Farming Info/consultation With Govmt/university/ngo

[jaideeguy]

farming info/consultation with govmt/university/ngo

in Chiang Mai??

Back home when we had farming issues, we went to either the county farming extention service or the university agriculture dept and they had info on new crops, consultation, visited your farm, provided seeds, plant material and generally supported the farmer.

Is there such a service here in the north [Chiang Mai area]. Off the top of my head, I would think of Maejo University, Royal Project [off hiway 108], CMU.

And English would be greatly appreciated. Or does anyone have any contacts of people that I could consult with re: developing 7 rai of rice land into a diversified profit making farm?

I'd like to post this on the CM forum as well as the farming forum to get more replies, so please mods....don't bump me.

[Maizefarmer]

" ..... developing 7 rai of rice land into a diversified profit making farm......"

Best bet - go to your local uni - but I have to ask you: why 7 rai of ex-rice paddy (probably one of the worst possible land types to start off with)?

[jaideeguy]

"why 7 rai of ex-rice paddy (probably one of the worst possible land types to start off with)?"

#1] it's next door and will be easy to watch.

#2] yea, it's probably depleted soil, but it can be rejuvinated with cover crops [soi beans ??] and it does have almost yearly water from a klong that will fill the [future] 1.5 rai resovoir for irrigation and fish farming.

I did have 5 rai of farm land only 30k away, but sold it because it didn't have the advantage of #1.

And there is not too much land that hasn't been in rice production around the CM valley.

Maisefarmer...what would be your recomendations for reviving clay rice soil??

[Maizefarmer]

Personaly, I wouldn't go near it - but I am of course speaking from a platform because my situation is very different - and very much bigger. I just can't see the figures adding up to give you a decent return - anyway you look at it, the amount of work/time/expense that will have to be put into this land to derive a basic income (never mind anything more than that), to me just seems so much as to negate the possibility that it will be worth the effort.

What is an almost dead cert is that it will be at least 12 - 18 months before income starts to be generated.

Clay rice soil needs to be "ripped" to a depth of at least 18 - 20" and left to dry, then you got to plough/disc it to a good 12" - 18" (that requires a decent tractor and decent plough - a 200 hp trqactor with a Simba plough on the back - not many in Thailand), then you'll have to mix in good quality organic matter - basically you want to get that soil back to something that has a decent nutrient content and which has good drainage chareacteristics. Then you wil need to let it stand a year - 18months.

In reality, I can;t see it producing anything for you for at least 24 months.

I think you should aim for an average soil: yes you can tailor the soil for some or other spefic crop type, but in doing so you limit the diversity of the soil and the amount of things you could grow - I don;t think relying on just one crop type wil be wise.

Dont under estimate the amount of work and time this will be! Honestly, you are best off looking for better land.

Lastly, what happens come the rainy season - it is almost certain to become saturated if it is low - no matter how well it is preped for growing on the rest of the year - and that means a good 3 or 4 months of the year it is going to be non productive.

Sorry if i sound so pesimistic, but I want you to be under o illusion about what you are letting youself in for. pehaps other memebrs have some ideas ..................

Did you have any particular crop in mind??

[jaideeguy]

Appreciate your input maizefarmer.......you do have a lot of good points and I realize that it will take work and $'s to get this project going.

Still in the planning stages, so I'm open to advise from experienced farmers.

rough plan is to dedicate 1.5 rai to a resevour and fish farm [tab-tim/talipia] and another 1-2 rai for a chicken tractor/truck farm where the free range chickens would fertilize soil and be rotated to next area for cultivation. I know there is a small market for free ranged eggs up here. The remainder would be for fruit tree crops interspaced with landscape specimen plants. Papayas and bananas could bring in some quick cash.

Diggings from pond could raise land to prevent flooding and would [?] serve the same purpose of deep tilling.

I'm not looking to get rich, but want to set my wife and kids up with some long range income producing project as well as give me a project. I will not be totally dependent on income from farm, as I do have other sources.....social security and some [depreciating] stocks. I'm 61 and not getting any younger or richer and want to do it at home, where I already have the infrastructure......home, electricity, roads, phones etc. My Thai wife has a degree in agriculture [for what that is worth] and enjoys playing in the soil as I do. Her current project is raising frogs and her frogs have already outgrown their cement rings.

I do have some farming experience with successfully growing ornamentals [orchids, haleconias and landscape palms] in Hawaii and had a couple of producing organic 'truck farms' in the Philippines, growing salad veges other crops and I know the work, $'s and planning it takes to make a baht/peso. Both other enterprises were on much smaller properties, so i know that it can be done and if we need more land to expand, it can be had. but 7 rai will start us out.

Just out of curiosity Maizefarmer, what kind of operation do you have going? I think that I read somewhere that you are up in Loei?? are you growing corn, as your handle implies??

[Smithson]

I think there would be a lot of interesting stuff from Royal projects, particularly with HM's sufficiency ideas. There is an ad on TV showing 2 farmers, one who plants mono crops while the other has a diversified farm. At the end of the ad they give a URL but it was too quick for us.

[Maizefarmer]

Appreciate your input maizefarmer.......you do have a lot of good points and I realize that it will take work and $'s to get this project going.

Still in the planning stages, so I'm open to advise from experienced farmers.

rough plan is to dedicate 1.5 rai to a resevour and fish farm [tab-tim/talipia] and another 1-2 rai for a chicken tractor/truck farm where the free range chickens would fertilize soil and be rotated to next area for cultivation. I know there is a small market for free ranged eggs up here. The remainder would be for fruit tree crops interspaced with landscape specimen plants. Papayas and bananas could bring in some quick cash.

Diggings from pond could raise land to prevent flooding and would [?] serve the same purpose of deep tilling.

I'm not looking to get rich, but want to set my wife and kids up with some long range income producing project as well as give me a project. I will not be totally dependent on income from farm, as I do have other sources.....social security and some [depreciating] stocks. I'm 61 and not getting any younger or richer and want to do it at home, where I already have the infrastructure......home, electricity, roads, phones etc. My Thai wife has a degree in agriculture [for what that is worth] and enjoys playing in the soil as I do. Her current project is raising frogs and her frogs have already outgrown their cement rings.

I do have some farming experience with successfully growing ornamentals [orchids, haleconias and landscape palms] in Hawaii and had a couple of producing organic 'truck farms' in the Philippines, growing salad veges other crops and I know the work, $'s and planning it takes to make a baht/peso. Both other enterprises were on much smaller properties, so i know that it can be done and if we need more land to expand, it can be had. but 7 rai will start us out.

Just out of curiosity Maizefarmer, what kind of operation do you have going? I think that I read somewhere that you are up in Loei?? are you growing corn, as your handle implies??

Maize, Cassava, Grass and Sugar Cane - to support a beef and dairy herd - I don't grow to sell.

It's difficult for me to visualise a productive farm any less than several hundred rai. I've been at it now for years, and while one can have fun with a small holding I have yet to see an ex-pat make a living to suport himself, his partner (and kids), cover farming costs, trips back home occassionaly, visa runs, car running expenses, tractor and machinary purchase, never mind recouping the land purchase costs and house building on a farm 50 - 100rai growing crops like vegetables, forages and fruits.

Truth is most of the time, after 3 - 5 years of hard work they have chewed up their savings and it's their pension or income from investments that are keeping things going. Specialised things like flower growing (in particular orchids) and fish farming - I have seen some ex-pats do quite well on fish and prawn farms (5 - 25 rai) , but I know nothing about these subjects so can;t offer you much advice I'm afraid.

Edited August 13, 2008 by Maizefarmer

[SAP]

Jai DEE

When ever I had problems I would head to Khon Kaen University, and was pleasantly surprised by the level of English and Technical knowledge (though not always the practical know how!!).

To make the 7 rai profitable I would recommend 2 things.

1. Netting/greenhouses and doing something like capsicums, basically doing it hydroponically and using a median for soil. APPARENTLY it is possible to grow 400 tons of tomatoes per year in 1 ha (6.25 rai)of a netting house.

2. Self Marketing of your premium grade product eg hotel trade, export market, etc

Good Luck

SAP

[Maizefarmer]

.................. and remember, producing a crop is half the story: it then has to be marketed and sold - and done so at a profit, which can often be more frustrating than the growing part.

[SAP]

.................. and remember, producing a crop is half the story: it then has to be marketed and sold - and done so at a profit, which can often be more frustrating than the growing part.

Agreed MF, exactly the point I was trying to make. To add more value to your crop is about things like niche marketing, value added goods etc and if you have only a small area it is all the more important......and for sure time consuming setting up, getting yourself a good reputation and keep supplying consistent high quality produce on time, so that you keep your reputation.

I believe there are ways to make a sizable income on 7 rai, (maybe not enough for my lifestyle though). But all high intensive, market gardening, greenhouses, flowers etc is real hands on type stuff. Where I love doing the broad acre farming, I get a kick out of driving big sandpit toys.

Cheers

SAP