
A growing number of young Americans are leaving desk jobs to farm - blueatlas
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/a-growing-number-of-young-americans-are-leaving-desk-jobs-to-farm/2017/11/23/e3c018ae-c64e-11e7-afe9-4f60b5a6c4a0_story.html
======
clord
We did this. My wife has a masters in microbio, and I worked at IBM on their
C++ and for Fortran compilers for about 8 years (yay std::atomics). I still do
remote contract work to help pay for upgrades to the farm. Would be nice to
get one of my side-projects finished and start pumping out some income
streams, but it's not a big rush anymore. I have a point of sale system built
with React and Haskell that integrates with big payment processors, etc. that
I sell to local businesses. Maybe one day i'll productize it and sell it as a
package, but honestly my bills are paid and I don't feel the need to make more
money than I do right now. Why take on the stress?

Why'd I switch to rural life? Quality of life. When we had kids and got a
glimpse of what life would be like with daycare, two people commuting, etc, we
got scared and made a plan. It's been 5 or 6 years and still enjoying selling
expensive pasture fed eggs etc. I like working from home and having no
childcare expenses. Everyone is happy and healthy and we have time to raise
our kids.

I remember the limp office parties when we reached GA on some new release, and
we'd eat cheap cake. Then I think of how we practically dance and shout at the
sky in joy when we all finish digging up all the potatoes. The comparison is
stark. Modern life is a dystopic hellscape from this perspective.

~~~
JPKab
I grew up in a rural community where farming was basically the only industry.
It's easy to talk about how awesome it is when you basically are selling
insanely overpriced boutique goods (organic, free-range, etc) to yuppies who
are willing to pay triple for their calories. Once enough people do this, the
prices fall and you're just another farmer, scraping by.

I grew up working on farms. It's not romantic to me in any way. Being outside
is nice, but there's a reason the kids doing this grew up in suburbs and
cities: they have no idea what agriculture really involves when you have to
achieve economies of scale to make it remotely profitable.

~~~
andyisageek
I also grew up on a farm... in Maine. It did instill a work ethic that I find
it difficult to teach to my own children. But I always joke with people and
say it is a great place to visit and a great place to be from. Not so much a
great place to actually be.

~~~
kimburgess
> It is a great place to visit and a great place to be from. Not so much a
> great place to actually be.

I'll definitely echo this. I grew up on a farm / nature refuge in Australia.
It's beautiful to go back to, but I could not live there again. My family
hovers around the poverty line, work long, hard hours, and are completely at
the mercy of the climate and other difficult to control external factors for
their lively hood.

Combine this with the isolation, poor (or non-existent) community and
education resources, complete void of cultural events and niche activities
that require higher population densities. It's nowhere near as idyllic as most
people make out.

I now live inner city. When it's nice weather I can drive an hour, go hiking,
rock climbing or exploring. During day-to-day life I have everything I need
within walking distance. I can live spontaneously. Myself and my partner are
talking about children and I'm looking forward to raising them in a city where
they can access whatever interests they like.

Once thing I will agree on though is: modern _suburban_ life is a dystopic
hellscape. It literally combines the worst of both lifestyles.

~~~
roadnottaken
Good points, but I totally disagree about the suburbs. We live on a quiet cul
de sac in a very suburban neighborhood. We’re 20 minutes from mountains,
trails, beach, schools, stores, and work. It’s safe and friendly and our kids
play with other kids in the street every day. Seems like a pretty sweet
compromise to me, but YMMV.

~~~
tspike
To each his own. To me, the utter dependence on automobiles, the blatantly
wasteful lifestyle and the oppression of HOAs feels claustrophobic, dissonant
and excessive. I feel depressed when I have to battle traffic to get access to
nature.

~~~
d10r
What is HOA?

~~~
TheSpiceIsLife
I believe in this context it means Home Owners Association[1].

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeowner_association](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeowner_association)

------
ruc0la
I am doing pretty much the same. I am currently an engineering student,
working part-time as a programmer. Although the job market for programmers is
excellent in Europe, I bought an apple orchard (via loan) pretty close to the
capital of the country where I live. Due to the proximity of the capital city,
I can sell my product at a decent price and earn more than an average senior
dev here. I also enjoy being outside and collaborate IT with agriculture. I am
planning on purchasing drones to calculate NDVI and other useful stuff. People
working 160 hours a month at a desk requires nature, peace. They love my
U-pick programme as the venue is beautiful and close to the capital (less than
15km).

~~~
godzillabrennus
160 hours a month?

I remember having a part time job.

All kidding aside, I can tell you aren’t American based on that statement
alone.

~~~
Toast_25
How strong is the overworking culture in America? It's pretty strong here, but
not too bad.

~~~
darkmarmot
They once let me go home to sleep, but then I got called back for a hot fix.

~~~
ehnto
We aimed to have two deploy brackets, Monday morning and Wednesday morning. If
it is broken we roll back, fix it properly, redeploy at midday. If it can't be
fixed in a day then it's properly broken and probably shouldn't have made it
to release.

I worked at that agency for four years and did perhaps two weekends of
overtime. Bliss. It can be done, and in an agency environment with client
expectations.

------
MsMowz
Farming is no way to make a living. I'm glad that these people are finding
success, but I come from a farming community and family and for decades
farming has only been affordable if you also had another full-time job.
Although microfarms for trendy produce might not be so bad.

~~~
pcurve
As someone with first hand experience or exposure, what do you think are main
reasons?

I'm still amazed at how cheap food is in the U.S. (though quality just isn't
there for the most part).

~~~
planteen
What do you mean by quality? Fruits and vegetables in the US tend to have much
higher visual quality than elsewhere.

~~~
wyager
You are absolutely right, but that visual quality comes at a huge cost in
other areas. For example, I find tomatoes in the US disgusting (and don’t tell
me “oh, you need to try fresh/cherry/whatever tomatoes”, I have). They look
good but taste horrible. They’ve been bred for looks and weight, not flavor.

In many places outside the US, the tomato breeds there are bred for flavor,
not looks. They’re uglier, but they have a vastly higher sugar/fat/whatever
content and taste much better.

[https://www.vox.com/2016/2/12/10972140/fruits-vegetables-
tas...](https://www.vox.com/2016/2/12/10972140/fruits-vegetables-taste-better-
europe)

~~~
astura
It's well known that tomatoes you buy in the store in the US are pure garbage,
even among Americans.

I live in the Northeast. Around here practically every single person plants
tomatoes if they have a backyard, even if they never plant any other
vegetables ever. Chatting about how your tomatoes are doing and what type of
tomatoes you are growing is a classic pasttime around these parts.

Of course the reason is there's nothing you can buy in the store that tastes
like what you plant in your yard. I know quite a few people who don't like
store tomatoes but like home-grown tomatoes.

~~~
pcurve
I'm in Northeast too I'm going to miss my backyard cherry tomato until next
year.

It's quite fun being able to control acidity, sweetness, texture depending on
when you pick them off vine.

------
nabla9
Some commentators here have difficulty of understanding how small farming can
be profitable. It's relatively easy to explain.

They are not selling just the product. Just like microbreweries, small farms
sell for people who want more than just a beer or lettuce. They want to
distinguish themselves and buy the feeling of authentic life and values.
Consumer pays more for "small farm" even if the product is not any different
from neighboring farm product that is not marketing itself as "small farm".

Modern consumer marketing sells identity, lifestyle, and values. There is no
reason why small farm products can't create value from association and
self–identification just like Pepsi is not selling sugar water or Nike is not
selling sneakers. Everything that is sold using words classic, authentic,
natural, original can be more expensive for segment who wants those tings.

Traditional farmers who produce standard grain or milk in bulk quantities are
selling for different market segment.

~~~
ratacat
I pay ten dollars a gallon for fresh non pasteurized milk from a local family
that has seven cows. I don't buy a lifestyle from them, I buy fucking good
milk from animals that are loved like family, and I'm proud to be helping them
make a living doing something that is good for everyone(including the cows).
It's not a lifestyle, it's just supporting people who aren't shitting on
everyone's future.

~~~
ryguytilidie
>I don't buy a lifestyle from them, I buy fucking good milk from animals that
are loved like family, and I'm proud to be helping them make a living doing
something that is good for everyone(including the cows). It's not a lifestyle,
it's just supporting people who aren't shitting on everyone's future.

The things you say here seem like you are ABSOLUTELY buying a lifestyle here.
ie. values for how animals should be treated, values for supporting families
and values for "not shitting on everyones future" are very much lifestyle
choices imo.

~~~
ghostbrainalpha
I think he means that he is buying "the cow's lifestyle", instead of his.

I applaud the sentiment, but do small farm cows, loved like they are part of
the family actually do less damage to the environment? Is factory farming
doing something that makes factory cows produce more methane?

I also disagree he is not buying a lifestyle for himself. Non pasteurized milk
is ABSOLUTELY better tasting. So he is purchasing a luxury item, which is the
definition of lifestyle buying. It may be ethical, and but its still tasty.

~~~
ryguytilidie
'I applaud the sentiment, but do small farm cows, loved like they are part of
the family actually do less damage to the environment? Is factory farming
doing something that makes factory cows produce more methane?'

Why does it matter? If both methods do equal damage to the environment and one
doesnt torture animals, I still see the one that doesnt torture animals as
superior.

------
dejv
I did bought few small vineyard plots 5 years ago. It is good lifestyle,
especially as I live in the city and commute to countryside few days a week.

It is hard to make living this way, you have to spend astronomical amount of
money just to buy basic infrastructure and land required to even start. Then
you are very dependent on weather and without good planning you might end up
broke very easily.

In my case I basically bought into (less then) minimum wage job, that require
huge ongoing investments and sustained work all year around. I like this
lifestyle and I am not fool, so I still keep working as a developer (during
off season as well as part time work) and have diverse streams of income that
can sustain my family.

What I can see on forums and discussions around the internet is romantic view
of this lifestyle with bankruptcy down the road. Trust me, this lifestyle is
not easy and you should spent more time with Excel then you are comfortable
with.

------
laughfactory
The TLDR; is that roughly 2,000 more people in the 25-34 age group started
farming, which is a roughly 2% increase. Doesn't really sound like news to me,
not yet at least. I'd like to interpret it as the younger generation getting
back to their roots and more connected with real stuff (where food actually
comes from, getting hands dirty, that sort of thing), but 2,000 people doesn't
make a wave. I hope this number continues to rise and that as a society we
become more _real_ in coming years rather than less. I.e., I think our society
has lost something important the further we've gotten from our roots.

~~~
Clubber
2% doesn't sound remarkable until you look at how agricultural jobs has
dropped since 1800.

[http://protecttheharvest.com/2016/01/28/why-people-fear-
agri...](http://protecttheharvest.com/2016/01/28/why-people-fear-agriculture-
the-cycle-of-misinformation/)

------
Retric
Their are no "three-acre farms," at best it's a garden. My old boss operated a
80 acre micro farm while holding down a full time job. It was a hobby that at
best broke even, but he had fun.

PS: They might say be operating a stall at a locally grown market, but it's
the stall not the farm that's generating income.

~~~
Kurtz79
"PS: They might say be operating a stall at a locally grown market, but it's
the stall not the farm that's generating income."

If the stall sells products coming from the farm, the difference is lost on
me.

It's like saying "it's the Sales department that generate income, while
Engineering is just a cost".

~~~
jbob2000
Put it this way - if you bought your apples from the grocery store and sold
them in your stall, it would probably sell just as well. It's the experience
of going to a market and buying from a stall that people like, NOT the
produce.

~~~
goialoq
If that were true, than how is it even possible for a farmer to get a spot at
the stall? Why aren't they crowded out by grocery arbitragers?

~~~
Anderkent
Because there's certainly skill involved in the successful managing of a
stall. It's not that _anyone_ could buy from the grocery store and sell at the
stall and make a profit; just the people who successfully make profit on a
small farm.

The suggestion is that the customer knowledge/access is what is providing
value, not the farming.

------
kakarot
I spent some time working and living on a farm run by someone under 35.

I'm not sure how much their personality and lack of managerial skills
ultimately contributed to their inability to turn a profit, as they certainly
had cashflow, but it also occurred to me while I was working there that the
kind of farm we had (10 - 20 acre, general organic produce) was a nice thought
but without extensive community support (something they never bothered to
foster) they aren't likely to survive. It costs a lot to maintain farm
equipment and pay salary.

Niche, high-efficiency, high-automation, vertical farms are something worth
exploring, and I have read about the success of others doing things this way.
It's something I continue to think about.

One way to engender a thriving locally run community of farmers would be to
establish autonomous chapters of a larger organization that provides
consistent expectations among the communities they operate in.

The farms would offer membership plans, which would be actively solicited and
advertised. The membership plan would include discount access up to a certain
weight in produce / meat / dairy each month, in exchange for a small fee and a
few hours a month of unpaid labor, such as indoor/outdoor farming, planting,
solicitation and selling goods at local markets.

Importantly, the organization would be nonprofit and all proceeds would go
back into the farms. Market research needs to be done to establish the optimal
ratio of acreage to service radius, but I think it is an idea worth exploring.

~~~
queeerkopf
Something similiar already exists if i understood you correctly. Look up
'community supported agriculture' (CSA).

~~~
kakarot
But those are mostly localized and unorganized farms, right?

------
olympus
"For only the second time in the last century, the number of farmers under 35
years old is increasing..."

Not surprising because this is cyclical- the only difference is that the
cycles in the past were shorter because life expectancy was shorter. Farming
is a job that requires(1) a huge amount of up-front capital to get started in
terms of land and equipment. The recurring cost isn't as high, but you have to
stay in the game for as long as you can to pay off the initial investment. So
a lot of people got involved in farming 50 years ago as young people, and they
are dying off/finally retiring. Some are handing over the reins to their kids,
and some are handing over the reins to their grandkids. Some aren't handing
anything over, but when they leave there is room in the market for young
people to enter. All of this results in generational and bi-generational
influxes of farmers.

(1) You don't _have_ to have the capital up front, you can get a loan or you
can sharecrop. Getting a loan means your break-even time is longer, and
sharecropping basically makes you an employee.

------
jrs95
I thought this was going to be about MMO currency. Very disappointed.

Really though, I'm not very surprised this is happening. Desk jobs can be
pretty soul crushing. Sometimes I wonder how long it would take for me to
learn Pennsylvania Dutch and join the Amish.

~~~
m_coder
>>learn Pennsylvania Dutch and join the Amish.

I know Amish people and have grown up Mennonite. There is a significant way of
thinking that is very hard (though not impossible) to overcome coming in. This
is true even if you have a supporting Amish community and find language
learning easy.

I am very interested in this process and how it feels to those on the outside
coming in. Let me know if you attempt this.

------
zw123456
Hahaha. Wow, I grew up on a farm and I went to college and got an engineering
degree to get away from it! I can't even imagine going the other direction.

I still remember bucking hay, mowing the tansy, running the irrigation truck,
taking care of the chickens and dozens of other chores I hated. To me, it was
not the least bit fun.

I wonder how many of these people romanticize the life style and after a few
years will change their minds. I admit, I am probably jaded, but I think they
are crazy :)

~~~
sliverstorm
If you come in with capital assets and marketable tech skills to fall back on,
maybe you get to pick and choose which parts of farming you want. I imagine
some crops or animals are more enjoyable than others.

~~~
zw123456
My older sister took over the family farm, I tried to convince her to go into
pot farming (legal in the state) she was not up for it but I think our grandpa
would have approved, he was a boot legger back in the depression era to keep
the farm.

------
ggm
Better to make this a young person move because old people can't do stoop work
as long.

Tractors destroy kidneys. White finger disease in any vibration. Farming is
not kind to the body.

Satisfying, but not kind. Kids go there. I welcome it. If you're over forty
think hard before commitment locks you in.

------
ixtli
Translation: farm subsidies still over-provisioned by American government.

------
ohazi
Stardew Valley?

~~~
Aardwolf
Thought the same, and remember this article:

[http://www.pcgamer.com/meet-the-man-who-loved-stardew-
valley...](http://www.pcgamer.com/meet-the-man-who-loved-stardew-valley-so-
much-he-bought-a-farm/)

------
antoniuschan99
I've been working on a product to help Farmers and Gardeners so have been
talking to many different types of farmers from Container Farms, to
Aquaponics, to Indoor Greenhouses. The industry is vast and there's pros and
cons for every type of system. There's no silver bullet.

This video is pretty informative for someone interested in this topic on the
business side. It's titled "The 5 Elements to make $100k on a Quarter Acre"

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvIQgyPkmoY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvIQgyPkmoY)

------
clubmg
>Why'd I switch to rural life? Quality of life.

It's amazing to me that for all our modern tech and conveniences it's not made
us happier in fact the old ways seem much more enjoyable and appealing.

~~~
indubitable
I think many things have made us happier, but we have begun to replace the
pursuit of products that improve life with the pursuit of products that
improve revenue. The automobile, the telephone, the internet, and all of these
things have improved life unbelievably. I think the point where happiness and
progress begin to diverge is when consumerism enters into the picture -- when
people are buying products because of status and marketing, instead of the
actual necessity of the product itself. And then that sort of attitude leaks
into society itself where virtue signaling starts to become more valued than
actual discussion. It's all so very artificial. Perhaps this desire to get
'back to our roots' is some sort of Fruedian escape from the increasing
fakeness of society today.

------
wheresmyusern
ive considered doing something kind of like this but just grow enough food for
myself -- so a garden rather than a farm. the draw for me is reducing my
living expenses. modern houses make absolutely no sense because their design
carries vestigial baggage from thousands of years ago, from a time when we
didnt know about any of the physics or technology that we know about now. it
turns out that you can build a passive and maintenance free house for about
the same amount of money as a traditional house.

someone else commented about the fact that modern suburban life is a hell-
scape. i couldnt agree more. people think you have to do it in order to live.
but you dont, just buy land on the outskirts of the city and build a house on
it. the city is right there if you want it. i dont want it most of the time,
personally. but sometimes i really do.

there are also people in here who say how they know farming, the grew up on a
farm and its horrible. i really think that there is a new trend on the horizon
of people moving away from the city, but this article misses the whole point.
they wont be farming, because farming does suck. theyll just be making their
lives more secure and cheaper by owning land and a house instead of renting.
this will continue to make more and more sense as solar power and electric
cars and self driving cars become more and more reliable and cheap. i really
do think we will see more and more people opting for city outskirts.

~~~
hammock
>their design carries vestigial baggage from thousands of years ago, from a
time when we didnt know about any of the physics or technology that we know
about now. it turns out that you can build a passive and maintenance free
house for about the same amount of money as a traditional house.

Can you expand on this? What are the vestiges in a modern house? How does one
design a passive and maintenance-free house?

~~~
wheresmyusern
sure. houses are made of wood. we recently had some super bad fires here in
california and right now people are literally building new wooden homes upon
the ashes of their last homes. does that make sense to you? in hurricane
areas, people do the same thing in the absence of regulations -- they build
out of sticks.

roofs are often tiled with tar or slate or ceramic. why? they break, leak, and
need to be replaced frequently except for slate. they get damaged super
easily. the most common roofing material by far is asphalt shingles where i
live. they get extraordinarily hot when the sun beats down on them, and since
they are attached directly to the house they make the house get hot.

there is also energy management. most houses leak air because traditional
construction does nothing to ensure the air tightness of a house. back in the
old times, it would have been a huge undertaking so nobody bothered with it.
most houses only put insulation around the wooden members of the walls, so
heat is conducted through the wood, going right around the insulation.
concrete foundations werent insulated until recently. the ventilation systems
in houses just throw energy out the window, heating or cooling the air in the
house and then throwing it out and bringing off-temperature air in and then
heating or cooling that and then throwing it out and so on.

there are lots of other things that dont make much sense.

there is a new wave of house building called passive house building. it
basically takes into account all of the things i mentioned, fixing them.

my personal plan for a "passive house" is to use icf construction. icf or
"insulated concrete forms" is a building technique thats used in florida for
homes that need to withstand hurricanes. you can see photos of desolated
landscapes post-hurricane where the only standing structure in sight is a
single icf home. icf gets its name from the fact that it is pre-insulated. you
get a bunch of expanded poly-styrene blocks that click into place to form a
single monolithic mold into which concrete is poured. the forms also have
integrated clips and hangers for rebar reinforcement. you can also use micro-
rebar to make the concrete unbelievably strong -- the military uses micro
rebar to make blast-proof structures.

the result of icf construction is a completely monolithic, air tight, high
thermal mass, super highly insulated structure that has no significant thermal
bridges depending on the implementation. its simple, effective and isnt much
more expensive than a traditional system let alone a wooden system that meets
the same specifications. icf houses with cementatious stucko wont burn and is
considered a non combustable structure by the government.

the air ventilation system, which is essential in an air tight house, will be
what is called a heat recovery ventilation system. it uses heat exchangers to
transfer the heat or lack of heat in the outgoing air into the income air. it
isnt expensive or complicated, its literally a bunch of tubes that touch
eachother. that simple arrangement will retain 95% of the energy you expend
heating or cooling the house even while the ventilation system is working at
full tilt keeping the air inside the home fresh and free of humidity.

the outside of the house can be covered in cementatious stucko as normal, but
stucko with integrated pigment so that it doesnt need to be painted, ever.
maybe power washed every once in a while.

a thick and highly insulated concrete slab on grade foundation provides lots
of thermal mass to store heat energy and also prevents energy leakage.

the roof can be a raised seam metal roof. these roofs last a minimum of 40
years and can take hail and whatever else is thrown at them. you see them (in
america) on commercial buildings because every business that runs the numbers
comes to the same conclusion: metal roofs are durable and free of nonsense. if
you do a metal roof right it can last longer than _you_. they also reflect
heat instead of absorb it so they keep things much cooler.

the house will also have triple paned windows with an acceptable R and U
value. thats another things houses do wrong.

thats the basic overview but there are lots of other things and lots of other
details that have gone into it.

overall the cost is a little higher but not only do you make up for it in the
long term, you buy something that is worth way more than all the extra money:
piece of mind. living in a house that takes care of you, that doesnt have
problems or demand money.

~~~
hammock
That sounds awesome. The only thing I could think of while reading it was how
impossible it would be to convince a secondhand buyer of all that though.
Resale value not worth the upfront investment. However if I planned to own
that house until I died (or longer) might be worth it.

------
andyidsinga
This is really interesting - and to put my own biased spin on it I think its
not only farming.

I left my bigco desk job last summer (left == was booted out with separation
package when our org got whacked). I started a small business with a former
employee who is now my partner.

Its still a desk-job in a sense - I work at a desk on my computer. But that
desk is nothing like a "desk job" at a big co.

In our small business, we're primarily a software company, HOWEVER, our
philosophy is "this is our business; we can follow our interests and do
whatever we want".

Interestingly, one of the things we're looking at is agriculture - and without
putting to fine a point on it, sustainable agriculture is built in to that. So
.. we're building some portfolio items that include control systems for plant
care etc.

We're totally boot strapped, working off our savings and some IoT and cloud
consulting gigs. Our goal, with some careful planning of our time, is to have
those gigs pay for our porfolio item development which with some marketing and
customer development could lead to better understanding of requirements for
product development.

Re this article - I can totally imagine that some of our customers will be
these small scale farmers - who need the right mix of tools (and prices) to
help them operate. The tools/products for large farms are, IMHO, incompatible
with their needs.

Also, for the past several years I've really been interested in small-scale
malting for beers and whiskies. ..I need some small number of acres to get
started ..our bent for software could be applied to malting. "our company can
do whatever it wants" :)

------
k__
Someone who studied CS with me said he'd rather work in conatruction, because
he sleeps better after building houses instead of software

------
bucko
I'm from Arkansas. While I was growing up my fad was a pilot full time and my
mom managed restaurant staff. My dad also got into wildlife management and was
able to double his income by organizing a hunting club on some fallow land we
had inherited from his grandmother.

About 10 years agoo they got into small-scale organiv ranching as well.
There's a steep learning curve, and you have to work every day, but they are
enjoying it because a) exercise is good for you and b) they work 3-4 hours per
fay c) outside in a beautiful pasture lined by many square miles of swampland
and hardwood forest.

I grew up catching frogs, climbing trees, and swimming in mudholes with no
adult supervision. Today I have a five year old son and live in a global
megacity. It's sooo hellishly restrictive for a child to grow up in an urban
environment. He suffers not only emotionally,but developmentally as well. He
asks us regularly to move to a place with more nature.

Read Last Child in the Woods. It's a good start for helping re-examine modern
lifestyles.

------
evjim
I spent two years living on a small permaculture farm. The place took on
wwoofers and so I got to meet a ton of young people who wanted to farm. But
most couldn't afford their own land, so instead they roamed around and worked
nearly for free for wwoof farm owners. It's a cool program, but unfortunate
land is out of reach

~~~
underbluewaters
Every successful small farm is built on unpaid labor from what I've seen. Many
are making it work and providing some value to these workers, but I shake my
head seeing young college graduates working as laborers. All to get experience
in a field that has so few good opportunities.

~~~
bornonline1
I did it and its not so bad. Experience is really valuable and the no-money-
involved relationship is just so more meaningful. But a place where you feel
as a part of the family. Those are the best

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iancmceachern
Lots of exciting things going on in this space. There is also an Open Source
Movement that came out of the MiT Media Lab, called OpenAg
([https://www.media.mit.edu/groups/open-agriculture-
openag/ove...](https://www.media.mit.edu/groups/open-agriculture-
openag/overview/)) which has created a platform for folks like our company,
Open Agriculture Supply
([https://www.openagriculturesupply.com/](https://www.openagriculturesupply.com/))
to create "Food Computers" which are climate controlled boxes that grow food
for you indoors.

All open source, all on the same platform.

The future of farming is indoors, distributed, hyper local, and vertical.

Also check out the book that started it all "The Vertical Farm" by Dr. Dickson
Despommier,

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skybrian
I wonder if they will get undercut by a more scalable approach to high-end
food?

[https://www.vox.com/energy-and-
environment/2017/11/8/1661171...](https://www.vox.com/energy-and-
environment/2017/11/8/16611710/vertical-farms)

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gilbetron
My dad grew up on a farm and has no idea why someone would willingly do the
same.

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oblib
You really have to love living in a rural area to be happy there.

I grew up in a mid-west city and move to LA when I was 14. I lived in
Hollywood, West Hills, and Malibu. I decided to leave when I was 29. The
people I knew in LA all thought I was crazy when I told them where I was
moving.

I researched places to live for a few months before leaving and I've been
where I considered the best place to be is since then, for about 25 years now.

I moved to a rural area for the same reason "clord" did, "Quality of life".
Where one finds that is up to them but that should really be the focus, not a
job title or pay.

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foxhop
Money does grow on trees.

The 8 forms of capital: [http://www.appleseedpermaculture.com/8-forms-of-
capital/](http://www.appleseedpermaculture.com/8-forms-of-capital/)

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hkmurakami
If you look back, many successful SV types become part time or full time
farmers, starting with perhaps David Packard. Seems like that connection with
the land is ingrained in us somewhere no matter who you are.

~~~
randomdata
Or is it the tech? Agriculture tends to run at the forefront technology
adoption, so you have a chance to play with tech you are unlikely to find
elsewhere. That’s what drew me to farming.

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Dylanfm
If you’re interested in a recipe for running a profitable, small farm I
recommend the book The Market Gardener by Jean-Martin Fortier.

There are a lot of other examples around of similar farmers, e.g Curtis Stone,
Ridgedale Permaculture
([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Knn7ZH4Tiw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Knn7ZH4Tiw))

------
wingspar
There’s nothing new under the sun...

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Acres](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Acres)

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Good_Life_(1975_TV_serie...](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Good_Life_\(1975_TV_series\))

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hackermailman
There's a lot of organic farm internships around where they cover your meals
and accommodation in exchange for work, some also pay a stipend of
$500-900/mnth. Many of my friends do this for 6 months of the year then travel
during the off season. It's a good way to learn farming if you want to run
your own.

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coygui
No matter how they love to work at small farm, they will be eventually
replaced by machines when machine learning farming equipment becomes
affordable to small farm owner. Then small farm will be one man farm.

After that, the lifestyle of supporting local farm losses the meaning.

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diminish
"a growing number" here is the key to differentiating bad journalism from the
good. I bet this number will grow even more as desk jobs grow more in
proportion to farm though this may appear contradictory.

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drej
That title is puntastic.

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free_everybody
This seems like a very positive trend for community sustainability and I hope
it only gets more popular in the future.

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agumonkey
a quick brain fart, more and more the tech dream fades away and somehow the
good old life seems more fulfilling

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nialv7
So Stardew Valley is based on real life?

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delbel
small farmers are the original hackers

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antjanus
I blame Stardew Valley.

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neelkadia
woah good news

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neelkadia
love that!

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yuhong
The fun thing is that it used to be that rural areas has the most Republican
votes for example.

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dasenden
Lifestyle is quite different from ideals and principles.

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JohnnyConatus
"A Growing number of young Americans are leaving jobs that produce things of
value to create click-bait bullshit journalism about made-up or statistically
insignificant trends"

