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How hard is too hard?

11/27/2013

2 Comments

 
I'm dealing with my usual November blahs, and as part of that, I tend to get a little bit more negative than (my admittedly pessimistic) baseline. Just as last year, my ruminations are leading me consider whether I should stop trying to have a farm business and just settle for a small hobby farm/homestead.  I've learned from experience not to make decisions in the depth of the dark days of November and December, so I'll be holding off making decisions until they're absolutely necessary, but I wanted to give you some context.

So, here's the simple question I'm asking myself: I can get a job fairly easily that allows me to make a reasonable wage based on my skills and education. I'm willing to make less money and work longer hours with a farm career, but at what point does the loss of income and the increase in hours cancel out the benefits of the quality of life and satisfaction that a farm career can bring?

What I'm learning, is that loss of income and amount of hours is a great deal more than I expected when I first got interested in farming. Everyone says you can't get rich farming, and I think the general response to that axiom from most folks is to think: "sure, I can't get rich, but I can be happy." I know that's how I felt. There is a threshold of income and work hours below which, at least for me, I can never be happy. I'm still figuring out that threshold, but I think it's in the neighborhood of $30,000/year and 65 hours per week.

I think it's very difficult to wrap your head around the challenges of farming without running your own farm business. From the outside, the rose colored glasses of romanticism make it seem better than it will be, and it's also hard to guard against thinking: "sure, that person struggled, but I can do it better." Hubris is just part of human nature.

So in the end, it may just be more rational for me to find the most fulfilling non-farm career out there that gives me the most time to spend enjoying my farm as a hobby. If that is the case, it sort of feels like failure, but it is a failure I'm willing to accept if it means greater happiness in the end.
2 Comments
George
11/27/2013 06:49:46 pm

I don't think it would be failure to admit where you need to direct you energy towards right now. To realize a 30k/yr farming salary is no small undertaking, and requires start up capital or a really long time of sacrifice. I'm working for someone else right now too, saving every other paycheck towards my own farm that will be able to expand to a 30k+ salary. If you're feeling overwhelmed, there's nothing wrong w/ working for someone else, saving cash, and gaining valuable experience on someone else's dime. I learn something new almost every day, and I've been farming the past 8 years straight, grew up working summers on a dairy farm, and in between there volunteering at farms when I have free time.

Honestly, without some changes in your current farm plan, and expenditure of cash to rent more land, or taking a job on another farm that would allow you to rent some land on the cheap/barter etc, I don't see how you'll get to 30k/yr on 3-5 acres... You can do a lot of vegetables on 5 acres, however selling them, storing, cleaning, transporting, etc.. costs you dollars all along the way. I was working a 20 acre organic veg farm before as the crew leader and that farm only grossed around 80k a year.. before paying 2 full time staff, insurance, vehicle/equipment costs, fuel, etc etc etc.

I'd go back to penciling out when you realistically can make with your current setup, possibly hitting another market (you can always pay someone $10/hr) now that you have a better baseline for what you produce, sell, store...

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Mike
12/3/2013 05:42:56 am

From reading your blog, I can tell your a numbers guy. So when the numbers don't add up the way you want them to its time to change the numbers! You have found that the farmers market doesn't work for you, and I think a lot of small farmers are finding the same to be true for them. Since you seem to have the interest, why not establish with your fellow farmers a Food Hub or a Farmers Cooperative where you pool your resources of time, money, and product and locate that Cooperative somewhere central to the farms and the customers.

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