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

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

#131

Post by bordercases »

kyleblarson wrote: post #97
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…

So if I switch from drinking Racer 5 to drinking Budweiser I won't be able to tell the difference?

You'd only tell the difference if it was Guinness http://isomorphismes.faith/post/54831080606/perception-is-re...

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

#132

Post by crimsonalucard »

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…

Any developers have aquaponics systems setup? I've been thinking of doing this.

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

#133

Post by goialoq »

njarboe wrote: post #81
Retric wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

Advertising replaces trust. This is how the modern economy works -- people buy the lies.

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

#134

Post by manarth »

wott wrote: post #92
Retric wrote: post #2

Their 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.

> a 80 acre micro farm Not sure how you can call that 'micro'... That is more than the median surface area of farms in my country, and that was the average surface area 20 years ago before some capitalistic movement to build big 'company' farms that skew the mean. It can support a family. And I am not talking about a developing country, but about the country with probably the highest agricultural productivity in the…

Some interesting stats on average farm sizes in Europe (with most countries having an average size smaller than 80 acres): http://www.valtra.co.uk/1872.aspx

130 acres in the UK, compared to 430 in the USA. Just 7 in Romania, and as small as 3 acres in India.

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

#135

Post by bordercases »

davemp wrote: post #117
krrrh wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m not disagreeing with the trust of your comment, but despite popular belief, McDonalds does use real eggs.[1,2] Though there’s no doubt that an egg from a chicken who has walked around, eating bits of grass and bugs, will taste better and have a better nutritional profile. [1] https://yourquestions.mcdonalds.ca/answer/does-your-egg-mcmu... [2] https://www.cnbc.com/2015/01/27/are-mcdonalds-eggs-real-fast...

Eggs are insanely cheap. I’m not sure why anyone would bother to fake them.

To economize other costs on the supply chain and to standardize quality

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

#136

Post by dejv »

clord wrote: post #112

We did this. My wife has a masters in microbio, and I worked at IBM on their C++ and for Fortran compilers for about 8 years (yay std::atomics). I still do remote contract work to help pay for upgrades to the farm. Would be nice to get one of my side-projects finished and start pumping out some income streams, but it's not a big rush anymore. I have a point of sale system built with React and Haskell that integrates…

Yeah, I spend each winter contracting for funded startups and the vision of new tractor implement or some new gizmo makes it easier to work on the stuff.

I guess the big part of better lifestyle is just giving up on ambitions. You know that you are not building next billion dollar company and you also know that you are not going to buy new BMW every year anyway so there is no pressure in keeping with Jones.

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

#137

Post by hackermailman »

There's a lot of organic farm internships around where they cover your meals and accommodation in exchange for work, some also pay a stipend of $500-900/mnth. Many of my friends do this for 6 months of the year then travel during the off season. It's a good way to learn farming if you want to run your own.

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

#138

Post by [deleted] »

astura wrote: post #70
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.

You say you don't buy for lifestyle reasons but then go on to describe lifestyle reasons for your purchase: "animals that are loved like family" "helping [small farmers] make a living doing something that is good for everyone" "supporting people who aren't shitting on everyone's future." These are all lifestyle choices. You make your purchase not just because of the product but because of your identity, feelings, and…

[deleted]

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

#139

Post by kuschku »

gamegoblin wrote: post #119
metamet wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They want to distinguish themselves and buy the feeling of authentic life and values. More than this, I think there is a substantial portion of consumers who aren't as much attempting to distinguish themselves as they are realizing how important their dollar vote is. Buying from a small or local farm keeps money circulating locally (ideally). When there is a community of local businesses, this becomes amplified. It…

Questions to someone with more economics knowledge than me: I understand the sentiment and intuitive reasoning behind this argument (I find myself thinking it every week when I go to the local farmers' market!), but is there evidence that "buying local" actually increases the local standard of living? And a followup: if it does increase the local standard of living, would this behavior, if duplicated in all communiti…

A good argument is the question what happens with the money.

For example, assume Facebook replaces a local competitor. Now instead of the profit going to owners, which spend it locally, on philanthropic projects, or just high quality goods, instead it goes to Mark Zuckerberg, who spends it in the US, on US brands, and to fund US charities, in best case.

If you currently live outside the US, outside SV and NYC, you’d very likely gain an advantage if everyone would buy local. The skyscrapers of NYC, and the philanthropic projects in these regions of the US, are funded with money that was extracted all over the globe, but will probably never leave the US again.

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

#140

Post by spraak »

ruc0la wrote: post #18

I am doing pretty much the same. I am currently an engineering student, working part-time as a programmer. Although the job market for programmers is excellent in Europe, I bought an apple orchard (via loan) pretty close to the capital of the country where I live. Due to the proximity of the capital city, I can sell my product at a decent price and earn more than an average senior dev here. I also enjoy being outside…

That's so cool and really inspiring to me! Do you have a blog or anything?
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