There's another way that I've seen people do it and that's farming as a service. You get people to give you cash upfront for a subscription that guarantees them a certain amount of fruit or vegetables. You rent all your equipment by the hour to plow and plant the field. Because your subscribers pay you upfront you have no need to borrow money.

The problem with subscription farming? You have to grow what your customers want to buy not what you want to plant. If you have a natural disaster you may need to refund some of your customers money. You also have to learn to sell which to some people is anathema.

But I've seen people successfully do it. There are even people doing it in the inner city of Detroit. In Detroit with the city selling lots for $100 it may pay to buy your land upfront. You also can use city water for irrigation.