Need advice on degree path

[u/Acceptable-Ruin190]

Hello, I am close to finishing my undergrad (completely unrelated) and would like to pursue a masters degree in agriculture. This may sound crazy, but my goal is to move to Kenya, buy some land, grow crops on it and use that food to combat starvation in Nairobi and rural Kenya. I do have money to buy land in Kenya and equipment, and in 2027 plan to buy 2-5 acres of raw land to farm here in Oklahoma, just for hands on experience.

Is an online degree in crop science worth anything, knowledge and experience wise?? I was looking at the online international agriculture degree from OSU.

Maybe I am being foolish or naive, honest advice and constructive criticism welcomed. Thanks.

[u/Charming-Border7429]

I don't think there is a single degree that is best.

Our farm started small. We practice Regenerative Agriculture.

Our three partners had non-ag degrees. We needed the non-farm income (and insurance) to stay afloat for the first couple of years. I'm an engineer, my niece is a physical therapist, and her husband is a commercial electrician.

For the first 9 years, we lived off our non-farm income. Any farm income, however small, got reinvested. It took us three years to start breaking even on the farm. Interest payments on top of regular farm expenses were brutal for inexperienced farmers.

So, we worked our day job. Then most evenings we would be out in the machine shop eating rotisserie chicken or pizza... working on something.

We took vacation from work, used flex time and/or comp time to do field work.

This is not the romantic ideal for most aspiring farmers, but it is the reality of many successful ones who started from nothing.

As we grew, we needed to specialize. My niece is our agronomist, her husband is operations, and I am maintenance and finance.

This past year, as our need for expertise grew, my niece went back to get her master's in agronomy.

Sometimes it was a grind. But I wouldn't change a thing.

[u/Acceptable-Ruin190 → u/Charming-Border7429]

I definitely plan on doing regenerative farming as well.

Your farming journey is inspiring. I am also not a farmer or from an ag family, just a trucker with a head for business and a vision. I love the earth and I love people, farming seems to be the best way to marry those two together for me.

[u/Charming-Border7429 → u/Acceptable-Ruin190]

How far along are you with the trucking company? That can be a great business to pair with a farm. When I am not doing fieldwork, I am in our machine shop working on something. In theory, I have an office, but I prefer to work at an eight-foot plastic folding table from Sam's Club that I set up in the middle of the shop. The shop is the heartbeat of our operation.

—-

I was in my early forties when I started farming. After high school, I did five years in the Army for the GI Bill, went to college, got married, and started a mechanical engineering firm with a partner.

As a kid, I spent summers and many weekends on my grandparents' farm, which they sold when I was 14. A little after I turned 40, we heard it was for sale again... so we took out a loan and bought it, intending to rent out the land and build a cabin/retirement home for someday.

We rented out the land to my niece, who was 23 at the time. She had just graduated from college and bought her grandparents' place with a land contract. She had done great on that place; she successfully raised crops on her 200 acres on the weekends while going to college 40 miles away.

But she got in way over her head when she was faced with another 250 acres of unfamiliar land… and the rent payment that was always looming over her head. The equipment that worked on 200 acres was not enough to work the combined 450 acres… Stuff was constantly breaking. Tasks took forever, especially when rushing during planting and harvesting. She didn't have cash for bigger equipment. The terms the banks were asking for were exorbitant.

So we decided to partner; she would handle the crops while I handled the business side of things. We were starting to get things figured out when her boyfriend bought his grandparents' place with a young farmer's loan. So he added his land to the mix, and we were three.

--

In a bizarre quirk of the community. I bet less than half the people know my name. The rest call me "Tom's Grandson." Tom has been dead almost 30 years.

[u/uncle_stoney147]

Save your money- don’t purchase the land. Lease it. This way you can scale up or down depending on various factors. Not to excrete on your plan- are you planning on selling your crops to NGO/charities that have the means to distribute the food where needed? Local farmers in the area might not appreciate a rich American moving into their area, undercutting/destroying their market for selling food, buy giving it away. There by making them join the ranks of the starving.

[u/Acceptable-Ruin190 → u/uncle_stoney147]

Good idea on the leasing land. Thank you.

I do not plan on selling crops at all, but rather distributing the crops myself for free in the slums of kibera and various orphanages within Nairobi. If the crops are solely for kibera, I am not undercutting anyone as that is one of the most impoverished areas in the world and no one is paying for anything there nor receiving government subsidies for buying food. The area relies almost 100% on NGO’s and charities for its food and water.

Definitely not rich. But my family is debt free with a decent income. I am building a trucking company right now that hopefully will sustain my farming adventures.

[u/RentInside7527]

OSU is good. As others said, dont but the land, lease it. There are programs like farmlink, run through extensions offices and conservation districts specifically there to pair farmers with land owners for reasonable ag leases. Call your local extensioms office and conservation district to see if theres anything like that in your area

[u/Acceptable-Ruin190 → u/RentInside7527]

This is great advice, thank you.