If you remember learning about the history of how ancient human beings survived back then, you know that it is because of their impressive ability to adapt. Their early discoveries and efforts are what lead to our present world. In all of their discoveries, they relied on what kind of resources is available to them. One of these amazing discoveries that is very impactful to our daily lives even up this day is their discovery of cultivating the soil and growing life on earth, agriculture. Agriculture, all throughout the years, had been a reliable source of more resources used in production, source of food and livelihood, and source of wealth. It is also a main factor in economic growth. This is the reason why a lot of people are becoming aware of its benefits and are investing more in agriculture. As an agricultural country, the Philippines is a top spot for agricultural investment that’s why it’s become popular nowadays and a lot of businessmen and investors are giving it more attention more than ever.
There are a lot of reasons why investing more in agriculture is very beneficial and not just another fad, but before we start digging more about making money through agricultural investments let’s first talk about agriculture. What is agriculture? As stated, it’s been around since the early stages of human civilizations, and is still being recognized even up to this day. In a way, agriculture is an art form. It is an art of soil cultivation and growing crops. The benefits and resources that can be harvested through agriculture doesn’t end with food. Agriculture’s impact can even branch out to furniture making since most species of plants and trees are the main sources of wood, in fabric production such as leather and cotton, and more.
Agriculture development improved over time as human civilizations improved. Cultivation became faster and easier as machines are invested to do work in a faster pace that would normally take a group of people to do in days. Thus, with new inventions, and new discoveries and studies through experiences and science, agriculture thrived and become a leading source of livelihood in almost every country. Nowadays, you can even farm in water! Thousands of years ago, that wouldn’t even be believable. That is why people are being interested and investing more in agriculture recently especially in agricultural countries such as the Philippines. People are becoming more aware of its benefits and powers to generate income among other things that agriculture is great for.
Investing in Agriculture
Trying to invest more in agriculture is not as hard as it sounds, even the simplest form of agricultural investment can even be done in the comfort of your own backyard. Investing in agriculture doesn’t end with farming too, there are tons of possibilities that one can make money through agriculture. You might be wondering what possibilities are we talking about, you don’t have to look further, we’re listing down things you can do to make money and start investing more in agriculture, so read along.
1. Starting your own farm
This might be the most obvious answer so we’re putting it at the start of the list. You probably heard of the saying “go big or go home!” Well, if you have the resources and the passion to maintain it then why not consider starting and investing on your own farm. It doesn’t have to be a huge farm at the start, you can begin by investing on a small one, or buying an existing plot of land. By starting small and slow, you can have the chance to assess and familiarize yourself with this kind of agricultural business especially if you didn’t grow on a farm. It might look easy to manage but it takes a lot of work and patience, but the fruit of your labours would be worth the hard work. Starting small also allows you to learn and not overwhelm yourself with problems that might arise that would be unmanageable for an experienced person and a beginner.
In investing on a farm, just like with investing on a house and lot property, there are a lot of things that you should consider. The first thing that you should consider is yourself and your current status, ask yourself if you’re capable enough to handle this kind of investment and if you’re really interested enough to maintain it. To be honest, starting a farm isn’t immediately rewarding so it needs a lot of patience, time, and money. You should also consider experience. If you know to yourself that you have no idea what starting a farm is like, do not be deterred to still pursue your dream of owning one. What you must do is take time to learn important things about investing on your own farm and have proper training. Anybody who goes straight to battle without training is only setting themselves up for failure. Learning more about what you’re trying to enter isn’t a waste of time and money, but going in without the right knowledge is. Just like in any other business, in new farms, you should have a detailed and organized business plan. Having a plan makes sure that everything is well thought-out and decreases the number of errors and misunderstandings. Having a well-designed plan is a key to have a smooth-running farm growing process.
Probably the most important thing to consider in investing on a farm is location. The location of your farm would be determined by what kind of farm that you want to invest in. For example, if you’re interested in rice farming, you might not want to have it located on arid plains far from sources of clean water, or if you want to start a farm that actively provides products for the market, having your farm located at the middle of nowhere might not be the best option. What you must do is assess the kind of farm that you want to build and then finding the perfect location wouldn’t be that hard to do.
2. Buying and selling produce
If you feel like starting a farm is too complicated for you, or you simply don’t have the time to maintain one, or you’re just not ready for that kind of commitment, you can still make an investment with agriculture by buying goods from farms and then reselling these farm produce as a retailer or a wholesaler or even a distributor to markets. The first thing that you need to consider with this kind of small business is what type of farm products that you want to sell, this would help to make an identity to your small business and would narrow down possible customers and partners. This kind of business proves that you don’t need to become a farmer to make money in agriculture.
You can buy farm goods from another place and then sell it to another depending on the ratio of supply and demand from different locations. For example, an abundant farm good in Visayas might be scarce in Luzon, you get the idea. This means that this kind of business also requires research and connections, which is achievable and easy to manage. You just need to be updated with current trends and seasonal goods to make sure that your business is productive all throughout the year. What’s amazing about this business is that it has the ability to be flexible, expand and grow, meaning it doesn’t have to stay as an agricultural investment in the Philippines, it could possibly grow bigger to reach neighbouring countries also.
3. Farm produce transportation
One of the best ways to start earning profit through agriculture is by starting a delivery service or a farm goods transportation service. This means that your small business would focus on delivering goods from one place to another. Since farm owners and farmers faces a huge challenge on transporting their goods to be sold elsewhere, they tend to look for outside services to aid them and help them deliver the goods as efficient as possible since most of these produces are perishable goods. Most farms can be found in rural areas, wherein transportation is still a concern and limited. Starting an investment on farm produce delivery service is not easy but is achievable if you already have a plana and the proper resources needed.
Read Also: Government’s Programs for the Welfare of Farmers and Consumers
Investing in this kind of agricultural business in the Philippines is a great idea since there are tons of farms in the country, from Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. What’s great about this business idea is that it can be flexible and not strictly attached to a certain partner. You can have a partnership with different farms to provide your services for them every time they need products transported. The first steps should be having an organized plan, a decent number of trucks and vehicles necessary for the delivery, drivers of course, and a good partnership with farm owners. As all farms are in need of this kind of service, having a farm goods transportation business will sure generate huge profit.
4. Starting a tree nursery
A good agriculture-inclined investment to start if you’re not yet ready to start an actual farm is starting your own tree nursery. This kind of small business is so easy you can even start it on your own yard. In a tree nursery business, the main goal is start growing seedlings and then selling them to farms or individuals who wants to plant them on their own properties. Think of this as something similar to fostering kittens, you’re basically taking care of them temporarily until they’re ready to be adopted into their forever homes.
Just like the other items on this list, starting a tree nursery requires knowledge and research in able to properly take care of the seedlings. The kind of tree seedlings that you want to take care of should be endemic to your target area which means that their species are native to that area so they wouldn’t have a hard time to grow. Insufficient research on this would result in errors and seedlings withering instead of showing positive results, this would also cause more harm to the environment than good. You might also want to look more on fruit tree propagation which is a great alternative from using seeds as it increases your chances of getting a uniform variety of trees.
5. Farm vlogging
It isn’t a surprise that this is on the list. Just like everything that became a trend, investing more in agriculture can also be done digitally. If you browse your home page on YouTube, you can spot two or three recommended videos and channels on topics such as living on a farm, or planting an eggplant, or something similar. This is because people are seeing how this kind of platform amplifies their passion for agriculture and farming and encourages ither people to do so as well which is a good thing. Although most people who are uploading these kinds of videos are those people who are already farm owners, non-owners or people who don’t have farms can still use this idea to generate income. Some people visit farms at different places and interviews their owners and the farmers, these kinds of content are fun to watch and people are making and uploading these kinds of videos every day.
The best thing about this kind of money-making idea is that you don’t have to have a large capital to start, all you need is your own confidence, a good quality camera, and the passion to create content. Setting up your own YouTube account is easy well, so why not give it a try?
6. Starting an herb garden
If farming really is your passion but you just don’t have enough resources to start one, then why not try starting up something similar to farming but on a smaller scale, such as herb gardening. Starting your own herb garden is easy and full benefits as you can do everything inside your kitchen or your balcony. It is also a good idea because you can use your planted herbs in your daily recipes and other herbal uses, but you also have the option to grow herbs on small pots and then sell them. There are tons of herbs to choose from to take care of, and you can even grow 20 of them at the same time, isn’t that neat? Starting an herb garden might not be as rewarding as having an entire farm but it provides benefits and could also be upgraded into a small business.
Investing in agriculture to generate income is like investing on your own property. There are things to consider to get only the best results. Investing on a house and lot doesn’t have to be a weed in your garden of dreams, luckily Bria Homes is here to help and guide you. Bria Homes offers affordable house and lot properties, affordable condos, ready-for-occupancy properties, and more in numerous locations all across the Philippines. These properties are strategically located so that they’re near commercial establishments but some are also near farmlands so that you can invest on a farm that is closer to your home. What could be greater than that? Bria Homes provides amazing service to help and guide you choose the right property and location for you to start an investment and a brand new, refreshing life on.
Read Also: Modern Agriculture: Key To Faster Recovery and Poverty Reduction?
Investing in agriculture is the way to go, especially now that the world is getting too quick with modernization and urbanization, maybe it’s time to learn from our roots and realize that agriculture is actually an important key to survival and economic growth ever since history started. Agricultural investment in the Philippines is very important since the country is an agricultural nation, which means that we have the right resources to really make it as the country’s leading factor for economic growth. There might be a stigma that farming or setting agriculture as a top priority is primitive and not effective, but research says otherwise. The main products of agriculture are food, and as long as food is an important need of every human being, agriculture will always be a trend and will never be a fad, so why not start investing on it now?
Written by Rashid Mansan
