12 ms·

Farmers are truly geniuses. They have to be a combination of agriculturalist, meteorologist, engineer, mechanic, handyman, builder, vet, hydrologist, and now we

Farmers are truly geniuses. They have to be a combination of agriculturalist, meteorologist, engineer, mechanic, handyman, builder, vet, hydrologist, and now we're adding technologist to that. They also generally have an amazing work ethic (getting up before sunrise, working in the blazing heat all day, etc). Not to mention dealing with disasters like diseases, weather events, accidents (lots of sharp blades, tools, etc). Massive respect for them. Even with this tractor, this guy likely does more work than the majority of people. They feed our entire society with a ton of work for very little reward. We don't give them the respect they're due.

mstade 3y ago
I've recently picked up Farming Simulator on PS5, not so much because I'm into farming or anything but it's a great little game for shutting your brain off for a while. There's no point to the game, beyond just farming, which is great because you can pick it up and drop off whenever, you're not in the middle of some narrative. Point being: they've put a lot of effort into modelling the different tractors and first time I used the in-vehicle perspective I was amazed at all the screens and knobs and dials and levers and what not. They don't really do anything in the game, it's just for show, but man they are complex beasts clearly. Then again, I can definitely see the value of at least some of these features. Like you spend an inordinate amount of time just making sure you get maximum yield from a field, while keeping costs low, so having a screen tell you how much fuel you're consuming per turn or whatever is actually pretty useful. Anyway, I absolutely agree – farmers are incredible! I have a whole new appreciation for farming equipment and farmers in general, just from playing this silly game.
- bombcar 3y ago
  I wonder how much it is like an aircraft - many many many dials and knobs, all with there purpose, but only a few needed in normal operation, or used once or twice a trip.
  - dguest 3y ago
    I assumed the purpose on an aircraft is a bit different: you don't want a "check engine" light to go on when you are 10 miles from the nearest landing strip. Probably a bit more detail is useful when a stalled engine means 50% odds of survival.
    - vvanders 3y ago
      It's more of operating vs using, we had a CUT and there were situations where you want the control(diff lock, split brakes to turn in-place, etc). Hydraulics and attachments open up almost an endless possibilities.
samstave 3y ago
The Farmers Almanac! is a treasure.
- samstave 3y ago
  Is there something I dont know about the Farmers Almanac? Is it bad? I really like the farmers almanac....
Auracle 3y ago
This is going to sound mean, but do you actually know any farmers? At least in my area, they aren't exactly known to be geniuses. The ones that have built up their business by buying out other farms and have tons of acres and employees? Sure. The usual "inherited the family farm" type? Not so much. They have two small periods during the year where they're up before sunrise and stop working after sundown, assuming they live in an area with one harvest. Overall they work a hell of a lot less than most of us, and have more money. I have a friend that owns a business where he sells side-by-sides, four wheelers, snowmobiles, etc. The amount that many spend by buying all the newest toys every year is incredible. The downside, of course, is that you need to be born in to it. A tiny 100 acre farm's land is worth north of 1 million dollars, not to mention a ton of other startup costs. Land isn't for sale very often, as usually at least one child wants to take it up. I don't even know how you'd approach starting from scratch unless you were already rich. Note: I'm referring to crop farmers. Animals are hard work and I don't understand why any small time farmer still does it.
- orenlindsey 3y ago
  People who just inherit a farm and get other people to run it aren't farmers.
  - carlosjobim 3y ago
    That's how most farming has been arranged since the invention of agriculture.
  - randomdata 3y ago
    Not so. By definition, both in common usage and legally, the farmer is the owner. The farmer may also work in the operation, but that is not a strict requirement.
    - bigstrat2003 3y ago
      Calling someone who owns land and hires people to work it a farmer is like calling someone who owns a factory a "factory worker". In some technical sense maybe it's correct, but that's not what people mean when they use the term.
rndmize 3y ago
I disagree. Farming has been the default job in human society for thousands of years - and still is, even today. There's nothing special about farmers, they aren't geniuses, the work is not that difficult - it requires effort, care and perseverance. And this shouldn't be surprising. Farming is a very human activity, and can be done by pretty much any human. You don't need to be exceptional to do it. In fact it would be ridiculous if you did - imagine if only 1 in 50 people was brilliant enough to become a farmer - human civilization would never have gotten started. Praising something like this feels silly to me, much as when people talk about "being a mother is the hardest job" or similar. It's not. Being a mother is a common human experience, and most women go through it. This isn't to say such things shouldn't be celebrated. The idea of celebrations around harvest or motherhood is appealing to me, but there's nothing exceptional here, and there shouldn't be. Simple things, regular things, things everyone can do or goes through are worth celebrating, not just the exceptions, the geniuses, the stand-outs.
- baq 3y ago
  Being a parent is definitely harder that being a software engineer if you want to do a good job. Same for being a farmer. It isn't the default job anymore for a reason. You could argue more women nowadays don't want to be mothers because it's hard. Especially if that's the second job and unpaid, actually you have to pay lots of money to be a successful mother. So yeah, it's exceptional... that anyone wants to have children at all! Though that's quickly changing, too.
  - rndmize 3y ago
    > Being a parent is definitely harder that being a software engineer if you want to do a good job. Same for being a farmer. It isn't the default job anymore for a reason. There's a difference between hard = effort, and hard = difficulty. Most people struggle to understand software engineering concepts. If you do understand them, then the effort required to succeed at the job is less than parenting/farming/etc; but there's a reason software engineers are in the top 20% of the economic ladder and picking vegetables on a farm is on the bottom. And at last check, subsistence farming was still the default job worldwide. Perhaps things have changed in the last decade or two, but I have my doubts. (I'd also take issue on the idea of parenting being difficult, vs. good parenting, vs. newer cultural expectations on parents/education/helicoptering, vs. kids being free to roam etc etc., but that's a whole huge discussion on its own - and I think there's a pretty strong argument to be made that raising kids is not harder on either axis than having a job, but doing both at once is very difficult and forces an economic choice many women are making in favor of money.)
baq 3y ago
Don't forget futures traders.
throwaway894345 3y ago
A decade ago I worked on the first version of the (current generation of the) main touch screen in John Deere equipment. I haven't watched the full video, but you can see it in some of the clips. Neat to think that some code I wrote a decade ago is likely still running on these things.
m3kw9 3y ago
The farmer uses the tech, the engineers at Deere developed it because that want farmer asked for

mstade 3y ago

I've recently picked up Farming Simulator on PS5, not so much because I'm into farming or anything but it's a great little game for shutting your brain off for a while. There's no point to the game, beyond just farming, which is great because you can pick it up and drop off whenever, you're not in the middle of some narrative. Point being: they've put a lot of effort into modelling the different tractors and first time I used the in-vehicle perspective I was amazed at all the screens and knobs and dials and levers and what not. They don't really do anything in the game, it's just for show, but man they are complex beasts clearly. Then again, I can definitely see the value of at least some of these features. Like you spend an inordinate amount of time just making sure you get maximum yield from a field, while keeping costs low, so having a screen tell you how much fuel you're consuming per turn or whatever is actually pretty useful. Anyway, I absolutely agree – farmers are incredible! I have a whole new appreciation for farming equipment and farmers in general, just from playing this silly game.

bombcar 3y ago
I wonder how much it is like an aircraft - many many many dials and knobs, all with there purpose, but only a few needed in normal operation, or used once or twice a trip.
- dguest 3y ago
  I assumed the purpose on an aircraft is a bit different: you don't want a "check engine" light to go on when you are 10 miles from the nearest landing strip. Probably a bit more detail is useful when a stalled engine means 50% odds of survival.
  - vvanders 3y ago
    It's more of operating vs using, we had a CUT and there were situations where you want the control(diff lock, split brakes to turn in-place, etc). Hydraulics and attachments open up almost an endless possibilities.

samstave 3y ago

The Farmers Almanac! is a treasure.

samstave 3y ago
Is there something I dont know about the Farmers Almanac? Is it bad? I really like the farmers almanac....

Auracle 3y ago

This is going to sound mean, but do you actually know any farmers? At least in my area, they aren't exactly known to be geniuses. The ones that have built up their business by buying out other farms and have tons of acres and employees? Sure. The usual "inherited the family farm" type? Not so much. They have two small periods during the year where they're up before sunrise and stop working after sundown, assuming they live in an area with one harvest. Overall they work a hell of a lot less than most of us, and have more money. I have a friend that owns a business where he sells side-by-sides, four wheelers, snowmobiles, etc. The amount that many spend by buying all the newest toys every year is incredible. The downside, of course, is that you need to be born in to it. A tiny 100 acre farm's land is worth north of 1 million dollars, not to mention a ton of other startup costs. Land isn't for sale very often, as usually at least one child wants to take it up. I don't even know how you'd approach starting from scratch unless you were already rich. Note: I'm referring to crop farmers. Animals are hard work and I don't understand why any small time farmer still does it.

orenlindsey 3y ago
People who just inherit a farm and get other people to run it aren't farmers.
- carlosjobim 3y ago
  That's how most farming has been arranged since the invention of agriculture.
- randomdata 3y ago
  Not so. By definition, both in common usage and legally, the farmer is the owner. The farmer may also work in the operation, but that is not a strict requirement.
  - bigstrat2003 3y ago
    Calling someone who owns land and hires people to work it a farmer is like calling someone who owns a factory a "factory worker". In some technical sense maybe it's correct, but that's not what people mean when they use the term.

rndmize 3y ago

I disagree. Farming has been the default job in human society for thousands of years - and still is, even today. There's nothing special about farmers, they aren't geniuses, the work is not that difficult - it requires effort, care and perseverance. And this shouldn't be surprising. Farming is a very human activity, and can be done by pretty much any human. You don't need to be exceptional to do it. In fact it would be ridiculous if you did - imagine if only 1 in 50 people was brilliant enough to become a farmer - human civilization would never have gotten started. Praising something like this feels silly to me, much as when people talk about "being a mother is the hardest job" or similar. It's not. Being a mother is a common human experience, and most women go through it. This isn't to say such things shouldn't be celebrated. The idea of celebrations around harvest or motherhood is appealing to me, but there's nothing exceptional here, and there shouldn't be. Simple things, regular things, things everyone can do or goes through are worth celebrating, not just the exceptions, the geniuses, the stand-outs.

baq 3y ago
Being a parent is definitely harder that being a software engineer if you want to do a good job. Same for being a farmer. It isn't the default job anymore for a reason. You could argue more women nowadays don't want to be mothers because it's hard. Especially if that's the second job and unpaid, actually you have to pay lots of money to be a successful mother. So yeah, it's exceptional... that anyone wants to have children at all! Though that's quickly changing, too.
- rndmize 3y ago
  > Being a parent is definitely harder that being a software engineer if you want to do a good job. Same for being a farmer. It isn't the default job anymore for a reason. There's a difference between hard = effort, and hard = difficulty. Most people struggle to understand software engineering concepts. If you do understand them, then the effort required to succeed at the job is less than parenting/farming/etc; but there's a reason software engineers are in the top 20% of the economic ladder and picking vegetables on a farm is on the bottom. And at last check, subsistence farming was still the default job worldwide. Perhaps things have changed in the last decade or two, but I have my doubts. (I'd also take issue on the idea of parenting being difficult, vs. good parenting, vs. newer cultural expectations on parents/education/helicoptering, vs. kids being free to roam etc etc., but that's a whole huge discussion on its own - and I think there's a pretty strong argument to be made that raising kids is not harder on either axis than having a job, but doing both at once is very difficult and forces an economic choice many women are making in favor of money.)

baq 3y ago

Don't forget futures traders.

throwaway894345 3y ago

A decade ago I worked on the first version of the (current generation of the) main touch screen in John Deere equipment. I haven't watched the full video, but you can see it in some of the clips. Neat to think that some code I wrote a decade ago is likely still running on these things.

m3kw9 3y ago

The farmer uses the tech, the engineers at Deere developed it because that want farmer asked for