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The farm business is brutal. I think the dream of people moving to the country, owning some land, and living off of it comfortably is long gone and never coming

The farm business is brutal. I think the dream of people moving to the country, owning some land, and living off of it comfortably is long gone and never coming back. At least with big money owning the farms and absorbing the risk people can work in the ag industry for a salary without loosing their life savings. [1] https://www.quora.com/What-are-some-of-the-toughest-industries-for-an-entrepreneur-to-penetrate https://www.quora.com/What-are-some-of-the-toughest-industri... [2] https://time.com/5736789/small-american-farmers-debt-crisis-extinction/ https://time.com/5736789/small-american-farmers-debt-crisis-...

ed25519FUUU 6y ago
Work in the Ag business without losing what savings? The people who drive those $100k tractors are paid just barely over min wage. The migrant workforce in the fields are paid less than minimum wage.
- legitster 6y ago
  This is a huge mischaracterization. Depending on the season and crop, migrant day workers in our area can pull $25-26 an hour. And there are fewer workers turning up every year to do it, so the cost is going up. One of the issues in our area is how expensive it is to get enough labor for farms, so farmers are switching to easier crops to grow.
- bluGill 6y ago
  Farm labor is paid better than that. Even the illegals are getting more than they could get legally at the local fast food joint. It is really hard to get farm labor, and so they have to up the pay to attract people. The work is hard and the hours are long, but the pay is okay for the amount of skill required. (if you are reading this you can probably make a lot more money in the city)
kickout 6y ago
That hasn't been a dream since the....1900s? 1890s maybe? Homesteading saw its hey-day in the second half of the 1800s. Farming is tough. Margins are low due to the nature of commodities. Very few 'go at it alone' farmers out there. Most went under, sold, died, or partnered up in the 1980s when the credit crisis hurt farms.

ed25519FUUU 6y ago

Work in the Ag business without losing what savings? The people who drive those $100k tractors are paid just barely over min wage. The migrant workforce in the fields are paid less than minimum wage.

legitster 6y ago
This is a huge mischaracterization. Depending on the season and crop, migrant day workers in our area can pull $25-26 an hour. And there are fewer workers turning up every year to do it, so the cost is going up. One of the issues in our area is how expensive it is to get enough labor for farms, so farmers are switching to easier crops to grow.
bluGill 6y ago
Farm labor is paid better than that. Even the illegals are getting more than they could get legally at the local fast food joint. It is really hard to get farm labor, and so they have to up the pay to attract people. The work is hard and the hours are long, but the pay is okay for the amount of skill required. (if you are reading this you can probably make a lot more money in the city)

kickout 6y ago

That hasn't been a dream since the....1900s? 1890s maybe? Homesteading saw its hey-day in the second half of the 1800s. Farming is tough. Margins are low due to the nature of commodities. Very few 'go at it alone' farmers out there. Most went under, sold, died, or partnered up in the 1980s when the credit crisis hurt farms.