I would say no. I think you would need a few things, like a very favorable climate, good soil, good source of compost/mulch/fertilizers and even then a lot of it would be luck.

Remember why everyone went and worked in the factories/cities? Because farming sucked. (or so i think that is why )

I would think tree fruit would be easier, although one hard frost and its game over.

Maybe something like raising trout? I know they do that here in Wisconsin (Rainbow Trout) and sell them at the grocery store. You would need a big pen or a pond with a good spring.

But they have done so. Evidently it is possible.

Ludi, the example you cited earlier included "some seasonal help."

It really all comes down to the meaning of "profitable."

A one-man business of any kind is extremely difficult. No matter what the business, illness or injury is a serious problem.

Farming certainly has always been a business for the strong and healthy, not the weak and sickly. Not everyone, or possibly not most people, could run a profitable one-person farm. And what is "profitable" as you mention? Each person would have a different definition of that, I think.

Yes I realize that but I'd like to see one person try it here at my farm with little fossil fuel inputs on this hard clay that is my land.

I see quite a few farmers that plant Roundup Ready crops get along by themselves but that is not what I think was the thrust of the original post. I read your post above and noted it. There are exceptions.

My farm was burnt out by hardcore industrial farming and no amount of super human strength is going to make farming here profitable without a huge investment in big machines and fossil fuel dependent inputs.

The best I can hope for here is grass farming. ( the kind that animals eat, that is )

The example I gave, Eliot Coleman, is extremely specific in the kind of land he recommends for his model of a 1-person farm. He doesn't ever claim anyone can do it anywhere. Nor do I.

I think this thread brings up a very important point. We cannot do this stuff alone. I used to think that I could work here at SCF all by myself and make it. That was because I could outwork most of the punks in my area and that was after working out at a job all day. As I get older I realize that it is futile to think that I can do this on my own. There are just too many obstacles in this type of life and time is one of them. We need community and we need family. Without the extra help, the best we can do is stave off starvation albeit only temporarily.

My one-man "ag" efforts have been fairly discouraging. That's not to say I don't think they're worth doing, and continuing. But "profitable"? Not in any financial sense.

I would just love to have neighbors like SCF and Ludi and Frank, and team up. But that's fantasy.

I find propagating and selling small fruit plants like blueberries, currants, gooseberries to be very profitable for the time involved. A 2 year old blueberry plant cultivar (like Duke or Patriot) that weighs only a few ounces will easily sell for 5$ (You can't get anywhere near that much for a whole pound of the berries.)
Some plants are ridiculously easy to propagate by cuttings.
Potted culinary and medicinal herbs are good niche products.
Gourmet organic garlic and other alliums like shallots and potato onion bulbs bring good money (15-25$/pound) in the mail order-internet trade.
People who live frugally and can tolerate a fair amount of labor (like Amish) CAN make a modest living at small scale farming.

I suppose so, oowolf. But selling stuff to people gets into an area I find difficult, unpleasant, perhaps even risky.

[quote]The best I can hope for here is grass farming. [/img]

Your probably taking the best approach. I like the KISS (keep it simple stupid) approach to things, although i have a hard time following it! Grass fed meat is way healthier then that GMO corn fed stuff most of us have to put up with.

Small berries, veggies, etc could yield you go return, but in the case of berries, you still need to keep the animals/bugs/disease at bay.

Garlic would be a good one. I see the Chinese have cornered the US market on cheap garlic and the California stuff sells for $5 a pound here at the store.

Cherries(sour) would be an excellent source of income, if you could somehow get them to fruit and then keep the birds away. They don't even sell sour cherries locally (i looked). If i had an extra acre to play with i'd plant a crapload of meteor, surefire, evans... Get this...they sell a jug of 100% cherry juice (from montmorency cherries) at the grocery store...$20 for a jug (1/2 gallon)...

I was thinking the same thing because I love farming and growing my own food.

oowolf, only the pots will be a problem in the PO world (well oil is cheap at the moment) and the transport, imagine the liability issues if you bring a horse chart to the market place (if liability nonsense still exists).
As for the labour I think clearly of my kids, they will have something if they are grown up.

Considering that he's in Maine with a short growing season it seems like the land doesn't have to be THAT rarefied. (I realize he uses greenhouses).

I'm farming/ranching for the first time in my life. It's the hardest and most satisfying work I've ever done, though I can't imagine trying to do it alone.

Good luck in your endeavors.