Stardew Valley?
If video games have taught me anything, they've taught me that I can find love by quitting my desk job and moving to the country to run a tiny farm.
A growing number of young Americans are leaving desk jobs to farm
41–50 of 441 posts
Re: A growing number of young Americans are leaving desk jobs to farm
#42Earlier quoted context omitted.
They might say be operating a stall at a locally grown market, but it's the stall not the farm that's generating income. That's assuming that the product is fungible. If your market stall can generate higher margins because you are the farmer, and/or due to the type of farming, this argument isn't so clean.
> higher margins because you are the farmer That's an argument to pretend to be a farmer, while also buying from a 3rd party. Another benefit is as a tax doge.
fraud is always an option I suppose.
Re: A growing number of young Americans are leaving desk jobs to farm
#43I did bought few small vineyard plots 5 years ago. It is good lifestyle, especially as I live in the city and commute to countryside few days a week.
It is hard to make living this way, you have to spend astronomical amount of money just to buy basic infrastructure and land required to even start. Then you are very dependent on weather and without good planning you might end up broke very easily.
In my case I basically bought into (less then) minimum wage job, that require huge ongoing investments and sustained work all year around. I like this lifestyle and I am not fool, so I still keep working as a developer (during off season as well as part time work) and have diverse streams of income that can sustain my family.
What I can see on forums and discussions around the internet is romantic view of this lifestyle with bankruptcy down the road. Trust me, this lifestyle is not easy and you should spent more time with Excel then you are comfortable with.
Re: A growing number of young Americans are leaving desk jobs to farm
#44Earlier quoted context omitted.
As someone with first hand experience or exposure, what do you think are main reasons? I'm still amazed at how cheap food is in the U.S. (though quality just isn't there for the most part).
What do you mean by quality? Fruits and vegetables in the US tend to have much higher visual quality than elsewhere.
You are absolutely right, but that visual quality comes at a huge cost in other areas. For example, I find tomatoes in the US disgusting (and don’t tell me “oh, you need to try fresh/cherry/whatever tomatoes”, I have). They look good but taste horrible. They’ve been bred for looks and weight, not flavor.
In many places outside the US, the tomato breeds there are bred for flavor, not looks. They’re uglier, but they have a vastly higher sugar/fat/whatever content and taste much better.
https://www.vox.com/2016/2/12/10972140/fruits-vegetables-tas...
Re: A growing number of young Americans are leaving desk jobs to farm
#45Earlier quoted context omitted.
As someone with first hand experience or exposure, what do you think are main reasons? I'm still amazed at how cheap food is in the U.S. (though quality just isn't there for the most part).
What do you mean by quality? Fruits and vegetables in the US tend to have much higher visual quality than elsewhere.
Not visual quality, that's for sure :)
Re: A growing number of young Americans are leaving desk jobs to farm
#46Farming is no way to make a living. I'm glad that these people are finding success, but I come from a farming community and family and for decades farming has only been affordable if you also had another full-time job. Although microfarms for trendy produce might not be so bad.
> Farming is no way to make a living.... Although microfarms for trendy produce might not be so bad. You contradict yourself here. If they manage to find a niche in which they make a living, then they're doing fine. It doesn't make sense to grow corn when that portion of the market is already saturated.
I'm also from a farming community. They're scraping by currently, with college debt... Every farmer will tell you that unless you get enough "good years" stacked away in the bank, when the inevitable "bad years" hit, you will go under. I've seen it dozens of times to young farmers starting out. If they time it right, they'll just make it. If not, the farm is in foreclosure and they're back to their 'old' jobs.
Re: A growing number of young Americans are leaving desk jobs to farm
#47Stardew Valley?
Yeah, the intro is spot on - unhappy office worker leaves for a farm.
Re: A growing number of young Americans are leaving desk jobs to farm
#48Their are no "three-acre farms," at best it's a garden. My old boss operated a 80 acre micro farm while holding down a full time job. It was a hobby that at best broke even, but he had fun. PS: They might say be operating a stall at a locally grown market, but it's the stall not the farm that's generating income.
Only in the land of North American industrial mega-corp agriculture would 80 acres be "micro" anything. The farms next to me (I live rural) are 20-30 acres and are farmed by professional subcontractors that employ dozens of (immigrant seasonal) labour for picking etc. and use heavy machinery that costs hundreds of thousands of dollars and are shared between multiple farms. Likely if your old boss operated a 'micro' f…
My dad and grandfather both kept 2-3 acre food producing gardens as hobbies. So, I am well aware of what's involved.
At those scales you want machinery, but you can use a Garden Tiller instead of a disk plow behind a tractor etc. Their are actually a lot of moderately expensive tools that scale up to ~80 acres without hitting the very high costs of an actual farm. Also often possible to find an actual farmer willing to lend you equipment for a large cut. ~2,000 hours of effort is a significant hobby, but less than many WoW players as a direct comparison.
10k in revenue before expenses is not much and is easy for that to end up negative after expenses and even in the best case your likely paying yourself well below minimum wage. As to wine, again that's something you can do completely independent of a farm by just buying grapes.
Re: A growing number of young Americans are leaving desk jobs to farm
#49Earlier quoted context omitted.
As someone with first hand experience or exposure, what do you think are main reasons? I'm still amazed at how cheap food is in the U.S. (though quality just isn't there for the most part).
What do you mean by quality? Fruits and vegetables in the US tend to have much higher visual quality than elsewhere.
> visual quality
When it comes to food --and specifically fruits and vegetables-- visual aspect is not a good indicator of taste or nutrition value. I would actually argue the opposite.
Re: A growing number of young Americans are leaving desk jobs to farm
#50Some commentators here have difficulty of understanding how small farming can be profitable. It's relatively easy to explain. They are not selling just the product. Just like microbreweries, small farms sell for people who want more than just a beer or lettuce. They want to distinguish themselves and buy the feeling of authentic life and values. Consumer pays more for "small farm" even if the product is not any diffe…
I pay ten dollars a gallon for fresh non pasteurized milk from a local family that has seven cows. I don't buy a lifestyle from them, I buy fucking good milk from animals that are loved like family, and I'm proud to be helping them make a living doing something that is good for everyone(including the cows). It's not a lifestyle, it's just supporting people who aren't shitting on everyone's future.