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I know some farmers and they all have one thing in common: they work around the clock, 7 days a week. No days off or vacations. Their farms might be worth milli

I know some farmers and they all have one thing in common: they work around the clock, 7 days a week. No days off or vacations. Their farms might be worth millions, but it's also both their home and their job. Also, a lot of people don't get that a farm (anything other than subsistence farming) is a business. It requires careful long term planning, crop rotation, dealing with buyers, collectives, auctions, risk mitigation and pricing. The farmers I know are all extremely proficient with spreadsheet software and most of them attended the Agricultural University two towns from here. Farmers are often regarded as a bit simplistic country boys, but the opposite is true. I don't envy them.

jaclaz 6y ago
In Italy we have an old saying: "La terra è bassa." (translates to "the earth is low" implying that to get food out of it you have to kneel and bend a lot, i.e. it is hard, hard, backbreaking work) With animals, it is (IMHO) even harder, another saying (Tuscany) goes like: "Le bestie non conoscono feste comandate" (translates to "animals know nothing about holidays", it is a 7 day a week (from dawn to sunset) 365 days a year job)
deleted 6y ago
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arethuza 6y ago
I've known a lot of farmers over the years and they always struck me as some of the most hard nosed and astute businessmen I've ever met. Edit: Having done a bit of both (and a lot of family in both areas) I'd rather be a fisherman than a farmer and I really don't want to be a fisherman!
- fakedang 6y ago
  Having done both, I'd rather be a farmer than a fisherman in my community. Imagine catching fish with your bare hands or a flimsy net - yep, that hard.
  - arethuza 6y ago
    My experience was on large highly mechanised trawlers in the North Sea - sleeping for two or three hours then gutting fish for a few hours then eat and sleep and repeat for best part of 5 days.... NB The "highly mechanised" part just adds to the fear factor - winches and other heavy equipment are scary enough at the best of times, but when the sea is rough, its dark they are (for me) terrifying. Edit: This was 30 years ago...
znpy 6y ago
My grandad was a small farmer in South Italy, and my parents used to curate the land they inherited (and some land they bought on their own). Yup, it's a full time job, the land doesn't go on vacation. Yes it can give enormous satisfaction. Every time I'm at the store buying fruit I sigh at how much fruits our grandad used to bring home, for free, it was way better than the fruit I guy at the grocery stores, and it was the surplus from the sales...
pragmatic 6y ago
Only the ones left in business. The rest are long gone as business savy became just as important as hard work.

jaclaz 6y ago

In Italy we have an old saying: "La terra è bassa." (translates to "the earth is low" implying that to get food out of it you have to kneel and bend a lot, i.e. it is hard, hard, backbreaking work) With animals, it is (IMHO) even harder, another saying (Tuscany) goes like: "Le bestie non conoscono feste comandate" (translates to "animals know nothing about holidays", it is a 7 day a week (from dawn to sunset) 365 days a year job)

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arethuza 6y ago

I've known a lot of farmers over the years and they always struck me as some of the most hard nosed and astute businessmen I've ever met. Edit: Having done a bit of both (and a lot of family in both areas) I'd rather be a fisherman than a farmer and I really don't want to be a fisherman!

fakedang 6y ago
Having done both, I'd rather be a farmer than a fisherman in my community. Imagine catching fish with your bare hands or a flimsy net - yep, that hard.
- arethuza 6y ago
  My experience was on large highly mechanised trawlers in the North Sea - sleeping for two or three hours then gutting fish for a few hours then eat and sleep and repeat for best part of 5 days.... NB The "highly mechanised" part just adds to the fear factor - winches and other heavy equipment are scary enough at the best of times, but when the sea is rough, its dark they are (for me) terrifying. Edit: This was 30 years ago...

znpy 6y ago

My grandad was a small farmer in South Italy, and my parents used to curate the land they inherited (and some land they bought on their own). Yup, it's a full time job, the land doesn't go on vacation. Yes it can give enormous satisfaction. Every time I'm at the store buying fruit I sigh at how much fruits our grandad used to bring home, for free, it was way better than the fruit I guy at the grocery stores, and it was the surplus from the sales...

pragmatic 6y ago

Only the ones left in business. The rest are long gone as business savy became just as important as hard work.