My parents were small farmers. It is hard, hard work. They succeeded by focusing carefully on areas that weren't being served by the Agri-biz corporates. They chose several different specialties and worked them each hard to make a modest living. What I learned from it was to stay away from farming as anything more than a hobby.
What nobody told me about small farming: I can’t make a living
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Re: What nobody told me about small farming: I can’t make a living
#12Has the American small farmer ever been able to make a living?
Small time farmers in NL have cash crops growing in their attics. It is quite amazing how many people will consider doing something illegal if it makes enough money.
Even people you'd never expect it of suddenly become experts in photosynthesis and hydroponics. Who'd have known that so many people discovered that they had green fingers after all when they can't distinguish a weed from a crop plant under other conditions.
Re: What nobody told me about small farming: I can’t make a living
#13My great grandparents had a small farm in Massachusetts between the 30's-50's. They had 8 kids (free labor for ~20 years). They did well enough to send all their kids to college, but not much beyond that.
Something tells me you can do okay with a small farm if you're a poor German immigrant who fought in WWI because you're not expecting much anyway. Happy to not be starving. The woman in the article should've expected less from the beginning. They can chalk it up as a learning experience, I guess.
Re: What nobody told me about small farming: I can’t make a living
#14Small farmers are always just on the edge of poverty. I know this first hand since my parents own a farm (~3 acres and not in the US) and don't generate enough revenue to even get to a point of breaking even. The equipment, water, fertilizers, pesticides always have to be paid for regardless of whether you get a good crop or not. Add nature's whim on top of that too and you will see why small farmers are disappearing from the map.
Re: What nobody told me about small farming: I can’t make a living
#15Ten acres? Has anyone ever made a living off ten acres? Where I come from (Midwestern U. S.), that's a hobby farm.
And that assumes the person running the place is even a decent business person. Some won't succeed whether they own ten acres or a nail salon.
Re: What nobody told me about small farming: I can’t make a living
#16...we gained no equity because we didn’t own the land...
Farming on rented land seems like the original Uber. You're workers, with no guarantee of even minimum wage.
A couple of friends in the restaurant business have told me: Never open a restaurant if you don't own the building.
Re: What nobody told me about small farming: I can’t make a living
#17Duh. Do these people just forget about the principle of economies of scale? How do they think they can possibly compete against huge factory farms? I can understand if you're doing a small farm 'for fun', but don't understand how an otherwise intelligent person can think they can (or should be able to) make good money from it. > As the average age of the American farmer neared 65, I knew young farmers were badly need…
I think the danger in our agricultural policy is that large farms are favored (through subsidies, tax breaks, regulation, etc.) to an extent that small farms can't exist profitably, even charging higher prices at market. While there is a minimum viable farm size (given the need for modern machinery to automate the process), most likely, it probably isn't nearly as large as what our current set of incentives enforces.…
"large farms are favored (through subsidies, tax breaks, regulation, etc.)"
Can you share any examples of these things that specifically favour large farms? The two books you mention seem to be focused mainly on different issues (corn subsidies, large scale feeding, food labelling, ethics, ...).
Re: What nobody told me about small farming: I can’t make a living
#18My grandfather ran a farm. Small farming isn't profitable. Full stop. Farming scales up really well but not down.
And if you can make back the costs of the equipment, own the land, and create enough food for your family, what value does money have?
Re: What nobody told me about small farming: I can’t make a living
#19To quote Jerry Seinfeld, "I didn't know it was possible to not know that."
Re: What nobody told me about small farming: I can’t make a living
#20I live in Colorado. Lots of profitable small farms here. You just need the right crop :-)
I suspect that is temporary. The bureaucracy is already very large in the pot industry, and will grow with time...the big players will guarantee regulators stack the deck in their favor. As legalization spreads across the country, growing will be concentrated in a few areas where it grows most easily and with the cheapest labor and most favorable legal climate (just as tobacco is concentrated in a few places). The big players may be new ones, but agricultural history in the US indicates the small players will get pushed out as the market matures.