Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

My Experience as a Rice Farmer

xd009642.github.io

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 226 posts

Re: My Experience as a Rice Farmer

#21

Post by lukan »

troupo wrote: post #12
aurareturn wrote: post #5

As a child, I grew up in a village in China and our family farmed rice. It was mostly my mom who was doing the farming while my dad worked in the city. Some things I remember: * Seeing hired buffalos tilling our fields * Playing with frogs and catching tadpoles in the fields * Someone with a machine that removes the husks would come to our village during harvest * The smell of rice fields. I recently smelled it again…

> My one hope for AI, robotics, self driving cars, is that they can enable people in cities to migrate back to rural places. Why? Honest question. A kid in a town/city has access to a billion opportunities many of which exist only because there are enough people interested.

"A kid in a town/city has access to a billion opportunities many of which exist only because there are enough people interested."

Most of those opportunities involve getting hit by a car.

Re: My Experience as a Rice Farmer

#22

Post by thaumasiotes »

TheDong wrote: post #13
TurdF3rguson wrote: post #8

That suitcase of rice story though, I'm finding it problematic lol. - First of all a 95% increase in the price of rice means it less than doubled which is no big deal. - I think maybe you meant it 20x'ed ? If so I will just eat corn until it comes down (my house eats 100kg of rice in a month) - Can a suitcase of rice even get through customs?

Indeed it's a roughly 2x increase (5kg supermarket bag from 2000 jpy to 4000). Whether that's a big deal or not depends on the person, their finances, how much rice the family eats, etc etc.

> Whether that's a big deal or not depends on the person, their finances, how much rice the family eats, etc etc.

There's a nasty interaction among those concerns: as the basic staple food of the diet, rice is consumed in larger amounts by poorer people who can't afford real food, like meat.

Which means that a spike in the price of rice is effectively targeted at people who can't afford to substitute other foods.

Re: My Experience as a Rice Farmer

#23

Post by sheept »

aurareturn wrote: post #5

As a child, I grew up in a village in China and our family farmed rice. It was mostly my mom who was doing the farming while my dad worked in the city. Some things I remember: * Seeing hired buffalos tilling our fields * Playing with frogs and catching tadpoles in the fields * Someone with a machine that removes the husks would come to our village during harvest * The smell of rice fields. I recently smelled it again…

> My one hope for AI, robotics, self driving cars, is that they can enable people in cities to migrate back to rural places.

Wouldn't it be better, at least for the Earth, for everyone to live in cities? This way, more of the world can remain fairly untouched by humans, and it could still remain easy accessible from the city for recreational purposes.

The solarpunk ideal of living a rural life requires more road infrastructure, which cuts off wildlife routes and natural drainage, and even with EVs, still pollutes the air from tire wear.

Re: My Experience as a Rice Farmer

#24

Post by elwray »

I and my wife live in the city for work. While most people flock to the city and settle there as an upgraded life, we always felt empty here. Our dream is to buy a piece of land at our village and come back to our roots. I dont enjoy farming that much but my wife does. I however like the bliss of living close to nature. There is a river that flows nearby and taking a dip in that fills me with so much joy that I could never find anywhere in the city.

Re: My Experience as a Rice Farmer

#25

Post by adrianN »

sheept wrote: post #23
aurareturn wrote: post #5

As a child, I grew up in a village in China and our family farmed rice. It was mostly my mom who was doing the farming while my dad worked in the city. Some things I remember: * Seeing hired buffalos tilling our fields * Playing with frogs and catching tadpoles in the fields * Someone with a machine that removes the husks would come to our village during harvest * The smell of rice fields. I recently smelled it again…

> My one hope for AI, robotics, self driving cars, is that they can enable people in cities to migrate back to rural places. Wouldn't it be better, at least for the Earth, for everyone to live in cities? This way, more of the world can remain fairly untouched by humans, and it could still remain easy accessible from the city for recreational purposes. The solarpunk ideal of living a rural life requires more road infr…

That is my understanding too, but many people equate rural life with „natural“. Unfortunately the rural environment is all but natural. The cultural landscape that has been engineered over centuries all but displaced true wilderness and is largely devoid of biodiversity. The better we become at industrial agriculture, the worse the situation is.

Re: My Experience as a Rice Farmer

#26

Post by adrianN »

lukan wrote: post #21
troupo wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> My one hope for AI, robotics, self driving cars, is that they can enable people in cities to migrate back to rural places. Why? Honest question. A kid in a town/city has access to a billion opportunities many of which exist only because there are enough people interested.

"A kid in a town/city has access to a billion opportunities many of which exist only because there are enough people interested." Most of those opportunities involve getting hit by a car.

Cars in rural settings are generally faster and more indispensable for their owners. It is much easier to enact policy that reduces car traffic in cities than in villages.

Re: My Experience as a Rice Farmer

#27

Post by TurdF3rguson »

lostlogin wrote: post #18
TurdF3rguson wrote: post #8

That suitcase of rice story though, I'm finding it problematic lol. - First of all a 95% increase in the price of rice means it less than doubled which is no big deal. - I think maybe you meant it 20x'ed ? If so I will just eat corn until it comes down (my house eats 100kg of rice in a month) - Can a suitcase of rice even get through customs?

> my house eats 100kg of rice in a month What’s the maths on that? A cup of rice would seem a fair bit for a person for a meal. A cup is about 200g. That’s 500 portions a month. 5.5 people for 3 meals a day?

It fluctuates but on average maybe 5 humans and 10 dogs.

Re: My Experience as a Rice Farmer

#28

Post by TurdF3rguson »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #22
TheDong wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed it's a roughly 2x increase (5kg supermarket bag from 2000 jpy to 4000). Whether that's a big deal or not depends on the person, their finances, how much rice the family eats, etc etc.

> Whether that's a big deal or not depends on the person, their finances, how much rice the family eats, etc etc. There's a nasty interaction among those concerns: as the basic staple food of the diet, rice is consumed in larger amounts by poorer people who can't afford real food, like meat. Which means that a spike in the price of rice is effectively targeted at people who can't afford to substitute other foods.

Corn is still cheaper. If you're really poor in Asia you're eating corn (and complaining about it).

Re: My Experience as a Rice Farmer

#29

Post by ForHackernews »

alech wrote: post #4
anonymous908213 wrote: post #2

This was mostly a nice read, I do enjoy these kinds of slice-of-life blogs. I think it might have been a bit better without making claims about the economic future and history of rice farming or whatever, if the author doesn't even speak the language it's unlikely they have any real insight to offer and whatever shallow information they got off a random Youtube video is liable to be spreading misinformation that misl…

One thing that’s worth noting though is that Japan is known for having a large degree of small business ownership, and it’s also a pretty well documented effect that high rates of small business ownership = high rates of support for capitalism, because small business owners themselves get a taste of capitalism and see it’s benefits.

It's true, every small business owner enjoys larping as a capitalist until it comes time to declare bankruptcy https://home.treasury.gov/policy-issues/coronavirus/assistan...
Post reply on HN