Wyoming?! That's our backyard. Drop by our office sometime! [1] Our CEO ran a CSA for a few years here in Wyoming. Places like Wyoming have cheap land, but there are some tricks to doing farming up here.

1: https://brightagrotech.com/

I'm in Colorado and the soil here is terrible trying to start a small garden behind my house. Even with purchased good quality dirt and fertilizer, it's still very very hard solid.

Back in college, I took a soil science class. The professor said the Laramie valley has (used to at least) pretty good soil – fairly light and decent nutrient profile. There was a big western farm boom in the 1910's during a wet period that lasted 10-20 years. I'm not overly familiar with all the soil types in Colorado.

We have one farmer who uses some of our equipment, but he has also had good luck with soil in Fort Collins, CO [1]. He's on a hill though near a lake which might help. He said drainage was important for him.

Vertical farming is a great way to get around issues with soil quality. Especially for winter growing and also reducing the labor associated with planting, weeding, and harvesting. Seriously though, schedule a time to drop by if you're ever up in Laramie. We have a lot of knowledgeable people here who love talking growing! One of my coworkers has also done some good work on the economics or vertical farming (using our equipment mainly, as – well – that's what we know!) [2]. Much of the economics should be comparable on other vertical systems (though, probably less efficient you know ;) ).

Are you a software dev or tech person? Always fun to talk about the combo of farm and tech!

1: http://bayberryfresh.com/ 2: https://youtu.be/u-aFueGWSFU?t=6m1s

Thank you! Indeed, I may need to take a drive up and take a peek :)

Small-house gardening, wherever you go in the world, is all about the compost. Get your compost working, and you can grow a house garden pretty much anywhere. Seriously! Composts are the key to all successful house gardens in rugged territory. (Disclaimer: It takes a couple years to boot up a good compost that'll fix yer soils..)

http://eartheasy.com/grow_compost.html

Where do you live in Colorado? I've had good luck gardening in both Boulder and Denver.

High altitude gardening (e.g., in the mountains) is difficult, but that is more due to the short growing season than the soil.

Thornton, it's all clay here :)

Have you considered double-digging? Works pretty well here in New Mexico.

double digging a garden:

    http://aces.nmsu.edu/ces/yard/2007/020307.html

For me doing that is somewhere between an escapist fantasy and a backup retirement plan. I've been looking at Idaho properties for some time now because it seemed to have favorable acreage vs price ratios.

Last year a random 40-acre hilltop plot at Indian Creek was listed for 30k and finally sold for 15k, which is amazing. Its neighboring 40-acre lot with a view of Bear Lake is currently being sold for 30k. Lots of variances in prices and terrain, including mountain tops. Or at least tall hills, whatever they officially are.

One of the weirdest incentives for me to keep looking is that certain counties in ID don't have building codes: you're on your own. That flexibility cuts both ways, but it means you could make a mud and straw house if you felt like it, without interference. Of course, cabin kits are probably safer and more practical.

I can find you some property in Maine that is closer to 2K/acre as long as you're okay being off grid. Well drilling would only be $3-5K depending on the site, and you might even get lucky and have a natural spring on the property somewhere.

We got a whole lotta land up here, and most of it is stuck in the post-lumber slump.

The soil here (in much of the state) is fairly good, but the growing season is pathetically short. Assuming you're on the plains and get a full day of sun. (If not, it's even shorter). But, on the plains, then you've got more wind than you want to deal with.

So - why Wyoming? Why don't you go some place with milder weather that isn't a desert like Kansas or Arkansas?

I was just poking around the Internet for the cheapest land I could find. I didn't look for a super long time. I think land below a certain price doesn't stand out because there's little incentive to promote it, so you have to hunt for better prices.

You can go way cheaper than 10k per acre