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Farming as a Career

The route into farming as a living: training, land and water, choosing crops or livestock, finance, farm records, selling to buyers and running the farm as a registered business.

Free · Mac (Apple silicon) and Windows · v1.0.0 · Other platforms

Then open the Marketplace in the app, search for Farming as a Career, and click Install. It goes into your own files, and works offline from then on.

What it installs.

1

Pillar

1

Area

50

Projects

205

Starter tasks

🧰 Professions & Trades

Farming as a Career

Making farming a career: training, land access, choosing crops or livestock, financing, selling to markets and running the farm as a business.

  1. Testing whether farming is the career for you
  2. School subjects and entry qualifications for agriculture
  3. Choosing an agriculture college or training route
  4. Working a season on an established farm
  5. Finding land to farm
  6. Soil and site assessment before the first planting
  7. Water source and irrigation plan
  8. Choosing your first crop or livestock enterprise
  9. Registering as a farmer with the agriculture ministry
  10. Farm safety for chemicals, machinery, heat and tools
  11. First-year farm business plan and budget
  12. Daily field diary and input log
  13. Weekly sales and cash book
  14. Planting calendar and succession plan
  15. Weekly pest and disease scouting walk
  16. Pesticide store, spray records and harvest intervals
  17. Livestock health and vaccination calendar
  18. Equipment and irrigation maintenance routine
  19. Monthly farm accounts and profit by enterprise
  20. Hurricane, flood and drought readiness for the farm
  21. Farm security and praedial larceny prevention
  22. Soil fertility, compost and fertiliser planning
  23. Protected agriculture with shadehouses and greenhouses
  24. Goat and sheep production skills
  25. Broiler and layer poultry production
  26. Post-harvest handling, grading and packing
  27. Pesticide applicator training and certification
  28. Financing the farm with loans, grants and incentives
  29. Choosing where to sell your produce
  30. Costing and pricing produce per kilogram
  31. Buying a tractor or hiring machinery services
  32. Crop and livestock insurance and risk cover
  33. Registering the farm as a business
  34. Joining or forming a farmers' cooperative
  35. Hiring and managing farm workers
  36. First planting from land preparation to establishment
  37. First harvest and first sale
  38. Landing a supermarket or hotel supply contract
  39. End-of-season farm review
  40. Taking over the family farm
  41. Farming part time alongside another job
  42. Young farmer starting with little capital
  43. Returning from abroad to farm family land
  44. Seasonal farm work abroad through official programmes
  45. New entrant farming in the UK, US or Canada
  46. Good agricultural practices certification
  47. Exporting fresh produce
  48. Agro-processing a value-added product
  49. Climate-smart farming and soil conservation
  50. Mentoring new farmers and training an apprentice

Where it starts.

Each project arrives with its purpose, milestones and first tasks written out. Here is how the first three read.

Testing whether farming is the career for you

Farming rewards patience and planning, but the reality is early starts, heat, a cash flow that arrives months after the money goes out, and losses to weather, pests and thieves that nobody can fully prevent. Spending a few weeks on working farms, and asking farmers about their worst season, before you commit savings or family land gives you an honest answer and a clearer idea of which kind of farming suits you.

First tasks

  • Write down why you want to farm and what worries you about it
  • Ask the local agriculture extension office for farmers who take visitors
  • Arrange to work at least five days on a working farm
  • Ask three farmers what their worst season cost them and how they recovered
  • Record your decision and the reasons for it with today's date

School subjects and entry qualifications for agriculture

Most agriculture diplomas and degrees ask for passes in Agricultural Science or a science subject, plus English and Mathematics, and the same subjects help when reading a fertiliser label or costing a crop.

First tasks

  • Download the entry requirements of two agriculture programmes you could attend
  • List your passes and predicted grades beside each requirement
  • Ask a school counsellor or college admissions office how to close any gap
  • Find out whether a vocational agriculture qualification is offered locally

Choosing an agriculture college or training route

Routes into farming range from a two year diploma at a college of agriculture to a university degree, a short certificate from the extension service or a structured farm apprenticeship.

First tasks

  • List three agriculture training routes you could realistically attend
  • Note the fees, length and practical field hours of each
  • Ask two graduates what they are doing now and whether the course helped
  • Visit the teaching farm of your first choice before applying
  • Submit the application or record why you chose to learn on the job

Make it yours.

Install Farming as a Career, then tell Aurum the date you're aiming for. It checks whether the plan fits the weeks you actually have.

Free · Mac (Apple silicon) and Windows · v1.0.0 · Other platforms

Blueprints are general information to help you organise your own work. They are not medical, financial, legal or other professional advice. See the Terms.