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Neofetch developer archives all his repositories: "Have taken up farming"

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Re: Neofetch developer archives all his repositories: "Have taken up farming"

#211

Every time this topic comes up I say the same thing. If you've never worked on a farm and have some kind of romantic idea about it then you shouldn't do this. Farming is hard work. Modern farmers have college degrees, millions in equipment, and a vast amount of knowledge and experience you do not have. If you're thinking of doing this and do not have experience go work on a farm for a year before you buy in.

It's the two extremes of work. One is hard physical work directly associated with producing the things you need to stay alive, the other is purely intellectual work which is 20 levels of abstraction away from your necessities. > Farming is hard work. Modern farmers have college degrees, millions in equipment, and a vast amount of knowledge and experience you do not have. It depends on the scale, I know 80+ years old…

survivorship bias says hi

Re: Neofetch developer archives all his repositories: "Have taken up farming"

#212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You need to be a welder, plumber, vet, horticulturist, builder, metrologist I love this about farmers. They are the polymaths of our age and folks dont get it. Farming YouTube is a trip because there's more tech in a tractor than in some startups. > and if you're doing properly, crooked accountant as well. Yea, most people dont get what a "future" is, and why corn and lumber have them (but not onions... thats a les…

Can you recommend some good farming youtubes?

Clarkson's farm has a number of issues, but it does give a fairly broad base about modern farming in the UK

especially as all that work in the first year meant he made something like £900

Re: Neofetch developer archives all his repositories: "Have taken up farming"

#213

Every time this topic comes up I say the same thing. If you've never worked on a farm and have some kind of romantic idea about it then you shouldn't do this. Farming is hard work. Modern farmers have college degrees, millions in equipment, and a vast amount of knowledge and experience you do not have. If you're thinking of doing this and do not have experience go work on a farm for a year before you buy in.

What's the definition distribution of "farming"?

My bias is not to go directly to factory farming or industrial agriculture, which sound depressing. I'd rather a smart and lazy approach, helping the land recover to a point and then stopping succession, as has been done with fire in the PNW mountain meadows for berry crops. I'm not under the illusion that the land-management practices of the Nisqually or Puyallup, say, didn't involve consistent work, just a different sort of work, one more within individual and small-group control.

If petroleum-fueled agriculture is "necessary", it's a mess we've gotten ourselves into.

Re: Neofetch developer archives all his repositories: "Have taken up farming"

#215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In the U.S., a high proportion of farms might be classed as hobby farms. In 2007, over 40% of farms reported less than $2500 in income and over 10% of farms had less than 10 acres (4.0 hectares) of land Hmm, why?

Because there's huge benefits to having a Schedule F on your federal tax return.

You also can get exemptions on your property taxes in many states for the land under agriculture.

You could end up:

  - living off the land

  - paying low taxes on your homestead
    (house + 1 acre)

  - paying almost no taxes on your ag
    land (all but 1 acre)

  - stretching your savings for many
    more years than you'd have any
    right to otherwise

Re: Neofetch developer archives all his repositories: "Have taken up farming"

#216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I grew up all my life in a major city. The quiet and tranquility of a small town freak me out. For somebody who’s never lived in a city, you’re making quite a few assumptions.

As somebody who lives in a multi-million city, every second person I talk to wants to move to the country, and it definitely much stronger tendency after around 30-35+. It doesn't matter if the parent's assumptions are "quite a few" or don't match you, what matters is if they match a big segment of the population to be statistically useful. There are always outliers who love to grow old in a big city and have their a…

The only set we should really be listening to are people who both:

   - Lived in a big city
   - Lived in a rural community
Otherwise, everyone always thinks the grass is greener, absent experience with the alternative.

Or as I heard it quipped -- you don't love something for it's best bits; you love it because you can tolerate its worst bits.

Re: Neofetch developer archives all his repositories: "Have taken up farming"

#218
post #92
post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh there's lots of bullshit in farming, especially if you have cattle

That why I hate the word "farm" and derivatives like "farmer" and "farming". On one side is see land cultivators and on the other hand i see animal exploiters. The first do -IHMO- a great job akin to school teacher, the latter do a horrible job akin to a concentration camp commander. Having one word to describe both is beyond me. That said, I do find it amazing how these two groups stick together and back each other…

I think the terms "farmer" and "farm" are entirely appropriate, as the farms that traditionally sustained humanity absolutely required animals to provide labor, fertilize the soil, and consume what would otherwise be waste. This all looks like a "concentration camp" to vegans, because vegans enjoy their privileged beliefs. Veganism is a form of masochistic asceticism.

But since I'm talking to a vegan interlocutor, the response will be "murderer, psychopath, exploiter, rapist, torturer", et cetera. The out-group is wrong and evil, by definition.

Re: Neofetch developer archives all his repositories: "Have taken up farming"

#219

Every time this topic comes up I say the same thing. If you've never worked on a farm and have some kind of romantic idea about it then you shouldn't do this. Farming is hard work. Modern farmers have college degrees, millions in equipment, and a vast amount of knowledge and experience you do not have. If you're thinking of doing this and do not have experience go work on a farm for a year before you buy in.

It's the two extremes of work. One is hard physical work directly associated with producing the things you need to stay alive, the other is purely intellectual work which is 20 levels of abstraction away from your necessities. > Farming is hard work. Modern farmers have college degrees, millions in equipment, and a vast amount of knowledge and experience you do not have. It depends on the scale, I know 80+ years old…

I've met an 80+ year old farmer who looks old and frail but raises calves and keeps 80 hives, and he moves those fully loaded hive boxes like it's nothing. It's rather surprising the first time you see it.

Re: Neofetch developer archives all his repositories: "Have taken up farming"

#220
post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Yea, most people dont get what a "future" is, and why corn and lumber have them (but not onions... thats a lesson too)... The farm has the support of a lot of high finance and hedging exists not just as an instrument but has a purpose. Not many farmers I know (in an ag community) understand what a future is either, or would even know how to trade them. That's the domain of hedge funds, not farmers. (And, if they tr…

From a farmer's point of view, futures can allow for relatively cheap insurance against the agricultural product's price moving against you. You're basically negotiating the price of the product before it's ready to sell, with a standardized product on a global marketplace.

Again... Not just price

Payment date can be decoupled from delivery date... So it can be a "loan" as well.

As a producer you're betting on yield. If you expected 140 bushels an acre and got 130 your on the hook for the rest. Regardless of price on thee market ... even if its 10x what you were paid. SO your negotiating VOLUME on a product you haven't made yet, and could have a shortfall of.

There is a whole set of quality issues with the product as well... Too wet, to dry, wrong type, misses the mark on grading...

You can sell options on futures... some smaller amount of money today and agree to sell at a price at a later date, maybe... if the actual price is lower than your offer price then you get the money and the crop.

There is more to the futures market than HN learned from the Duke Brothers.

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