4 ms·

I read someone who retires and "takes up farming" as retiring to a house in a rural location and maintaining a garden and maybe some small quantities of livesto

I read someone who retires and "takes up farming" as retiring to a house in a rural location and maintaining a garden and maybe some small quantities of livestock. IE someone who is not depending on the "farm" to be a commercially successful operation or is even attempting to run it as a profitable business. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hobby_farm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hobby_farm

vbezhenar 2y ago
30 years ago this garden was the only thing that helped my family and millions other people survive when USSR crashed. 600 square meters planted mostly with potatoes provide enough food for family to survive winter and next summer and even sell something. And it's not that hard work, because people usually had their main work for some tiny money and maintained garden before and after work. I think that everyone should own some land to feed himself in the event of economy fallout.
silisili 2y ago
That's how I read it. Farming doesn't have to mean planting thousands of acres of soybeans and corn and hundreds of head of cattle. A large garden, some chickens, and perhaps a few goats are more than enough to keep a hobbyist tinkering all day, and is still what I'd call 'farming', though YMMV.
lm28469 2y ago
Yep, it's insanely easy and cheap to sustain a family if you have land, a bit of time and two brain cells, but it's insanely hard and expensive to run a successful modern large scale farm
newzisforsukas 2y ago
> In the U.S., a high proportion of farms might be classed as hobby farms. In 2007, over 40% of farms reported less than $2500 in income and over 10% of farms had less than 10 acres (4.0 hectares) of land Hmm, why?
- debacle 2y ago
  Because there's huge benefits to having a Schedule F on your federal tax return.
  - cryptonector 2y ago
    You also can get exemptions on your property taxes in many states for the land under agriculture. You could end up: - living off the land - paying low taxes on your homestead (house + 1 acre) - paying almost no taxes on your ag land (all but 1 acre) - stretching your savings for many more years than you'd have any right to otherwise
ethbr1 2y ago
Aka what vets call "Noah's Ark farms" Because they have two of every animal, but an uneconomically small herd.

vbezhenar 2y ago

30 years ago this garden was the only thing that helped my family and millions other people survive when USSR crashed. 600 square meters planted mostly with potatoes provide enough food for family to survive winter and next summer and even sell something. And it's not that hard work, because people usually had their main work for some tiny money and maintained garden before and after work. I think that everyone should own some land to feed himself in the event of economy fallout.

silisili 2y ago

That's how I read it. Farming doesn't have to mean planting thousands of acres of soybeans and corn and hundreds of head of cattle. A large garden, some chickens, and perhaps a few goats are more than enough to keep a hobbyist tinkering all day, and is still what I'd call 'farming', though YMMV.

lm28469 2y ago

Yep, it's insanely easy and cheap to sustain a family if you have land, a bit of time and two brain cells, but it's insanely hard and expensive to run a successful modern large scale farm

newzisforsukas 2y ago

> In the U.S., a high proportion of farms might be classed as hobby farms. In 2007, over 40% of farms reported less than $2500 in income and over 10% of farms had less than 10 acres (4.0 hectares) of land Hmm, why?

debacle 2y ago
Because there's huge benefits to having a Schedule F on your federal tax return.
- cryptonector 2y ago
  You also can get exemptions on your property taxes in many states for the land under agriculture. You could end up: - living off the land - paying low taxes on your homestead (house + 1 acre) - paying almost no taxes on your ag land (all but 1 acre) - stretching your savings for many more years than you'd have any right to otherwise

ethbr1 2y ago

Aka what vets call "Noah's Ark farms" Because they have two of every animal, but an uneconomically small herd.