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W Texas | I'm a physician. Grew up in a trailer park. Single mother. Father in prison. Great grandfather was a dairyman and I got the bug from weekends on the farm with him.
I could not have gotten started farming without the good paying job. OK, great paying job. It seemed as impossible to get started when I was 18 as it does to you now. I had to hitch hike to college.
If you go to college, it has to pay. A job in "Ag Systems Management" isn't likely to get you there. Sounds like a quick trip to an Ag sales job to me. John Deere or fertilizer, etc. You'd feel like a eunuch guarding the king's harem.
IMO, the only good reasons to go to college are:
1) Get a degree/certification in a prestigious field that isn't available without a college degree -- this is limited to about 10-12 fields, BTW. Well, maybe 20 if you count the different fields in engineering separately.
2) Pursue an intellectual passion -- if you want to be an Astronomer or Physicist. Please don't study Philosophy. The great problem in modern society is too many philosophers and not enough diesel mechanics.
and finally 3) Chase college girls if your parents are rich and you have time to kill.
If none of these apply to you, you are better off becoming a plumber or electrician, or something similar. Hire on as an Electrician's Apprentice and you will have a journeyman's license in 4 years tops, debt free and able to start your own business. There are a lot more small businessmen that got a start in farming than there are ag graduates. Plenty of ag graduates are farming, but they are almost exclusively from farm families and got started with training wheels front and rear.
The key issue is living within your means. There are plenty of ways to earn a good living. None of them will lead to a start in farming unless you save money. If you are making a truck payment, that's counterproductive. You are better off driving a beater that you can work on yourself.
All just my opinion. Good luck!
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Wanna help shape a young guys life? HELP NEEDED..
