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

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

washingtonpost.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 441 posts

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

#71

Post by ezequiel-garzon »

shiven wrote: post #58
nilkn wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> it's just supporting people who aren't shitting on everyone's future. If all dairy cows were treated exactly the same as the cows you're getting milk from, would milk be sufficiently plentiful and affordable for everyone to be able to get milk? If you really want something that's better for cows and the environment, why not just drink soy milk (or any of a pretty big variety of milk that doesn't come from cows)?

And what happens to cows, as a species, a few decades from now?

Cows as a species are probably as safe as humans. Plenty other cases to worry about, assuming it’s feasible to fight extinction on a per-species basis.

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

#72

Post by nilkn »

hashkb wrote: post #66
nilkn wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> it's just supporting people who aren't shitting on everyone's future. If all dairy cows were treated exactly the same as the cows you're getting milk from, would milk be sufficiently plentiful and affordable for everyone to be able to get milk? If you really want something that's better for cows and the environment, why not just drink soy milk (or any of a pretty big variety of milk that doesn't come from cows)?

Is everyone supposed to be able to buy gallons of milk and pounds of meat with the money they ear from less than a day's work? What's right? Who decides?

I don't see how it's controversial to say that we should strive for a world and economy where people can easily afford healthy food for themselves. I already suggested that the best route is probably to avoid cows altogether for this, and I didn't say anything about pounds of meat.

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

#73

Post by eitland »

ratacat wrote: post #50
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…

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.

As someone who grew up on a farm: yes, there is a real difference in taste between fresh milk and processed milk.

IIRC My dad told me it was more about the homogenization part than a the pasteurization part (which is good because it means you can get milk that tastes well totally without risk.)

That said: I'd drink fresh unprocessed milk again without hesitation as long as I know the farmer.

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

#74

Post by cholantesh »

TheAdamAndChe wrote: post #20
cholantesh wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I read it as "Farming is generally a tough racket, though microfarms might be an exception." Not necessarily contradictory.

Then the comment above was ambiguous at best. The tone of the parent's post was definitely criticizing the trend of people going into farming. "Farming is no way to make a living... I come from a farming community and family and for decades farming has only been affordable if you also had another full-time job." Here's another way of thinking of it. "Tech is no way to make a living. I'm glad that these people are fin…

I suppose it depends on how much of the market is profitable, doesn't it?

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

#75

Post by reificator »

nilkn wrote: post #65
shiven wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And what happens to cows, as a species, a few decades from now?

I don't fully understand what you're asking. Could you clarify? Are you suggesting they might go extinct? Or something else?

Not the above poster, but relevant SMBC: https://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=3105

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

#76

Post by jkoll »

ratacat wrote: post #50
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…

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.

That's a lifestyle.

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

#77

Post by huehehue »

metamet wrote: post #59
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…

> 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…

There's at least a third explanation as well, which is the fact that eggs from farmer Tom down the road are likely to taste 1000x better than the egg-inspired food product in a McGriddle.

I can't imagine many people are thinking "Screw local farmers, I want Tyson Chicken Nuggets!". That might be a bad example but the point is that cost is probably the bigger factor here, not politics or lifestyle or even taste.

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

#78

Post by eitland »

ryguytilidie wrote: post #60
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.

>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. The things you say here seem like you are ABSOLUTELY buying a lifestyle here. ie. values for how animals should be tr…

Partially agree.

2 things though:

- taste. The difference is real

- and while I think this is a lifestyle thing I'd say that word has different connotations

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

#79

Post by cmrdporcupine »

Retric wrote: post #48
cmrdporcupine wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Only in the land of North American industrial mega-corp agriculture would 80 acres be "micro" anything. The farms next to me (I live rural) are 20-30 acres and are farmed by professional subcontractors that employ dozens of (immigrant seasonal) labour for picking etc. and use heavy machinery that costs hundreds of thousands of dollars and are shared between multiple farms. Likely if your old boss operated a 'micro' f…

My dad and grandfather both kept 2-3 acre food producing gardens as hobbies. So, I am well aware of what's involved. At those scales you want machinery, but you can use a Garden Tiller instead of a disk plow behind a tractor etc. Their are actually a lot of moderately expensive tools that scale up to ~80 acres without hitting the very high costs of an actual farm. Also often possible to find an actual farmer willing…

Fair enough

Another thing I was going to point out is that farms smaller than 10 acres are actually the norm in many parts of the world. High intensity plots using walk-behind tractors and hand labour are common in Asia and in some parts of Europe. Much of Europe's vegetable production happens on 2-3 hectare properties.

So I'm just objecting to you characterizing these small operations as "not farms" -- IMHO they're farms. But they don't conform to the typical NA cash crop / livestock farm that's common here.

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

#80

Post by dsff56 »

ryguytilidie wrote: post #60
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.

>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. The things you say here seem like you are ABSOLUTELY buying a lifestyle here. ie. values for how animals should be tr…

I think you are wrong here as you are mistaking lifestyle with principles and ideals. Lifestyle is something very different than principles and ideals. Strange that you don't see the difference...
Post reply on HN