Posted on 01/12/2018 6:35:37 AM PST by frogjerk
On Thanksgiving Day, while America ate its biggest, most famous meal of the year, The Washington Post wrote about something for which everyone ought to be thankful: more millennials are taking up farming.
That’s right: For the first time in a long time, a growing number of young Americans are ditching cities and desk jobs to sow seeds and pull weeds. In fact, it’s only the second time in the last century that the number of farmers ages thirty-five and under has increased.
(Excerpt) Read more at acculturated.com ...
Why don’t you have that same pride in “made in the USA” on durable goods?
I have two millennial nephews in law who love farming.
They both have day jobs, one as a teacher, one as an engineer. The tractors only come out on weekends. One grew up a farmer, one didn’t.
Green Acres is the place to be.
Farm livin’ is the life for me.
Land spreadin’ out so far and wide
Keep Manhattan, just give me that countryside.
New York is where I'd rather stay.
I get allergic smelling hay.
I just adore a penthouse view.
Dah-ling I love you but give me Park Avenue.
...The chores.
...The stores.
...Fresh air.
...Times Square
You are my wife.
Good bye, city life.
Green Acres we are there.
HA!
HA HA HA HA HA!!!!
Farming is REAL WORK!!!!
I don’t know 1 in 10 Millenials who is actually up for what is required.
Not really.
Land is pretty cheap, as long as you are not buying in a heavily built up area and equipment can be borrowed or rented from your neighbors.
What is expensive is ignorance.
The ones who hook up with the people who know what they are doing and learn from them will do well.
Those who rely on YouTube... not so much.
We have gotten five newcomers in the area, probably about two will make it.
Corn ...and distill spirits, winter wheat, organic veggies, LEGAL MJ (esp if indoors/medical), and HOPS for beer. Hops are weeds, but he breweries have "hop headhunters" that will pay a lot for certain types.
I’m in Iowa. Lots of farms here and farm families. If some of our college-educated millennials decide to go back to the farm instead of moving off to the big city, then I think that is a plus for us and the country. They have the lived experience, it wouldn’t be like they are starting with no idea of what to expect.
I have to admit, I thought about having a little organic farm place when I retire. We have many restaurants that pride themselves on serving locally grown food, so there’s a market for it, but I might be fooling myself as to what’s involved.
If you want to make a million dollars in dirt farming, start with two million. Farming is hard, making money on it much more so on a small scale.
You might make some money in a niche (e.g. premium meats, wine, etc.) but that isn’t just farming, that’s foresight, planning, timing, and a little luck.
My moms side of the family was in farming for as many generations as I can count; the only ones that made money bought farms and sold for houses.
Where is the cheap farmland that has good water and weather?
Pretty sure it wasn't Arnold Ziffel that drew the attention of prepubescent American youfs to that "farm"...
These days, the water tower would be a septic tank with transwhateverists... chasing Arnold.
“Growing things for profit is darned hard, even hobby gardening.”
Bump. My family has been doing it here since 1889. Before that in other places. It cannot be explained to those who grow up on asphalt.
That's how I was raised.
Cows (1 dairy, and a couple beef), chickens, pigs, 1 acre garden, and crops to feed the animals. We had 4 beehives, and we heated our rather large house with wood we cut and split ourselves.
We built every building on our land ourselves (except for the house) using lumber purchased from a lumber mill.
I learned how to work. :)
Great place to live. (usually)
Very hard place to make a living.
One millennial I know went to a pot farm last summer and worked in the fields making $40 an hour.
“Farming is easy”
“If you pencil is your plow and the nearest field is 1,000 miles away”
Headshake, but true.
It is hard work. My dad and his brother grew up on the farm, and as a kid, I’d sometimes go to work with my uncle who inherited the family dairy farm. I was glad I only had to do it once in a while, but for my uncle and his family, it was neverending, especially with milking twice a day.
My uncle told me the joke about the farmer who won the lottery. When asked what he would do with the money, the farmer said, “I’ll guess I farm until the money is gone.”
There is some here. Water is available in the sandy land area. The issue is input cost and the sandy land farms require fertilizer to yield anything. Dryland is less intensive but lower yield.
What has historically worked? Mixed, cattle, wheat, cotton and oil. More of the latter really helps the rest work.
smile.
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