An Airbnb for farmland hits a snag, as farmers raise data privacy concerns • Hacker News Board

Re: An Airbnb for farmland hits a snag, as farmers raise data privacy concerns

#61

Post by redis_mlc » Sun, May 17, 2020, 11:51 AM UTC

m463 wrote: post #56

redis_mlc wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A similar story is unfolding in mostly small-time US aviation mfg. Chinese companies have bought around 20 makers, like Mooney and Cirrus, in the past decade. > With so much first-hand knowledge of this situation, I’m having a hard time processing how you don’t have an opinion on it. Similarly, I don't have an opinion since the US regulators have decided to do nothing, and private capital is scarce in that sector - i…

That reminds me of this (vagueyly related) article on unions and airlines: https://philip.greenspun.com/flying/unions-and-airlines

Phil's a great aviation writer.

Beyond what he wrote, the regionals were created to union-bust, but the 1,500 hour rule has already closed most of them, giving captains even more power. :)

Re: An Airbnb for farmland hits a snag, as farmers raise data privacy concerns

#62

Post by quxbar » Sun, May 17, 2020, 12:00 PM UTC

aguyfromnb wrote: post #53

lucb1e wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With formatting: """ 1. Climate Corp was part of Monsanto before it became Bayer. It was acquired by Monsanto. 2. John Deere wanted to buy Climate as well as Monsanto but that was struck down by US courts and Bayer bought Monsanto. 3. What was Climate Corp doing before? They had something called Field View where they charged farmers to collect and collate data. 4. All precision Ag, Ag robotics and farm data collectio…

> There won’t be any more farmers in the future but only farming corporations. Is this any different than, "pretty soon there won't be any local movie rental places (or retail places), it'll just be content delivery corporations"? I do share concerns about this kind of movement, and think it needs to be done judiciously, in every industry. However, I do not agree that just because you're "small" or "independent" you…

I guess it's like there won't be movies any more, only netflix originals.

Re: An Airbnb for farmland hits a snag, as farmers raise data privacy concerns

#63

Post by nicoburns » Sun, May 17, 2020, 12:22 PM UTC

aguyfromnb wrote: post #53

lucb1e wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With formatting: """ 1. Climate Corp was part of Monsanto before it became Bayer. It was acquired by Monsanto. 2. John Deere wanted to buy Climate as well as Monsanto but that was struck down by US courts and Bayer bought Monsanto. 3. What was Climate Corp doing before? They had something called Field View where they charged farmers to collect and collate data. 4. All precision Ag, Ag robotics and farm data collectio…

> There won’t be any more farmers in the future but only farming corporations. Is this any different than, "pretty soon there won't be any local movie rental places (or retail places), it'll just be content delivery corporations"? I do share concerns about this kind of movement, and think it needs to be done judiciously, in every industry. However, I do not agree that just because you're "small" or "independent" you…

> People are people and don't become "evil" by working for larger firms.

The problem isn't that people working for larger firms are evil. They simply don't have a say in how things are run. Small independent businesses give back to their communities. Large corporations rarely even attempt to do the same and when they do it is ineffectual because it is centralised and bureaucratic.

Re: An Airbnb for farmland hits a snag, as farmers raise data privacy concerns

#64

Post by wrkronmiller » Sun, May 17, 2020, 12:29 PM UTC

Normal_gaussian wrote: post #2

What else would such a partnership be used for?

Possibly: trying to ensure that the renters do not use up the land they are renting.

Re: An Airbnb for farmland hits a snag, as farmers raise data privacy concerns

#65

Post by YeGoblynQueenne » Sun, May 17, 2020, 1:30 PM UTC

PeterisP wrote: post #42

luckylion wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because he needs land to farm on, or he stops being a farmer and has to shut down his business. He will now pay e.g. $1000. Tillable will offer $1100 upfront to the land owner and then "offer" it to the farmer for the low price of $1200. Since he can't just farm on some piece of land 500 miles away, he can either pay the new price, or stop farming. Tillable offers no significant service here. It's not that there's a…

If the farmer is willing to accept a $1200 price, then what prevents the land owner from charging $1200 right now? All the factors you list which push the price up apply just as well for the current owner-renter negotiations. The scenario you describe is possible only if there is a lot of land that's severely mispriced / underpriced - in which case the price should and would get corrected, and after that the arbitrag…

>> If the farmer is willing to accept a $1200 price, then what prevents the land owner from charging $1200 right now?

The same reasons that have kept my landlord from raising the rent me and my partner pay in over 14 years now. When we asked him if he didn't want a raise (we were concerned he was not making enough and would have to sell the house) he said that no, he prefers to know that the house is rented long-term and he doesn't have to find a new tennant every few months.

So, basically: stability. Some people tend to value that very highly. I know I (and my partner) do, which is btw the reason why we've stayed in the same place for over 14 years. That and all the scare stories of asshole landlords we've heard from friends who moved frequently (we're in the UK btw).

Re: An Airbnb for farmland hits a snag, as farmers raise data privacy concerns

#66

Post by peterwwillis » Sun, May 17, 2020, 1:45 PM UTC

Family farming in Pennsylvania died years ago from land competition.

The first general category of threat came from industrial farming. Large corporations started acquiring land in order to optimize profits for their monocultures. Over time, much of the land that was historically family farms became mega-farms that out compete any new family farms.

The second general category of threat was real estate developers. They would buy up land, often from the people who used to rent to farmers. At first they might not raise rents at all. But later when the market was agreeable, they'd raise rents until farmers couldn't afford to farm it, and then develop it for more profitable commercial or residential use. (interestingly, many plots that weren't being developed sat empty, and so some farmers would actually guerilla-farm it for years/decades)

A third general category was non-developers (usually the inheritor of older farms or land owners) who owned lots of land and rented it to farmers. They would "suggest" that the most profitable crop be placed and that they receive a cut, or they'd rent the land to someone else when the lease was up. So over time most land went to farming corn even if the farmer wanted to grow real food, and eventually that land would get sold to one of the two above.

Re: An Airbnb for farmland hits a snag, as farmers raise data privacy concerns

#67

Post by say_it_as_it_is » Sun, May 17, 2020, 1:48 PM UTC

sk5t wrote: post #4

Is is too uncharitable of me to think of Tillable as a VC-funded vehicle to make sharecropping even worse than it already was?

Someone probably saw what WeWork was doing and decided to try the business model out with farming

Re: An Airbnb for farmland hits a snag, as farmers raise data privacy concerns

#68

Post by randomdata » Sun, May 17, 2020, 1:58 PM UTC

TeMPOraL wrote: post #50

PeterisP wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the farmer is willing to accept a $1200 price, then what prevents the land owner from charging $1200 right now? All the factors you list which push the price up apply just as well for the current owner-renter negotiations. The scenario you describe is possible only if there is a lot of land that's severely mispriced / underpriced - in which case the price should and would get corrected, and after that the arbitrag…

> If the farmer is willing to accept a $1200 price, then what prevents the land owner from charging $1200 right now? Basic human decency ? These are often long-term relationships between neighbours, whose families lived next to each other for decades or hundreds of years.

But those with such decency wouldn't turn to Tillable to capture an extra buck, so it remains unclear where you think Tillable fits.

Re: An Airbnb for farmland hits a snag, as farmers raise data privacy concerns

#69

Post by randomdata » Sun, May 17, 2020, 2:02 PM UTC

EdwardDiego wrote: post #33

haram_masala wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed, it seems like yet another iteration of a company that starts off by disrupting a market to make it more liquid, but whose endgame is becoming the dominant or sole rentier in that space.

Exactly, they sound like an unnecessary middle man that disrupts established relationships with promises of higher rents, which will end up killing the smaller farmers in favour of the large corporate farmers.

On the other hand, as a small farmer, I am small because it is very difficult to find land that isn't already tied up in established relationships, often to those large corporate farmers. If something like this can give me an in with a landowner that I currently don't have, it helps my small farming business.

Re: An Airbnb for farmland hits a snag, as farmers raise data privacy concerns

#70

Post by dd36 » Sun, May 17, 2020, 2:06 PM UTC

nicoburns wrote: post #63

aguyfromnb wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There won’t be any more farmers in the future but only farming corporations. Is this any different than, "pretty soon there won't be any local movie rental places (or retail places), it'll just be content delivery corporations"? I do share concerns about this kind of movement, and think it needs to be done judiciously, in every industry. However, I do not agree that just because you're "small" or "independent" you…

> People are people and don't become "evil" by working for larger firms. The problem isn't that people working for larger firms are evil. They simply don't have a say in how things are run. Small independent businesses give back to their communities. Large corporations rarely even attempt to do the same and when they do it is ineffectual because it is centralised and bureaucratic.

But they sponsor charity and community events...