more a question about you and your ambitions than the actual size of the property. Many new farmers find that too much land turns into too much work. Maybe you should look for 5 acres (2 ha) instead of 20 (8 ha).

How Was the Land Farmed?

If the land wasn’t farmed organically and you want to market your produce as organic, you’ll need a three-year transitional period before you can legally advertise your goods as USDA Certified Organic. In addition, land that has been farmed with conventional practices may need cover cropping and repeated applications of manure or compost to eliminate weeds and regenerate the soil microbes that play such a crucial role in sustainable agriculture.

When looking at a new piece of land, find out how it was farmed. Repeated use of machinery could mean compacted soils. If chemicals were used to control insects, weeds, or diseases, you will have to farm organically for three years before you can legally call your goods organic.

Has Anyone Plowed the Land Before?

A field that has been used for pasture may not have been plowed or renovated. If so, boulders or even ledge may be lurking just beneath the surface. One indication that rocks have already been cleared is the presence of stone walls. The picturesque walls around New England that date back to colonial times were built more out of necessity than for aesthetics. Rocks in the field were lugged to the perimeter and stacked in rows to create those now-scenic walls.

How Frequently Was the Land Tilled?

There are good and bad answers to this question. Land that has been cleared, plowed, and tilled should be relatively free of rocks. But a long history of being worked by farm machinery could mean compacted soil, erosion, and the loss of nutrients and humus. The ideal field is one that has been used in a regular crop rotation, with minimal tilling performed to incorporate cover crops and organic matter into the topsoil.

Are Any Diseases Lingering in the Soil?

Knowing about past diseases will help you prevent them in the future—or could give you pause about whether the land is right for your purpose. For example, one of the worst diseases for a vegetable farmer is clubroot, which affects cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, mustards, and other Brassicas, severely stunting their growth and even wiping out the crop. Once clubroot is in the soil, its spores can live for a decade. And if it’s in one field, a farmer must clean and disinfect equipment before working another field to prevent the disease from spreading. The bottom line, says Mitchell, “You don’t want soil that has been contaminated with clubroot.”

What Kinds of Weeds Are Present?

Perennial weeds like bindweed, quackgrass, and yellow nutsedge are difficult to eradicate because broken bits of roots and plant material can sprout new weeds. One of the most pernicious of annual weeds, Galinsoga, can spread thousands of seeds that germinate, grow to maturity, and release more seeds in a matter of weeks. If the previous farmer has controlled the weed-seed banks (eliminated weeds before they went to seed), crops will be easier to grow. And if weed-killing cover crops were planted and the fields were mowed around the perimeter to prevent incursions into growing areas, fewer unwanted seeds will be waiting to be raked to the surface where they can germinate.

Weeds that go to flower and seed near your vegetable fields can create a nuisance for years to come. But a well-planned meadow garden somewhere on the property will increase diversity and encourage beneficial insects.

Did the Previous Owner. Sell the Topsoil?

I once looked at farm property that had been stripped of its topsoil. The farmer or previous owner had sold the loam from his unused fields to a developer, leaving mostly sandy subsoil with little organic matter. A farm that is missing much of its topsoil would create a serious setback for future farmers, potentially requiring seasons of cover cropping and tons of manure, compost, or other organic matter. Finding out general information on a property is helpful, but a site inspection should reveal more details.

After you’ve received all the information you can get from the previous landowner, public records, and local historians, you can look for more answers online.

Creative Ways to Find Farmland

Want to farm but can’t afford to buy land? One solution may be to hook up with a farmer who wants to sell or lease his land with a creative financing option. Some retiring farmers will offer flexible terms and financing options just to ensure that their properties are passed on to others who want to continue the farm.

Land Link programs in many states look to pair young and old farmers for just such arrangements. In many instances, a retiring farmer can work with a would-be successor and learn about the operation as the transfer of ownership progresses. (More information is available at the International Farm Transition Network website: www.farmtransition.org)

Another option is buying land under an agricultural easement. An agricultural easement is a legal restriction voluntarily placed on a piece of farmland or ranch land ensuring that it will never be used for anything but farming. No strip malls, no housing developments.

Sometimes a farmer will have donated or sold those rights to a conservation land trust. The benefits for farmers are the immediate tax advantages and the long-term comfort of knowing the property will never become a shopping center. The benefit for the community is the preservation of open space.

New farmers can benefit because once an agricultural easement is in place, the property can only be resold at its agricultural value. That means new farmers can occasionally pick up an old farm or ranch in a pricey location for well below the fair market value. The drawback is there are restrictions on the types of buildings allowed on the property—possibly including the house you want to live in. And, if you decide to resell the property, you’ll be restricted to the agricultural value, too. Buyers generally have to bid on a property and provide a farm plan that demonstrates continued productive use of the land in agriculture.

Canadian growers who need a place to farm can meet up with landowners to accommodate them via Landshare Canada, www.landsharecanada.com, an online agri-networking website that “brings together people who have a passion for home-grown food.” Users start by logging in and creating a profile. Then they post listings as either growers in a specific area looking for land to farm or as landowners in a specific area who will allow farming on their properties in exchange for maybe a cut of the harvest. The website also has a tutorial, sample legal agreements, blog postings, and maps showing where landowners and farmers want to get growing.

To find out about opportunities in your area, contact farm advocates and land conservation groups in local communities. (For additional information, see “Resources”.)

Gathering Additional Information

The previous sections illustrate just a few of the questions that need answers before you invest in an agricultural business. Some of the information, as discussed, is easy to glean from knowledge of your own property or the previous owner’s knowledge of his or her property. But thankfully, when you can’t get the answers you need, you’ll find plenty of reliable sources for information. If the former property owner is no longer available, you may be able to get information from a real-estate agent, local historian, community’s assessor office, or neighboring property owners. If the property was farmed before, state or county agricultural officials should be able to help you learn about its past.

Going Online

What do you do if you can’t find the information you need from farmers, neighbors, and others? You can search online.

For detailed technical reports on a property’s geology, land slope, drainage, average temperature, and rainfall, along with such valuable information as its suitability for crops, consult the national database that has been more than a century in the making. The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) keeps detailed records on the physical characteristics of land across the United States, updating the information as new reports and surveys are completed. (See “Soil Surveys” for information on how to access the database.)

According to David Hvizdak, now retired soil scientist for the NRCS, soil surveys began in the late 19th century. Until recently, information was collected and recorded in hardbound reports that were used by farmers when buying or leasing land. Today, the information is posted online, where it can be updated by scientists and used by anyone with a computer and access to the Internet. The depth and accuracy of information has improved with recent onsite land surveys.

For farmers, the information will help determine things such as mean temperature, rainfall, length of the growing season, the soil’s capacity to drain or retain water, the depth of the topsoil and subsoil, and whether the land is stony, hilly, or prone to flooding. The survey can help steer you away from land that would be better left unfarmed.

Testing the Soil

Ask for the farmer’s record of soil tests to determine whether amendments are needed to increase soil nutrients, improve tilth and structure, or alter the pH (acidity/alkalinity). Also take your own soil samples around the property and send them to a reliable soil-testing laboratory for a thorough analysis. For your produce to be legally certified as organic, the land it came from must have been free from prohibited chemicals and non-organic produce for three years.

Keeping this in mind, it’s worth checking soil to make sure the land has not been damaged by recent years of chemical farming. You might find residual pesticides, poor quantity of organic material in the soil, erosion, or compacted soil. If the previous farmer used an integrated pest management (IPM) program on the property, the impact should be less severe. In an IPM program, farmers monitor their crops and use physical traps to determine an optimum time for action. Physical barriers, natural pests, and biological controls are used before spraying pesticides. It’s a practice that is more environmentally conscious than repeated chemical sprayings throughout the year.

These considerations are also important for farmers who are leasing land. Using organic amendments to increase soil fertility can be an expensive investment, often required over a period of years. You should only make such a costly soil investment if you can work out an acceptable long-term lease for the property. Otherwise, all of your hard work might just benefit the next person who rents the property.

Soil scientists take samples and make observances, then update the information online after others at the NRCS have approved it.

Soil Surveys

The NRCS (Natural Resources Conservation Service) is actively surveying land—visiting sites to view the terrain, observing and documenting soil properties and morphology, and then posting the data online periodically upon undergoing a quality-assurance process by the agency. That makes their online database the most complete and up-to-date source of land information available.

To get started, visit the NRCS Web Soil Survey home page at websoilsurvey.nrcs.usda.gov, and follow instructions on the page. If you’re more adept at maneuvering a tractor than a computer mouse, the home page contains a help link and instructions to walk you through the basic steps.

With a little practice you can learn to home in on a particular area that is displayed in a satellite image map on the screen. With tools at the top of the map, you can draw a rectangle or polygon around a block of land and designate that specific property as an “Area of Interest.” Once the land is highlighted on the map, click on tabs to access reports about the property. After completing the exercise and collecting pertinent information, you can save it for future use.

Canada’s National. Soil Database

Canadian growers have an online resource for soil information recorded by the Canadian Soil Information Service, CanSIS for short, which operates under the umbrella of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. To find soil data, go to. sis.agr.gc.ca/cansis/ and follow the quick link to Soil Maps, then Soils of Canada link. You can view a map, click on the information in a text box in the left margin, and find such attributes as the land’s drainage, surface material (down to 1 yd. [1 m]), and the amount of organic and mineral content.

Other links on the page will take you to print maps that have been scanned and uploaded to the website. These maps have areas that are color coded and delineated with numbers, with corresponding information contained in documents that you can download.

Looking for Water

One of the most important considerations in locating viable farm property is making sure there’s enough water to keep the crops irrigated and farm animals happy and healthy. It’s a bonus if the property has a pond or river within its boundaries. If it doesn’t have any obvious water sources, find out if there is a well, and ask whether the water supply is reliable year round. Talk to someone in the community’s conservation district or water department about the long-term health of the aquifer. If the area is drought-prone, there may be restrictions on use. Make sure there’s plenty of water available during the summer, when you’ll need it most.

It’s a good idea to have a second option for water, in case one source fails. If your farm is supplied with public water, you may want to install a private well for irrigating crops. Many communities enforce public watering bans during the summer months, and other communities charge high fees for water use. Check with the cooperative extension office or with other farmers in the area for a reputable well installer who can give you more information and cost estimates.

In addition to looking at groundwater sources, check the rainfall totals for your region.

Just as inadequate water can be problematic, too much water can harm the farm—especially when you want to get started with the season in the spring. A low-lying field that’s covered with puddles until June won’t be ready to till, rake out, and prepare for planting until late in the growing season, wasting valuable time. So keep in mind that while land near a rising river may be fertile and flat and provide a steady source of water, a rainy spring and early summer could shorten the growing season.

A landowner and conservationist with the NRCS uses a soil probe to take a soil sample on a farm near Iowa City, Iowa. Information from around the country is available at the agency’s website; search for Web Soil Survey. Inset: A soil scientist conducts a soil test on a farmer’s field in Virginia.

Dealing with Lead Contamination

Organic farmer John Mitchell, owner of Heirloom Harvest CSA in Westborough, Massachusetts, also recommends testing the soil for the possibility of lead or other potentially harmful materials. Lead and other soil contaminants aren’t confined to urban areas. Land that was used for agriculture before the EPA began banning the most dangerous agricultural chemicals could still be contaminated with toxic materials. Some areas that were used for apple orchards in the early to mid-1900s, for example, could have been repeatedly exposed to lead arsenate, which was widely used as a fruit-tree pesticide.

Lead remains in the soil for decades and can be harmful in several ways. It’s most likely to contaminate the hands of anyone working in the soil, but it can also be inhaled in dirt and dust that’s kicked up by tools or machinery. Although leafy vegetables can accumulate some amounts of lead, fruiting crops cannot. The most likely way to actually ingest lead is by eating root crops to which small amounts of contaminated soil have clung.

Most university labs will check for lead content as part of a routine soil test. A natural level of lead in soil is roughly 7 to 20 parts per million (ppm) (7 to 20 mg/kg), but some urban areas with lead contamination may contain more than 1,000 ppm (1,000 mg/kg), most of it in the top few inches. Because lead isn’t easily transmitted from roots to leaves and fruit, you can still grow garden crops in soil with a concentration of less than 300 ppm (300 mg/kg).

You can make soil safer for growing by adding phosphorous-rich compost or other organic material that will keep plants from taking in lead. Ensuring that soil pH is kept to at least 6.5 or higher will help keep vegetable crops safe.

Before investing in a property for vegetable farming, it would certainly be worth the time to get a lead test, especially in an urban area or on a site where an old apple orchard once stood.

Finding the Right Climate

Climate counts, too. Locating your property’s position on a USDA or Agriculture Canada Plant Hardiness Zone Map will tell you what the regional climate will allow you to grow (without the aid of season-extending greenhouses, high tunnels, or other weather protection).

Most seed and plant companies make recommendations based on the latest spring frost dates and average minimum winter temperatures listed on government climate maps. Before trying to grow okra, sweet potatoes, or melons—all of which require hot summers and a long growing season—consult the number of frost-free days to determine whether your season is long enough for vegetables to reach maturity. The average minimum winter temperature for your region will tell you whether cold-sensitive plants such as artichokes, rosemary, or lemongrass can survive outdoors in the winter.

For those who are buying new property, the maps can help you choose an area suitable for the farm you envision. For instance, if you grew up on a farm in northwestern Pennsylvania, which is located in Zone 6, the map will show you that the Oklahoma Panhandle has close to the same growing season, even though it’s located much farther south. Many factors determine climate, which is why it’s hard to predict without the maps. For example, land along the Pacific Coast in British Columbia can have the same hardiness zone as some areas of Florida. That’s because land near the ocean or another large body of water can stay warmer into the winter. It can also take longer to warm up in the spring, since onshore winds affect temperatures. Elevation also plays a role in temperature, although it’s not always what you think it will be. Read on to find out how the rise and fall of your land may create microclimates.

Air drainage is an important consideration. Cold air that trickles downhill can nip young seedlings with a frost.

Air drainage is important in the summertime as well as during cold weather. Tomato vines can succumb to midsummer fungal diseases if they aren’t given enough space between rows. Remember, those tiny transplants. will eventually grow into big, bushy plants.

Understanding Microclimates

Not only will you have to think about the general climate of the area in which you’ll farm, you’ll also need to understand and account for the effects of microclimates (climates that differ from those of the surrounding areas). Features of the land are responsible for numerous microclimate changes. For example, sometimes lowlands can collect and hold cold air, creating early and late frosts. This is known as lowland chill.

Have you ever stood at the top of a mountain and looked down at fog blanketing the valley below? It’s an illustration of simple physics: Hot air rises and cold air sinks. And fog in the valley forms because water vapor condenses in the cold air that settles against the ground. You can sometimes see these effects in early fall, when driving through areas with hills and valleys: Trees in the lowest-lying areas show the first foliage colors. That’s because cool air sinks and flows like a slow-moving river downhill, settling into valleys—especially on calm, clear nights. Understanding this downward flow of cool air, called air drainage, will help you take advantage of microclimates caused by physical attributes of the land.

Farmers who are tending fields at the bottom of a valley might find their plants nipped by an unexpected frost, while plants growing at a higher elevation remain unharmed. Even if you’re not at the bottom of a hill, buildings, hedges, a row of trees, or other physical obstructions can block the streams of cold air. This can be a problem for vegetable gardeners who are stretching the season in spring or fall. Fruit growers, who tend orchards on sloping land, can suffer crop losses when trees on south-facing slopes bloom early after a streak of sunny days, then get hit by a late spring frost. The cold can damage blossoms and reduce fruit set.

Air drainage isn’t just a desirable thing in fall and spring. During the summer, a good flow of air between rows of tomatoes will help deter fungal diseases, which multiply under warm, moist conditions and stagnant air.

If you’re buying a piece of property in a northern climate, it pays to make sure the topography provides ample air drainage. If you already own the land and want to take advantage of air drainage, look around your property for obstacles that prohibit airflow. The best time to detect such an impediment is at dawn on a morning when ground fog is apparent. Go to the highest point on your property and take note of spots where the fog collects. Then walk through the fog banks looking for barriers. If there are no obstacles and the fog is moving, make a mental note of its path so you can avoid creating future blockades. When you find an obstacle to air drainage, remove it, create a larger area for the air to collect, or create a different route for the cold air to flow downhill.

Taming the Wind

Airflow is good, but too much can be a problem. A large area of flat land without windbreaks can lead to erosion, which is one reason why so much valuable farmland has disappeared. Soil that’s left unplanted or that has been recently plowed or tilled can become airborne under dry, windy conditions. And most of the material that gets picked up and carried away is organic matter or fine silt, both of which help conserve moisture and retain nutrients in. the soil.

In most of the country, the prevailing wind blows west to east, but storms and other weather patterns can temporarily alter wind direction. Winter winds tend to blow from the northwest, and summer winds from the southwest. Consider the prevailing directions when scouting out a property. To avoid wind erosion, choose a farm site that receives some shelter from the prevailing winds. A ridge, hill, or line of trees can slow down the steady wind. If you’ve already chosen or purchased your site, plant trees and shrubs yourself to disrupt the continuous flow of wind. Just beware of wind funnels, which can occur when prevailing winds are channeled between hills, ridges, buildings, or wooded areas.

Windbreaks can also come in handy if properties adjacent to yours are or will be used for non-organic farming. To be certified as organic with non-organic farming next door, you’ll need to create buffers between your farming operation and any property that is sprayed with chemicals. You could, for example, plant a windbreak or create a roadway around the perimeter. Keeping a row of trees, some tall grasses, or a meadow between you and your neighbor are a few other ways of creating buffers that will minimize chemical drift. Talk with an organic certifier to generate more ideas.

The Effects of Slope

The slope of a property can also enhance the sun’s power. Land that is slightly graded toward the south and southwest catches more direct rays from the sunlight, which warms the earth faster, allowing an earlier planting time. Too much slope, however, will create problems. At a grade of 3 percent or more, some drip irrigation systems don’t perform at their optimum efficiency. And at grades of 5 percent or more, water runoff can be fast enough to cause soil erosion.

Take note of the land’s slope when planning your beds. Sunlight collects and warms land that has a grade facing south. But erosion may be a problem if the grade is too steep. Slow erosion by planting in rows that run perpendicular to the slope.

Prime Farmland

The NRCS (Natural Resources Conservation Service) classifies prime farmland as “land that has the best combination of physical and chemical characteristics for producing food, feed, forage, fiber, and oilseed crops. It has the right soil properties, growing season, and moisture supply needed to produce sustained high yields of crops in an economic manner if it is treated and managed according to acceptable farming methods.”

Land that has been classified as prime farmland must meet the following conditions:

 • It has an adequate and dependable water supply from precipitation or irrigation.

 • It has a favorable temperature and growing season.

 • It has an acceptable soil pH: (acidity or alkalinity), acceptable content of salt or sodium, and few or no rocks.

 • It’s permeable to water and air.

 • The land is not excessively eroded or saturated with water for long periods of time, and it doesn’t flood during the growing season.

 • The land can’t be built up in an urban area.

Planting Trees for Energy Savings

Windbreaks or shelterbelts that separate fields can help control erosion by interrupting and reducing the wind speed. In small growing areas, trees should be kept far enough from the growing areas to prevent unwanted shade. Carefully planted windbreaks around your home and buildings can help cut energy costs and create a more comfortable living space, too.

One energy-saving landscape design is to plant deciduous trees on the south side of your home and evergreens on the north. In summer, when the deciduous trees are covered with leaves, they will shade your home from the hot sun. And during the winter months, when you want the sun to shine in and warm your home, the leafless trees will let the sun through. Meanwhile, the thick evergreens on the north side of your home will keep their foliage all winter long, blocking the icy gales.