4 ms·

How much of this is class signifiers in the age of increasingly tenuous existences on anyone but the wealthy? I wouldn’t own a farm even with existing subsidies

How much of this is class signifiers in the age of increasingly tenuous existences on anyone but the wealthy? I wouldn’t own a farm even with existing subsidies on agriculture specifically because it will destroy my body and then I’ll be on the hook for all that healthcare.

dieselgate 4y ago
It's more nuanced than that for a lot of people I think - many people inherit "the family farm/ag. business" so to speak and even if they don't want to get into it they do anyway
verdenti 4y ago
[dead]
asdff 4y ago
If you own the farm its your farmhands that are breaking their body while you sip coffee and order seed.
- tristor 4y ago
  LOL, No. Not even close. It wasn’t even like that 30 years ago, it definitely isn’t like that now. Owning a “family” farm basically doesn’t make economic sense anymore and hasn’t for awhile. The cost of equipment, maintenance, fertilizer, seed, and chemicals have all gone up significantly and at the same time are now offered under more and more one-sided terms to the detriment of farmers without mass capital backing. Operating a farm is a game of desperation to cash flow your payments for everything while still eeking out basic subsistence, and the payback periods run most of a lifetime to sometimes effectively infinite (a lot of modern farming systems are subscription based). Most farms don’t even have farmhands. You have kids, kids who hate being stuck in the middle of nowhere as they’re exposed to idealized city life through media and the Internet. Kids who leave as soon as they’re able so they don’t get stuck in a dying small town, scraping by, with no relationship prospects, and no positive future in sight. You are unhinged if you think farming is easy. - Signed, one of the kids who fled to the city/tech.

4 ms·

How much of this is class signifiers in the age of increasingly tenuous existences on anyone but the wealthy? I wouldn’t own a farm even with existing subsidies

by SamoyedFurFluff 4y ago

dieselgate 4y ago
It's more nuanced than that for a lot of people I think - many people inherit "the family farm/ag. business" so to speak and even if they don't want to get into it they do anyway
verdenti 4y ago
[dead]
asdff 4y ago
If you own the farm its your farmhands that are breaking their body while you sip coffee and order seed.
- tristor 4y ago
  LOL, No. Not even close. It wasn’t even like that 30 years ago, it definitely isn’t like that now. Owning a “family” farm basically doesn’t make economic sense anymore and hasn’t for awhile. The cost of equipment, maintenance, fertilizer, seed, and chemicals have all gone up significantly and at the same time are now offered under more and more one-sided terms to the detriment of farmers without mass capital backing. Operating a farm is a game of desperation to cash flow your payments for everything while still eeking out basic subsistence, and the payback periods run most of a lifetime to sometimes effectively infinite (a lot of modern farming systems are subscription based). Most farms don’t even have farmhands. You have kids, kids who hate being stuck in the middle of nowhere as they’re exposed to idealized city life through media and the Internet. Kids who leave as soon as they’re able so they don’t get stuck in a dying small town, scraping by, with no relationship prospects, and no positive future in sight. You are unhinged if you think farming is easy. - Signed, one of the kids who fled to the city/tech.