After
setting the criteria that make the land suitable, you have to start looking for
it. The risk, after searching for a long time, is to embark on a plot that does
not suit you in the end.
Before
you start looking for land Agriculture Mortgages suggests
to read and understand the given criteria for choosing land for your future
agricultural activity.
General criteria
Location
The location you seek depends entirely
on you and your project.
Close to a big city, in the countryside
or in all situations in between, each location has pros and cons that are
specific to you and your vision of your farm. Indeed, in addition to the
differences linked to everyday life, the opportunities are 90% defined
according to your location.
It is therefore necessary that these
outlets correspond to your temperament and project and at the same time that
you are in agreement with the advantages, disadvantages and risks that go with
it.
Being in a municipality that you like
and with which you have good affinities (relations with the town hall, other
farmers, etc.) is a considerable asset. Remember that your project is
sustainable in large part because of positive interactions with the outside world.
Purchase/ Rental
You have two choices: buy or rent. Both
have advantages and disadvantages.
On the one hand, the purchase allows
you to have the certainty of keeping your land and being in control of the
various developments to be made on it. You can make different changes and pass
them to the potential buyers sharing the similar core values.
On the other hand, renting allows a
lower investment for your installation. Rural leases make it possible to
protect the farmer in place and although they are theoretically over 9 years
(for the most common lease), they are renewable in the majority of cases. The
only case where you cannot continue is that the owner, if he is a farmer, wants
to re-exploit his plot. Different leases exist depending on your situation.
Surface (and actually exploitable surface)
It
is necessary here to differentiate the total surface from the exploitable
surface by considering the following different points: access roads, buildings,
wooded areas, water points, flood zones, too shallow ground, etc.
Category/ area
Different
types in category and zone of agricultural land are there. Agricultural land is
classified according to various criteria influencing its purchase price and its
rental value.
Let's
talk about zones first. These areas depend on the department in question. This
makes it possible to differentiate valley land from mountain land, for example.
Next
comes the categories: There are different categories for each type of zone.
These criteria are essentially agronomic. For example, the exceptional category
represents land of excellent agronomic quality, irrigated (or able to do
without), drained (or able to do without) and with a very good configuration.
On the other hand, we find land that cannot be mechanised, poor or excessively
stony or steeply sloping...
Accessibility
This
is an important point both for future customers who would like to buy directly
from you but also for bringing in agricultural machinery.
Even
if you plan to be non-mechanized afterwards, perhaps adjustments are to be
expected at the start or large quantities of inputs, etc. Paths are important.
The cost of maintaining such a path should not be overlooked either.
Water points
Now
access to water is essential and several choices to solve the problem of water
are possible. However, it is interesting to combine several of them for greater
resilience. Especially since climate change will continue to modify both the
quantity of water in the year but also its distribution.
You
can consider several sources:
● Connect to a
present source (river, pond, lake). In this case, you will have to ask the
authorities for the right to take water directly and in what quantities.
● Install a water
retention basin,
● Buy a tank
(buried or not),
● Collect
rainwater from your buildings and greenhouses,
● Reuse used
water (with a photo-purification system),
● Install from a
borehole (or a traditional well if you can).
This
parameter should be considered as a whole. The water requirement is directly
related to the soil's water retention capacity (which depends on its structure
and texture). It is also linked to sunshine and general management (cultivation
under cover, agroforestry, presence of hedges, humid microclimate, etc.).
Price
The
price of land depends upon its location. Some areas are in high demand by
portfolios much higher than that of a project leader preventing great
achievements from seeing the light of day. So, you should be aware of that.
Neighbourhood
Being
a farmer requires working with the surrounding environment, natural and human.
It is good to know what kind of culture and treatments are carried out next to
you, and what mentality and atmosphere prevail in your territory.
Soil depth
Soil
depth is very important. It will influence many things later in terms of market
gardening methods but especially on the viability of planting trees.
It
is however possible to raise the beds of cultures but the quantity of work
necessary is not to be neglected. Especially since it will also affect driving.
A
raised vegetable bed is difficult to mechanise, for example. Raised rows for an
orchard make grass maintenance more complicated as well.
Conclusion
So
yes, that's a lot of parameters to take into account. But all these criteria
are not equal. And you will not be able to have a pitch that is perfect on all
these points. You will have to choose criteria which are specific to you and
which are essential to your project.
You will necessarily have to make concessions. And when you have a piece of land in front of you, especially if you've been waiting for it for a long time, emotion will take over. So before getting started and giving everything on a plot that in the end was not worth it, make your different lists of criteria clear.
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