How to OffIcially Become a Farm

[tennessee_chicken_lover]

I Wish to Know because i want to, but don't know you have to resigter or file paper's or what.

sorry if i confused you because i confused my self lol


Dustin

 

[SkeeredChicken]

I know here in Florida, in order to keep certain animals (like Ducks and Quail), you have to have a game farm license. I don't know if you have it if that officially means your a farm owner. But I think it also gives the game commission the right to step in and inspect your surroundings once in awhile.

 

[chicks rule]

That is a good question, I think you might be able to get some answers from your county extension office. I found this site online it is out of Knoxville I think but you can look things up by counties and it has contact information. HTH

http://www.utextension.utk.edu/about/default.htm

 

[nursejane644]

Go down to your county ag extension office -- they have all land mapped out in sections and there is a 'farm' ID number that goes with your land. That is, if you are in agriculture area and I believe most of rural TN is. That's how I got mine and I'm in Lebanon TN. Only took about 1 hour for them to look it up on a huge map they had rolled up in the back.

 

[hencackle]

I'd contact the county extension office, like nursejane said. You're not far from Sneedville, you could ask Shoresh Heritage Ranch for some tips in getting started.
Stephanie

 

[foxtrapper]

File a Schedule F with the IRS, and you now are a farm.

But if you want your land rezoned, that's a whole nother matter.

 

[therealshari]

As we've been moving towards the "official farm" designation, we've found that just filing with IRS isn't sufficient.

Because we have a small sheep flock, we had to register for the scrapies program. Now we have an official farm number from the state of Utah.

Additionally, our insurance premiums are changing as we have to get "farm coverage". That's a real hoot when the agent is trying to figure out our real liability.

I'm not sure if there is an agricultural break for truck licensing in Utah. I know there is in Oregon and it allows you to use fuel that isn't fully taxed. Lo unto you though if you're caught using that fuel for anything except off-road farm use. They even add a dye so you're easily identified.

As far as zoning, that's a whole new "bag of manure". Thankfully, we're already designated for rural.

Around here, the real issue is water rights. They're very expensive and the big alfalfa growers have bought up most of them. We have only 1 acre-foot for our entire 10 acres. That means 9 acres stays dry.

So, are we a farm yet? We have one young (2 year old) horse; six yearling or better ewes, one ram, 2 little ewe lambs, and two market lambs; and 35 chicks... hopefully about 20 pullets and 15 cockerels. We're still working to build our soil with a small redworm project and creating compost.

Once we have all the licensing and insurance in place, we'll put our farm sign up at the corner.

Our crops will be eggs, and wool to start with. Later when we get the greenhouse going, we'll be able to add some veggies. Eventually we want to work with some other local folks to form a Cooperative Sustainable Association. That way we can pre-sell our stuff.


Shari in Beryl UT

Shari's Gone Country

 

[SkeeredChicken]

Quote:
As an off topic subject:
One thing that has been pointed out is, you can collect rain water. There are several sites about this:

http://www.cityfarmer.org/rainbarrel72.html
http://rainbarrelguide.com/
http://www.iowasource.com/home_garden/rainwater_0604.html

It could be considered in a situation similar to yours. Just something to think about...