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A growing number of young Americans are leaving desk jobs to farm

washingtonpost.com

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Re: A growing number of young Americans are leaving desk jobs to farm

#81

Post by njarboe »

Retric wrote: post #25
ska wrote: post #21

Earlier 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.

In a society of high trust, fraud can be an easy way to steal resources. If too many people do it, trust breaks down and everyone is worse off. Building a society where outside the family/tribe trust is the default position is hard, but the West has gone some distance in solving it. Unfortunately we seem to be regressing a bit of late.

Re: A growing number of young Americans are leaving desk jobs to farm

#82

Post by ghostbrainalpha »

ryguytilidie wrote: post #60
ratacat wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

>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. The things you say here seem like you are ABSOLUTELY buying a lifestyle here. ie. values for how animals should be tr…

I think he means that he is buying "the cow's lifestyle", instead of his.

I applaud the sentiment, but do small farm cows, loved like they are part of the family actually do less damage to the environment? Is factory farming doing something that makes factory cows produce more methane?

I also disagree he is not buying a lifestyle for himself. Non pasteurized milk is ABSOLUTELY better tasting. So he is purchasing a luxury item, which is the definition of lifestyle buying. It may be ethical, and but its still tasty.

Re: A growing number of young Americans are leaving desk jobs to farm

#84

Post by earlyriser »

nilkn wrote: post #72
hashkb wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is everyone supposed to be able to buy gallons of milk and pounds of meat with the money they ear from less than a day's work? What's right? Who decides?

I don't see how it's controversial to say that we should strive for a world and economy where people can easily afford healthy food for themselves. I already suggested that the best route is probably to avoid cows altogether for this, and I didn't say anything about pounds of meat.

I have the feeling that this is controversial because it plays with guilt feelings and people, in general, don't want to be the bad guys and rationalize bad decisions polarizing the opposite field. This is reflected in the vegan cliché.

Re: A growing number of young Americans are leaving desk jobs to farm

#85

Post by [deleted] »

ratacat wrote: post #50
nabla9 wrote: post #39

Some 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.

[deleted]

Re: A growing number of young Americans are leaving desk jobs to farm

#86

Post by eru »

nabla9 wrote: post #62
ratacat wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Lifestyle is your interests, opinions, and behaviour. Words you are using: proud , helping, doing good, supporting. These are all values that form the basis for your lifestyle. ps. non-pasteurized milk aka raw milk is not healthier and it's less safe. It's organic-natural consumer fad.

Might tastes different / better though?

I do know that I like non-homogenized milk better. (But that's a different process.)

Re: A growing number of young Americans are leaving desk jobs to farm

#87

Post by evjim »

I spent two years living on a small permaculture farm. The place took on wwoofers and so I got to meet a ton of young people who wanted to farm. But most couldn't afford their own land, so instead they roamed around and worked nearly for free for wwoof farm owners. It's a cool program, but unfortunate land is out of reach

Re: A growing number of young Americans are leaving desk jobs to farm

#88

Post by danmaz74 »

ratacat wrote: post #50
nabla9 wrote: post #39

Some 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.

"Buying a lifestyle" sounds bad because it's associated with big brands for which that's just a marketing tactic, and where the lifestyle is artificial. But you're actually - and proudly - supporting an authentic lifestyle, there's nothing bad in that.

Re: A growing number of young Americans are leaving desk jobs to farm

#89

Post by olympus »

"For only the second time in the last century, the number of farmers under 35 years old is increasing..."

Not surprising because this is cyclical- the only difference is that the cycles in the past were shorter because life expectancy was shorter. Farming is a job that requires(1) a huge amount of up-front capital to get started in terms of land and equipment. The recurring cost isn't as high, but you have to stay in the game for as long as you can to pay off the initial investment. So a lot of people got involved in farming 50 years ago as young people, and they are dying off/finally retiring. Some are handing over the reins to their kids, and some are handing over the reins to their grandkids. Some aren't handing anything over, but when they leave there is room in the market for young people to enter. All of this results in generational and bi-generational influxes of farmers.

(1) You don't have to have the capital up front, you can get a loan or you can sharecrop. Getting a loan means your break-even time is longer, and sharecropping basically makes you an employee.

Re: A growing number of young Americans are leaving desk jobs to farm

#90

Post by danmaz74 »

planteen wrote: post #40
pcurve wrote: post #7

Earlier 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" is actually a big part of the problem. You can't optimize for visual while also optimize for taste...
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