Larry, never mind 'putting the horse before the cart', I think were trying to decide where to drive already here.

Until you know what the land will support there is no use in trying to decide what to grow, the LAND will decide what to grow more than anything else.

I have seen all to many times, people trying to grow crops which were not suitable for one reason or another. Almost without exception the higher cost of production, whether because of specialized equipment costs, soil amendments, or just plain excessive labour, the returns were only the same as if they had grown 'regular' crops.

If you are looking for a crop to use as supplemental income then it is even more reason to stay 'low-tech', big investments (relatively speaking) are going to prolong the amount of time before you make anything.

Depending on the soil, climate, etc., and from a cost to achieve a yield point of view (cost efficiency) the number one crop today is probably potatoes believe it or not. They are dead easy to grow, require little maintenance, are very hardy, and require only minimum equipment if you already have a tractor. In commercial operations it is not too hard to achieve yields of 9+ tons per acre, for you home plot you wouldn't have a problem getting 5 tons to the acre with mimimum work or expense. If you sell them 'road-side' you can get pretty close to retail prices for fancy or organic product. If you figure 5 tons times 5 acres, that is 25 tons of spuds. That would be the equivalent of 5,000 ten pound bags, at only $2 per ten pound bag, that would be $10,000 worth. If you are, or have access to a competant welder, you could fabricate all the equipment necessary for under $1000 or just buy it, a small pto-driven harvester starts at about $3500, they make some nice little ones in Michigan.

Best of luck.

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