I don't think farming should be looked at as a profitable venture as far as it making one money. One should view farming as a slow process of making ones land provide food for their family and if, in time, the land begins to produce more than the family can consume and you end up selling some of it then that is just the icing on the cake.
My interest in farming is from several places in my psyche.
1. I feel like a farming lifestyle is the way we were meant to live. I'm not calling anyone wrong or a sinner if they don't... but I just think this is the way we were meant to live. We want to be people who are close to their food supply and who depend on processes God put in place for much of their "daily bread".
2. I view this lifestyle as one that puts it's faith in God. The lifestyle I used to live was one that put it's faith in an economy built on debt to continue on as it always has. If the economy fails and it ruins me and leaves me helpless then I have built my confidence in the wrong system.
3. I am a firm believer that our nations economy will collapse (perhaps totally) in my lifetime. This encourages me even more to wean my family off of debt living and dependence on the local grocery store for my source of food. We are still far too dependent but we continue to try and move in the right direction. If, in the end, this debt based economy continues on as it has then what have I gained?... I have gained a life of following after the things I love and that is increasingly free of debt where we are more in touch with our food supply and we have passed on a legacy of leaning on God and His teachings to form our lives. I don't see that as a net loss if I'm completely wrong. I see that as a net gain.
Again... this isn't to judge anyone elses life. These are simply the glasses through which I see my world and make my decisions.
I have also decided that running a farm is not what the old timers used to do AFTER work.
It is a job on it's own. So we build slowly trying to learn how to work smarter rather than harder as we move along.
If we decided to make this a "profitable" farm we'd burn out quickly. What we seek is the happiness that comes with food on our table that came from the sweat of our own brow and the blessings of the God who made all things grow. But that, to me, is profitable indeed.