What kind of work would you do today being a modern-day, high end farmer?

Question

I've been doing some research about a career in farming. (i'm in high school) It seems like the best way to go would be to own a small farm with only a few workers that produced "organic" foods, since that's pretty hot these days. Am I right?

I know farming is hard work, and I am definatly up for the challenge, but exactly what kind of work is it? Do they work all year? What kind of hours do they work? Thanks in advance. :)

BTW I am planning on going to college so I would get a masters in agriculture if I decide to go down this road.

Answer 1

dont do farming, youll be one of those rednecks.

this is the stuff ull have to do:

u kno potatoes, grass everything u kno

its really hard

u work from 9 to 5 just like evry job.

and u even have to work more if they bring in new seeds to plantn stuff makin u work from sunrise to sunset.

and ur hands will be really rough so if u get a girl she wont like it..

Answer 2

high end farmer, a farmer that is using modern technology? there's almost no hard work at all. its more hard to fix a broken part on a machine. and yes, the world wants food that is natural and healthy and it wont pollute air and water with pesticides and manure.

if you make milk, you will work everyday for the whole year, including sundays, in mornings and evenings. if you want to go on a holliday, you have to find someone to work for you. there is less work in winters. there is snow, you cant do anything on a field.

I find agriculture or having an orchard better. you have a field and you do all the work with machines. the only hard work is when you couple a machine with a tractor. seriously, you can lose nerves, some parts wont go together all the time. then you go on a field and work. make sure that you get enough sleep cause its too easy to fall asleep while working. the great thing is that modern tractors have air condition, its great for summer. the problem is that you can burn even 100 liters of gas per day (with modern tractors). ploughing needs a lot of power. I hope there are tractors that are more friendly to nature and use less gas or use alternative gas. and your neck will hurt cause you'll have to look behind a lot.

farming in modern world is very easy. if you have animals for dairy, this is about 3-4 hours more work each day. otherwise for agriculture you can have quite a lot of days off. and I'm wondering if you can afford workers. you have to spend a lot of money on machinery, all those repairs (dont do anything silly) and fuel is also a problem. a good education can get you a good job and that way hopefully you can earn enough to start, or work during studying. check the prices of everything, think if you will earn enough with agriculture. I think that only large farm can cover all of the costs.

there is an interesting fact. all of the food and water farmers spend for animals, could already feed starving children. to me agriculture sounds better. quite many farmers went vegetarian/vegan.

and working hours are all yours, you are your own boss. except if you have dairy animals, then you need to go to work on schedule cause animals can tell how much is the time and it makes them nervous. for agriculture, you wake up whenever you want, have a breakfast and then you go to work. ploughing a 2 hectares large field with horribly tall grass took me around 9 hours. so if a field is nice, it can take less time, 6 hours. it also matters if things dont work normally like they should and you spend time repairing them. cutting grass for hay takes 2 to 4 hours. however I felt bad for the rabbits living there, they wont run away from machines. I also heard that many dears are injured. time spent on planting plants depends on how wide is the machine. the wider, the more seeds it will plant at the same time. on average every work takes around 4 to 6 hours. agriculture is very easy. and I doubt if you will do any hand work at all in agriculture. its all replaced with machines. except in orchard, you still need to pick fruits with hands.

I'm gonna live in asia. having a rice field tractor is very useful. its hard for bulls to pull the plow and it takes so much time.

Answer 3

I take offense at the first answer.  How many farmers work 9-5??  I don't know any.  My man is a hard worker and has rough hands to prove it.  A man with soft hands is just a big PANSY!!  I work on a farm from 4:30 am to 8:00 pm (with breaks of course) and love it.  I get paid to play outside!  What better job can you have?  

P.S.  I'll come over and run your rice burner over with my big jacked up Ford.  Wooohooooo!!!!!

P.P.S.  I have a four year degree in Ag, so don't even say we're not educated.

PLUS if you enjoy eating do not diss the farmer!!!!!!!!!

To answer the question, farming is way cool.  Definitely go to college.  It will broaden your horizons.

Answer 4

While I am not personally a farmer (in that I own my fields), I work for an organic seed production farm, so it is almost like having my own.   In the past (undergrad and grad school days) my research projects were all in conventional agricultural settings that were geared toward a commercial scale.  

Having seen all sides of the spectrum, I highly recommend organics.  The demand is always increasing and with this the options for products in organics, you just cannot go wrong!

If you plan to go large scale, a good option is to sell to restaurants. If you are going to be near an urban area, often times trendy gourmet places will have organic produce because it has the taste and quality that cannot be found from non-organic produce.

If you want to be on the smaller scale, you could have a farm market or pick your own. However, it was me, I would say have your own CSA (Community Supported Agriculture).

CSA generally is the practice of focusing on the production of high quality foods using ecological, organic or biodynamic farming methods. This kind of farming operates with a much greater-than-usual degree of involvement of consumers and other stakeholders—resulting in a stronger than usual consumer-producer relationship. The core design includes developing a cohesive consumer group that is willing to fund a whole season’s budget in order to get quality foods. The system has many variations on how the farm budget is supported by the consumers and how the producers then deliver the foods. By CSA theory, the more a farm embraces whole-farm, whole-budget support, the more it can focus on quality and reduce the risk of food waste or financial loss.

In its most formal and structured European and North American form, CSAs focus on having:

--a transparent, whole season budget for producing a specified wide array of products for a set number of weeks a year;

--a common-pricing system where producers and consumers discuss and democratically agree to pricing based on the acceptance of the budget; and

--a ‘shared risk and reward’ agreement, i.e. that the consumers eat what the farmers grow even with the vagaries of seasonal growing.

Thus, individuals, families or groups do not pay for x pounds or kilograms of produce, but rather support the budget of the whole farm and receive weekly what is seasonally ripe. This approach eliminates the marketing risks and costs for the producer and an enormous amount of time, often manpower too, and allows producers to focus on quality care of soils, crops, animals, co-workers—and on serving the customers. There is little to no loss (i.e. waste) in this system, since the producers know in advance who they are growing for and how much to grow, etc.

Some families have enrolled in subscription CSAs in which a family pays a fixed price for each delivery, and can start or stop the service as they wish. This kind of arrangement is also referred to as crop-sharing or box schemes. In such cases, the farmer may supplement each box with produce brought in from neighboring farms for a better variety. Thus there is a distinction between the farmers selling pre-paid shares in the upcoming season's harvest or a weekly subscription that represents that week's harvest. In all cases participants purchase a portion of the farm's harvest either by the season or by the week in return for what the farm is able to successfully grow and harvest.

Some farms are dedicated entirely to CSA, while others also sell through on-farm stands, farmers' markets, and other channels. Most CSAs are owned by the farmers, while some offer shares in the farm as well as the harvest. Consumers have organized their own CSA projects, going as far as renting land and hiring farmers. Many CSAs have a core group of members that assists with CSA administration. Some require or offer the option of members providing labor as part of the share price.

Some CSA's have evolved into social enterprises employing a number of local staff, improving the lot of local farmers and educating the local community about organic/ecologically responsible farming. Australia's Food Connect is a unique social enterprise that is now competing with the major supermarkets.

Typically, CSA farms are small, independent, labor-intensive, family farms. By providing a guaranteed market through prepaid annual sales, consumers essentially help finance farming operations. This allows farmers to not only focus on quality growing, it can also somewhat level the playing field in a food market that favors usually large-scale, industrialized agriculture over local food. Vegetables and fruit are the most common CSA crops. Many CSAs practice ecological, organic or biodynamic agriculture, avoiding pesticides and inorganic fertilizers. The cost of a share is usually competitively priced when compared to the same amount of vegetables conventionally-grown, partly because the cost of distribution is lowered.

Method of distribution is a distinctive feature in CSA. In the U.S. and Canada, shares are usually provided weekly, with pick-ups on a designated day and time. CSA subscribers often live in towns and cities - local drop-off locations, convenient to a number of members, are organized, often at the homes of members. Shares are also usually available on-farm.

An advantage of the close consumer-producer relationship is increased freshness of the produce, because it does not have to be shipped long distances. The close proximity of the farm to the members also helps the environment by reducing pollution caused by transporting the produce. CSA's often include recipes and farm news in each box. Tours of the farm and work days are announced. Over a period of time, consumers get to know who is producing their food, and what production methods are used.

Share prices can vary dramatically depending on location. Variables also include length of share season, and average quantity and selection of food per share. As a rough average, in North America, a basic share may be $350-500 for a season, for 18-20 weeks (June to October), with enough of each included crop for at least two people (perhaps 8-12 common garden vegetables). Seasonal eating is implied, as shares are usually based on the outdoor growing season, which means a smaller selection at the beginning and perhaps the end of the period, as well as a changing variety as the season progresses. Some CSA programs offer different share sizes, also, a choice of share periods (eg. full-season and peak season).

Hope that helps you out! If you stick with your plan to go into farming, you can't go wrong!

Oh, and I agree, there is nothing wrong with being a redneck. It's the rednecks that feed this country, so all those little prisses that look down on rednecks aught to be glad for us when they eat their next salad in their gucchi loafers!

Answer 5

Organic indoor cultivation ( Hydroponics ) that use of the GLAUCONITE (green sand ) for organic fertilizer , mulching , .....

I can help you to make or buy a very modern plastic commercial greenhouse kit ( Just 18 $ per m2 !!!!!! ) and I can send you the green sands that you need from our GLAUCONITE mine . ok ?

Best regards,

Siavash Ariannia

BARAN KHAK Co.

[e-mail]

Answer 6

Organic farming  is hot.  I was watching a news clip on and Organic farmer who sold her garden for $450.00 per year to people.  In return they were allowed to pick from the garden and would recieve fresh fruit and veggies weekly from it.  It was called a community garden and I thought it was a great idea!