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> We really need farm workers, and most of them live in poverty. Do we, though? As a farmer and software developer, I struggle to find enough farm work to do.
by randomdata 5y ago
> We really need farm workers, and most of them live in poverty.
Do we, though? As a farmer and software developer, I struggle to find enough farm work to do. I'd take on more work if I could. Everyone and their brother wants to be farmers, though, so there is hot competition and a lot of us end up with only a small piece of the pie.
Per hour it pays more than software. There just aren't that many hours. I would likely be apporaching poverty relying on my farm income alone, but it is also very little work, so maybe that's economically rational?
- octoberfranklin 5y agoWith respect, OP isn't talking about hobby farms here. Five acres is a great lifestyle and some nice tax benefits, but not a career.
- randomdata 5y agoI work just shy of 500 acres, for what it's worth. While that may still be a hobby, you're off by a couple of orders of magnitude. Still not a career, perhaps, but that's kind of the point here. I could easily handle thousands of acres if it were my career. However, obtaining thousands of acres to work is effectively impossible. Every other farmer is also desperately trying to get their hands on those acres. If we want farming to be a viable, full-time career for people then we need far fewer people involved in the industry, not more.