Ask Lemmy

Yeah, I mean, that's the only part of farming that actually seems interesting to me. It's not that it makes me want to do it, but I'm curious about tractors using GPS to sow seeds then plow a field. But, John Deere tractors seem even more enshittified than most tech right now.

But, that also emphasizes your other point. To make farming less labour intensive and require less expertise, you can now buy really expensive farming equipment with the latest tech that makes certain aspects of farming easier. But, that equipment is extremely expensive.

Farm work used to be done by slaves. In the US, once slaves were freed, many continued to be farmers because that's all they knew how to do, and it wasn't a job that anybody else wanted to do. Now farming has diverged in 2 directions, on one end there's the (white) farm owner, or upper tier farm worker who owns million-dollar pieces of equipment with all kinds of modern tech. On the other end there are farm workers, who are often illegal immigrants, or at least immigrants on very restricted visas who work the toughest jobs for almost no money. And, both jobs suck.

The suck of the farm worker's job is obvious. Back breaking labour in terrible weather for almost no pay. It's a job that nobody with any options would choose to do.

The farm owner's job sucks too. You're at the mercy of the weather, and that weather is only getting more unpredictable as the climate changes. You have to invest in extremely expensive equipment just to have a chance, so you might have millions of dollars in assets (harvesters, livestock, land) but your average cashflow is only in the low 6 figures, and in bad years it can be negative. You don't own your own seeds, you "own" your tractor, but need John Deere's approval for your own repairs, and you're kind-of tied to the land.

Not to mention a true farming life is brutal. Those 4am wakeup calls aren't optional, if you're truly living off it. Tractor breaks down? Cow's sick? Want lunch?

You fix it, you kill it, you make it.

Because the non-industrial scale profit margins on farming suck. So you don't have the money to pay someone for many of the luxuries city folks enjoy. Do it for a year, and you either learn to love the struggle or you quit.

There are some amazing parts of farming. And the life can be incredible. But farmers are ridiculously tough for a reason.