Submitted by tonymmorley t3_yumnfi in Futurology
DrHalibutMD t1_iwaehwg wrote
Reply to comment by nova9001 in Farmers in China and Uganda move to high-yielding, cost-saving perennial rice by tonymmorley
It’s not that people don’t want to do it, it’s just not economically viable. You needs tons of people at certain times but the rest of the year a tiny fraction. What are all those people supposed to do the rest of the year when they are not needed and how much are you going to pay them to drop everything when they are?
Riversntallbuildings t1_iwan7li wrote
Correct. If there was UBI and I didn’t have to worry about the markets and healthcare and all sorts of other necessities, I would gladly farm my life away.
SprucedUpSpices t1_iwbo1ga wrote
Farming's very hard. The vast majority of people wouldn't do it for free.
EkkoGold t1_iwbqd1o wrote
UBI doesn't mean you do work for free. You do work to supplement your basic income
So you'd be getting paid on top of your UBI to do farm work. It's still hard labor and not for everyone, but you're more likely to find people willing to "try it" when they aren't having to do it to survive
TheHunnyRunner t1_iwbsj6j wrote
Agreed. As a young man I helped my great uncle run his apple orchard. We thinned the apples in the heavy rain, cut/scraped skin daily, set and repaired irrigation. Then when it was harvest time, we picked a sack of apples for time (piece work) while trying to also be safe with ladder placements in near 100 degree heat. It's hard work.
Riversntallbuildings t1_iwce2uc wrote
Yup. I grew up on a rural farm. It was brutal, especially in the winter.
Still, there’s something rewarding about growing food for other people and spending most of my time outside in nature. I’m sure I’m romanticizing it a bit.
mhornberger t1_iwcl60o wrote
Most people mean they'd putter around so long as it was amusing. They'd never want to have to survive that way. They're mistaking a hobby garden for a farm.
Willow-girl t1_iwbofup wrote
I did it for nearly 20 years; you just have to get used to being really poor.
And, what is this "healthcare" of which you speak?
nova9001 t1_iwaf6gd wrote
Indeed. Its tiring and low profit.
Might as well get an office job. I am hopeful tech can reverse the trend.
fizban7 t1_iwbv5ej wrote
As a person with an office job, we should be required to work on a farm once a year to remind ourselves how good we got it.
FeistyCanuck t1_iwda3f4 wrote
Yea but the tech way one family can farm land that once needed 10s of family's.
Z3r0sama2017 t1_iwfu1jy wrote
At the low low cost of devastating long term soil health, top soil retention, draining aquifers dry and polluting waterways with chemical run off. Other than that you are indeed correct.
FeistyCanuck t1_iwhie9g wrote
Big farms can be done responsibly too. A lot of that is related to education and training (and caring) that someone managing a large farm with a long term vision may have but potentially the small scale borderline bankrupt farm might not.
Sixnno t1_iwavl11 wrote
Yeah. You need a ton of labor for 4 to 6 Months then have nothing for 6 to 8.
UBI can help with that.
Willow-girl t1_iwboc09 wrote
In northern Michigan, where I'm from, all the farmers rely on the seasonal help of "disabled" former factory workers who moved up north to take advantage of the LCOL. They work just enough to supplement their Social Security checks, but not so much as to get kicked off disability.
nomokatsa t1_iwbvwel wrote
Having different crops, with work-intensive seasons spread out, helps;
Alternatively, have an army or students which can be ordered to gather/plant the stuff, as the Soviet Union had it, for example xD
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