Whiskey, Tango, Foxtrot | Ben in the Basin - 6/27/2012 20:42
They might have been burned farming for themselves in the past, and now are perfectly willing to take home a good wage and let someone else do the dice rolling. They're old enough to value the stability of a regular paycheck, and know that farming has not always been a gravy train ride, and won't always be. I know several guys like that. Frankly, some days it seems like a good way to go.
Exactly. I have had enough experience with working jobs outside of ag, working for other farms, and running my own farm to see that there are good and bad points to all sides. Friend of mine went to work for a large farm right out of college, and he is basically a farm manager for them now. He has tried to get me to go to work for them many, many times. Sometimes it is very tempting. Starting salary to run the alfalfa side of their farm would be more than I've ever brought home since I've started.
Starting out farming, sure your the 'boss', but your also the irrigator, tractor driver, mechanic, book keeper, etc. etc. If I was working for them, they have a mechanic. I'm sure I'd get to use a wrench once in a while, but the pressure isn't there to be the jack of all trades. Could spend more time managing the crops instead of dealing with misc. stuff someone else is more capable of handling. Something else, in this area (like most) the land base needed to start a farm simply isn't there. A guy can't instantly start out with farm big enough to comfortably support an operation. So there are a lot of growing pains. Also your tied to the farm, myself especially with custom work all year long. Means no time off to spend with the family. It doesn't matter who your working for in ag, your probably not going to get any time off in season, but it would be nice to be able to have other employees to cover part of a week in the winter or something.
We've built a lot of equity in our farm over the last few years, and made money. But it hasn't been without a lot of sacrifices either. I've been very tempted numerous times to rent it all out and go back to work for someone else. Not owning a bolt in an operation isn't all bad either. |
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