Are Farmers paid enough? Could you live the life of a Farmer? Is farming a form of gambling addiction?

Question

A basic what do you think of a farmer, the lifestyle and risks associated with puting one's future in the hands of mother nature.

Answer 1

You could do it. The problem is whether or not one owns enough land to farm and make a living.

Answer 2

We have a saying out in our country: "You can make a small fortune in farming--if you start with a big one."  It's tough.  Only the large operators can do well.  Prices are up a bit this year.  Now, if the weather will just cooperate. . . .

Answer 3

NO YES i dont no

Answer 4

If you ask that question at a local tavern of a farm town on a Friday night after a long, hot day, have a friend with you as a "designated pick yo teeth up off the floor and put them in a cup."  Most farmers do all right for themselves. They like what they do, they work hard at it. It is still a thing that involves the whole family and the way of life is a good and wholesome one. Weather is always an issue and dominates conversation as what nature does determines what money goes to irrigation, storm damage/ repairs, or even the rising cost and diminishing coverage of crop insurance. No spring rain? The corn is really going to suffer unless the pumps and irrigation lines are set out, and cleaned out, or rented, or borrowed, or just available. Hail and wind? Cloudy with no rain day after day (like here, my peppers look awful). Is there a wind damage clause to cover barn or greenhouse repair? And d**n if that insurance company is so freakin hard to work with!

A c**p shoot? Sure, sometimes, but anyone that farms and has been at it a while knows what they are up against. They don't generally take chances. They have families and children to feed, and a dog, and other animals. And they could get a little more for their crop, so they manage it with some strategy, take a chance to get it in early to get it to market early while the price is up. A few days can mean a falling price. If you have been having dry springs, you invest in a better irrigation set-up cause you ain't gonna get caught with your britches down again!

Today the farmer is college educated and not only has strong arms and back but has a solid background. Frequently the family has a number of adults who have degrees, and they hire people who have experience and degrees. The old farm gets handed down to the younger generation when they get home from the university and get back into the farm, which they have been involved with their whole life. Or a generation of new farmers start out fresh from nothing and begin their legacy.

Everything is a risk, farming here or in China. You want to buy Chinese produce now? Or pink baseball tomatoes from wayyyy down south america? We have to eat and our nation needs a lot, and even with NAFTA (and a lot of farmers really got mad over that one) we want homegrown and protected and quality food. For the price we have to pay, and keep in mind that food costs less now (in terms of cost of living) than it ever has, grow US, eat US, support US. Other products are alright, but shop with knowledge and sense.

Want to gamble, you can get a $5 scratch ticket or two little (4 or6) packs of veggie plants at the Garden Center if gardening is a new thing for you.

Answer 5

Farming can become a living if you love it.  It is a business now more than ever in the fact that you have to plan your investments right, and not spend unwisely.  If you own a farm it is a good market, but if you plan to rent a farm plan to run out of money.

Answer 6

Farming is a business like any other business.  The majority of small businesses fail within their first year due to a the proprietor lacking the necessary information or skills to succeed in their chosen business.

Why should farming be any different?  Factory farming = walmarts of farming.  Home egg stand is the mom and pops.  It's business.

And it isn't about nature, it's about skill.  Anyone can throw out some seeds and hope they grow.  That doesn't make you a farmer.

I own a duck farm.  If I'm not careful, they can get sick, but that's me, not nature. I have to carefully cross breed for the best stock.  I have to monitor the young and make sure everyone is growing well.  I need to make sure that the feed they get is specific to what I need, and not just some pre-made food from the nearest seed and feed.

It's not a gamble, it's a game of skill.  And that makes it challenging, yes, but also satisfying.  There is a definite pride in being able to succesfully breed out a good line of bigger, better animals.  There's a sense of accomplishment when you've got a brooder full of fluffy yellow babies who promise to be another good batch.

I only do summer breeding, and by early spring  the next year I'm down to just breeders, with no ducks left for sale... and when I'm getting calls begging me to give up just one of my breeders because someone just has to have one of my ducks... that's what makes it worth it all.

(I raise meat ducks, by the way... and most ducks sell as meat, but every spring we've got some people wanting a good male for breeding...)

Yep.  Pride.  That's why I own a duck farm.  I'm good at it, and my customers appreciate the work I do.

Answer 7

Depends on the scale.

I farm 11,000 acres of well drained black soil.

Just crops, no cows.

I do pretty good so far.

This is in Argentina.

I think American farmers' problem is that not many see the farming activity as a profit enterprise, but a "way of life" and they are reluctant to hire help when required, play on the market, etc.

Answer 8

Every farmer will say we are not paid enough...  However, with the exception of the largest operators, it's true.  Food prices are extremely low, and globalisation means that everyone has to compete with the most mechanised, most wasteful, most environmentally damaging industrial farming -- or, for labour-intensive crops, those with the lowest wage costs.  The average income for a UK family farm is barely enough to live on, and many (especially dairy farmers) are making a loss at present.  More and more I see good farming land in the UK which has simply been abandoned, losing both its food production and its ancient wildlife.

I do already live the life...  I could do so more if I could make a fair income from it -- like almost every farmer I know, I need a second income to keep doing it.

It's not a gambling addiction -- it's a lifestyle and philosophical one.  It's not the risk that attracts, as with a gambler, but the satisfaction of managing land well and producing an excellent product.  In my case I do conservation farming, so I hope I'm helping to save the planet too...

I think the biggest risks are not from nature -- we can cope with the weather.  It's from governments who don't know or care about the land, supermarkets who ruthlessly exploit an artificial buyer's market, and ordinary people who buy on price, but then waste the money they'e saved on rubbish.  You have to wonder if the world's gone mad when a litre of milk in the shop costs less than a litre of bottled water (which you could get out of the tap for nothing) -- and the producer is being paid less than the cost of production...

Now I feel depressed...

Answer 9

Sure, there are risks to farming; oh wait, that was 200 years ago. Now it's just:

A) Hire cheap, most likely Polish, employees to do all the work

B) ??????

C) Profit!