> Do those jobs still exist? Yes, albeit in a slightly different form. There are still lots of family farms out there, and they need workers of several stripe

> Do those jobs still exist? Yes, albeit in a slightly different form. There are still lots of family farms out there, and they need workers of several stripes. Migrant labor for harvesting produce is commonly known, but there’s also a class of jobs out there where you basically act as an “apprentice farmer”. A family we’re close to has a poultry operation. They have around 15 houses (as in “chicken houses”), probably fifty or so acres of hay, and various equipment and infrastructure to support it all. They do well for themselves, but absolutely cannot leave for more than a day at a time, because someone has to be caring for the animals and watching to make sure things don’t break. They own a small home on the property that they don’t use for themselves. Instead, that home is part of the compensation for the “farm hand”. In exchange for doing whatever needs to be done around the farm during the week and coordinating any time away with them (so they can ensure someone is there to cover things), the farm hand gets to live in the house and is paid about $1,500 per month. They also get use of a pickup that belongs to the farm for both personal and professional use. The house isn’t a shack or something either - it’s an older farm house, but it’s a three bedroom, two bath home that was remodeled not long ago and has a half acre or so of yard. It would be a great place to raise a family. They’re having a lot of trouble finding people who they can trust to take that job. In the past couple of years I know they’ve hired three people, none of which lasted very long. The first one did great for a few months but ended up getting drunk and driving a tractor through the side of a chicken house at 2am. They would have been willing to let that go with a warning if it hadn’t ended up costing something like $50k to repair once the cost of the animals that were killed or lost are considered. The second was on heroin, though they didn’t know that at the time. Things went well until about six weeks in - he’d gotten paid at the end of the first month, spent it all on drugs, but had managed to keep that hidden well enough that he wasn’t fired for it. Two weeks later he ran out of money and decided the best way to handle that was to steal equipment and pawn it. Our friend discovered this when he noticed his chainsaw sitting on the shelf at a pawn shop in town. That whole ordeal ended up costing ~$25k. Most of the stolen items were recovered, but the house had been damaged pretty badly. The third one was better, and they thought they’d found a long term employee. Almost a year in, they trusted him to the point that they finally felt comfortable traveling a few hours away for their wedding anniversary. The second night there, they got a call from the neighboring farm - there were “a bunch of cops” at their place. Turns out the guy had an outstanding warrant in another state. They had to cut short their first trip away in years and come home to deal with animals. All of that said - farmers like that don’t see their long-term help as just “employees”. They feel responsible for their welfare, and end up seeing them as part of the family. It’s not at all uncommon for them to inherit substantial land and assets when an older farmer dies, nor is it uncommon for a “farm hand” to end up borrowing money from their employer to start their own farm nearby. The salary isn’t impressive, but you get a large amount of freedom, opportunity to learn an important and difficult to acquire skillset, and a support system. In short… being a “farm hand” these days isn’t easy and you won’t get rich in that position, but it’s not just a job. In a lot of ways, it’s the way you enter the farming community.