Hi,
I'm in the process of putting together a business plan to get a loan in order to buy my first property.
I'm looking at 50-100acres in Victoria, Australia. Which is zone 9, where I'm looking is between 800-1000mm of
water per year.
The intention of the property is to set it out in 2-5 acre blocks with a
perennial support system bordering the blocks. This would include
bees.
Each block will be set out in a traditional mono-culture layout intended for mechanized harvest.
I have two questions-:
1) In order to minimize costs in the short term and long run, I'm trying to ensure the crops I plant will share harvesters. So far I have
-Nut finger roller
-Hazelnuts + Truffles (Truffles harvested by hand)
-Black Walnuts (to be
canopy layer in perennial system)
-Other nuts
-Umbrella shaker
-Olives
-Cherries
What other crops could I look at that would share harvesters
2) Given I'm setting the farm as perennial mono-culture blocks, how many crops do I need to see a benefit? I have no intention of spray and I want to bring in as little fert as possible by creating my own.