The suicide rate for farmers in the U.S. is more than double that of veterans
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Re: The suicide rate for farmers in the U.S. is more than double that of veterans
#2The same thing happens in Canada.
Re: The suicide rate for farmers in the U.S. is more than double that of veterans
#3The same thing happens in Canada.
and India (as mentioned in the article) [1]
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farmers%27_suicides_in_India
Re: The suicide rate for farmers in the U.S. is more than double that of veterans
#4The same thing happens in Canada.
and India (as mentioned in the article) [1] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farmers%27_suicides_in_India
and France (as mentioned in the article) [1]
[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/20/world/europe/france-farm-...
Re: The suicide rate for farmers in the U.S. is more than double that of veterans
#5Unfortunately technology is likely going to exacerbate this problem more than it helps. There will Be platforms like Farmers Buisiness Network of FarmLead, that will help smaller farms access better information and price but but that will quickly be arbitraged away and then you’re left with economies of scale.
Re: The suicide rate for farmers in the U.S. is more than double that of veterans
#6There was an article on HN not long ago [1] about professionals leaving their jobs in record numbers to pursue life as a farmer, producing and living off the land.
How do we reconcile on the one hand farmers by trade leaving and wannabe farmers wanting to join a farm life?
Re: The suicide rate for farmers in the U.S. is more than double that of veterans
#7Local farm services guy had this to say: "Used to buy truckloads of fertilizer, then the coop would buy train car loads and undercut us. So we bought a train car - they bought a train. We bought a train - they bought a barge. The margins are disappearing entirely"
Almost everybody is being squeezed out by 'economies of scale'. And its going to get worse, when we start making simple foodstuffs electrically (starch, sugar, protein). Then we'll see the entire farm industry turned upside down.
Re: The suicide rate for farmers in the U.S. is more than double that of veterans
#8There was an article on HN not long ago [1] about professionals leaving their jobs in record numbers to pursue life as a farmer, producing and living off the land. How do we reconcile on the one hand farmers by trade leaving and wannabe farmers wanting to join a farm life? [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15771168
Very stark difference between choosing the trade and it being handed to you. If you choose to go into the trade, you still have a way out that a lifelong farmer doesn't.
It also doesn't help that rural America is dying in general, but that's a different matter.
Re: The suicide rate for farmers in the U.S. is more than double that of veterans
#9I have family that farms in Iowa and I also worked in the agriculture industry there for a while after leaving the military. One thing that increases the stress on the farmers is the way they avoid income taxes at all costs so they rarely save any of the profits from good years to help them float during the bad years. This is all anecdotal but I have personally talked with several farmers that would rather buy new equipment they say do not even need than pay the taxes to take the money as income. This mindset causes them to experience a huge amount of stress every season. The farmers would talk about struggling, but have a brand new semi-tractor sitting in a barn unused 10 months out of the year.
Re: The suicide rate for farmers in the U.S. is more than double that of veterans
#10There was an article on HN not long ago [1] about professionals leaving their jobs in record numbers to pursue life as a farmer, producing and living off the land. How do we reconcile on the one hand farmers by trade leaving and wannabe farmers wanting to join a farm life? [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15771168
Large-scale industrial farming (hyper-competitive, boring, "work") vs. small-scale hipster farming (microgreens, heirloom vegetables, heritage breeds, "lifestyle")