Full-time Farming

I've been thinking about it on and off for months, but recently I can't stop thinking about full-time farming.  I'm not really interested in animals, at least not with my regular full time job, but would really like to grow vegetables.  Actually, not vegetables, just one vegetable, garlic.  After doing a lot of research into costs, yields, market prices, and markets, I think in this area I can expect a net income of $4/pound with a yield of 7000 - 10,000 pounds per acre.  The cost for the seed for 1 acre is around $2500 - $5000.  After adding in the cost of diesel, a used set of disc harrows, and hay for mulch, my expected profit is around $23,000 - $32,500/acre.  There are other costs yet to figure in, like transportation to/from the farm, etc., but there is still a lot of profit to be made.

I'm looking at 7 acres of land about 20 miles from here.  The goal would be to work up to 2 acre plots of garlic with a 2 year rotation before planting any one field again and planting nitrogen rich cover crops in the off years.  With a potential profit of $50,000 - $60,000 a year from 2 acres, I could soon be down the path of becoming a full-time farmer.  I would also like to put in some berry plants to add some additional income or even put some of the profits into a small orchard.

The beef farmer down the road sells to a couple of large restaurants in Pittsburgh, so I am going to talk with him about potentially getting my garlic into the same restaurants and thus cutting each of our shipping costs since we could ship in the same truck.  Besides selling to restaurants, we would sell at a couple of the farmers markets in the area and since our homestead is along a highway, we would put up a sign and sell out of the barn.

I am working on the business plan and financial breakdown for the first 3 years of operation.  If it all works out and I can grow garlic while still working my regular job for another couple of years, we could have our house + farm paid off in 2 years.  Then there is no reason not to be a full time farmer.