How many acres of good tillable land do you have? How much money do you have budgeted for equipment? What is the average yield in your area for corn and soybeans?
For me in my area I started with a 50 horse tractor, 3 bottom plow and 12' disc and 4 row planter. Everything except the tractor is from the 70's, the tractor I bought new. The equipment is all old, cheap and affordable here. I planted 30 acres of corn with this set up. I sprayed with a 12' sprayer (which is equal to my planter). My first year I hired my harvest and lost money in the end. I then bought a JD 3300 harvester with 2 row head and started doing my own harvesting. When the price was down I was just trying to break even as my main farming was hay and corn was a great way to break down an old field for a couple years to put into new hay. With the prices up these last couple years I do actually make some money but not a lot. I still make more money with small square bales and grapes then I do with corn or soybeans. I use any money from corn to help pay for equipment like a grain drill (International 5100 soybean special), 10' disc for various field conditions, 14' cultimulcher, larger plow for my bigger tractor (that haying paid for).
To buy everything to get started from scratch would be a very risky investment. If you already have some equipment make use of it and start small. Learn on small acres so a mistake doesn't bankrupt you. I would rather mess up a 30 acre field and have a loss then make that same mistake on 300 acres and lose everything. If you have no experience in this field you will make mistakes as you learn on the fly. So stay small and build slowly. Get help from anyone you can in your area. The people in your area are going to be better suited to specific questions you have.
I will add this, I bought all of my corn equipment originally with the intent of planting food plots on my ground. Once I had it and learned on small 5 acre plots I expanded my fields as our farm grew.
As for grants, the only thing I know for beginning farmers is just a low interest loan. I have not heard of anyone giving money to young farmers to get started. If your a minority or a woman then yeah, I have heard of grants for starting a business but if your a white male then you just need to fight for everything you want and earn it. I looked into the beginning farmer loans and at the time there was a book of paperwork I had to fill out and that was to buy a farm with no guarantee I would be approved or even get the money if I was approved since it was from the USDA and they only had so much budgeted for loans. Farm Credit is a much easier company to deal with. They have low interest rates and can give you a line of credit to help get started with farming (buying seed, fuel, fertilizer, equipment...). Just run the numbers on everything before you jump feet first. And when you run the numbers dont use the high numbers. If your neighbor tells you they get between 130 and 200 bushels of corn per acre depending on the year use the 130 and forget the 200. If you rely on the high yield number to budget from and have a low year you will lose everything. If you can't make the budget work on the low yield then look elsewhere.
Niche farming has become a great way for small farms to be successful. Find a small niche that needs to be filled in your area and concentrate on it. Be it organic, vegetable, hops, or what ever, just find it and research your options. Just don't rush into anything and remember that equipment breaks down, if its not running it doesn't make you money so you have to be able to afford repairs which isn't easy if your budget is maxed out.
Around here vineyards are king followed by fruit and vegetable fields (pick your own berries, roadside stand, farmers market....), then corn and soybean followed by hay. Most of my ground is better suited for hay then corn or soybeans and I make more money with hay so that helped dictate my operation. My vineyards make me more money per acre then anything else but also require a lot more work and attention. I am constantly learning and will never know everything I need to know but I ask questions and go to local growers meetings to take in as much information as I can.
I wish you the best but I fear the corn market is going to come back down and would not want to see you budget long term on $8 corn only to have it fall back to the $3 range like it was a few years ago.
