[jester]

Well thats what NPCs are for to bring needed skill to the group. And it does not have to be farming, well it had better include it to a limited extent but also ranching, mining, logging and even production of some sort.

Further, with the scenario idea I posted, the PCs could just be allocated X amount of land in X area <to be determined for the campaign> and they get their land to make a go of it. But, they also get to play guard to some civilians who can do alot of those tasks, whom either are settling the area with the PCs, or who have already gone there and are in need of more manpower who can also be useful trigger fingers to combat the local bandits/marauders/warlords. Heck, it could even be in the middle of two rivaling warlords who both control the area and also prey on the settlers. Toss in a marauder band who also operated in the hills and that alone can give you enough to run a campaign for a while. And then have some intrigue from CivGov who want to gain influence and control of the region and thwart MilGovs efforts, or vice versa. With alot of black bag operations and even the odd open combat.