Do you see farm business as a stress or relaxed lifestyle?

[Kelly6]

I'm asking about a medium farm.

Perennial Farming, where you don't plant every year.

[DrPepper12]

Agriculture is human kinds WORST invention. Read "Guns, germs & steel"

Jared Diamond (1987): The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race: Discover (May), pp. 64–66: “Archaeology is demolishing another sacred belief: that human history over the past million years has been a long tale of progress…

…The adoption of agriculture, supposedly our most decisive step toward a better life, was in many ways a catastrophe from which we have never recovered. With agriculture came the gross social and sexual inequality, the disease and despotism, that curse our existence…. For most of our history we supported ourselves by hunting and gathering: we hunted wild animals and foraged for wild plants. It’s a life that philosophers have traditionally regarded as nasty, brutish, and short…. Our escape from this misery was facilitated only 10,000 years ago, when in different parts of the world people began to domesticate plants and animals. The agricultural revolution spread until today it’s nearly universal and few tribes of hunter-gatherers survive…. Planted crops yield far more tons per acre than roots and berries. Just imagine a band of savages, exhausted from searching for nuts or chasing wild animals, suddenly grazing for the first time at a fruit-laden orchard or a pasture full of sheep. How many milliseconds do you think it would take them to appreciate the advantages of agriculture?…. The progressivist party line sometimes even goes so far as to credit agriculture with the remarkable flowering of art…. Agriculture gave us free time that hunter-gatherers never had. Thus it was agriculture that enabled us to build the Parthenon and compose the B-minor Mass….

I wouldn't wish agriculture on my worst enemy!

[contentious]

So long as you are profitable I don't see it as stressful. That said, for your olive farm you're talking about, there is more than just harvesting olives once a year.

-You have to fertilize your trees 4 times a year.

-You have to mow the grass/ground cover around your trees regularly.

-You have to prune your trees at least once a year.

-You have to deal with what you prune. Either chip it or burn it.

-You have to control weedy competitors.

-You have to manage crop disease and pests. You might might do this by using insecticides or by using various beneficial insects.

-You have to bring bee hives into the orchard at key points to boost productivity.

-You have to cut up fallen trees when storms pass through and deal with the waste.

=You have to replace dead and fallen trees in the orchard with new trees.

-Thus you are likely propagating new trees on a regular bases to replace old trees and potentially sell as a secondary source of income.

-You are likely grafting various cultivars onto trees through the year to promote increased pollination.

- You have to maintain equipment to do all those jobs (i. e. chain saws, mowers, tractors, harvesters, trucks, etc.)

-You have to harvest your crops.

-You have to market your crops and sell them.

-You have to do bookkeeping, taxes, and general business management like annual reports.

-You have to repair fences to keep out wildlife that damage your crops.

- and more...

[wynning]

Depends on how dodgy the plants are and how much you need to care for the, I imagine.
Sure if they just need a bit of ferto here and water there it'd be a swell time (at least in season anyway...) but that is still going to be multiplied by how much you're growing too.
I think the stress can add up. You need to sell all that for a decent bid too.

[Kelly6]

@wynning
75% are well grown trees which already give fruit,
On rest 25% I just started planting new trees

[wynning]

@Kelly6
Ah okay that's grand so. Much more manageable than the grassroots approach I was on about!

[Kelly6]

@Valdemort
Adding 25% more trees is not urgent but that I'm just doing for future benefit for kids.

[wynning]

@Kelly6 Thank you for MHO and that sounds like a great idea. Oh it'd be gorgeous when they're all grown up! (Kids and the trees lol)

[midnightmoon05]

Give it a go then let us know how it goes.
I grew up in a farm the first 10 years of my life.
I don’t think my family ever want to go back.
we are all in a much better place.

[Kelly6]

@midnightmoon05 which type of farming was it?

[OlderAndWiser]

You are thinking of something like maintaining a citrus grove? You must worry about a hard freeze killing your crops, killing your trees, and untreatable diseases (like citrus canker) wiping out your grove. . . and if THAT happens, you must replant your trees and wait a few years before the trees are old enough to bear fruit.

Sounds stressful to me.

[Phoenix98]

It's a lot of work especially if your new to the industry. I mean there's a lot of variables to it.

How rich the soil is in nutrients that your planting? What kind of invasive and crop destroying weeds grow in the area? Weather conditions, is there gonna be enough rain to grow a subnational enough crop to make a decent profit? Is the state your in known for high winds, dust storms, tornadoes, are your crops gonna get torn to shreds by high winds or storms?

Do you have the millions of dollars required to actually get brand new equipment to start the farm ( if your starting literally from scratch )

Are you gonna be able to hire experienced, reliable help to walk your fields every year?

Insurance, taxes, who your gonna sell to, which company is gonna give you the best price, or take your stuff if it has high moisture, bad germination, is trashy.

Lot of things to consider including the few examples I posted above.

[ohsheeT]

Farming is farming
You have to love hard work because your always going to be doing something.. riding a bicycle can be stressful so for me I have to say no
And that's just because I love work it's my quiet time in away

As for stress. Most people strees over the unknown. Or over something they have no control of any way. Or they stress over something that hasn't even happened yet

So for me working is relaxing in it own way

[XXblack88]

Both It's a lifestyle you'll always have home grown food but at times stressful the weather plays a big role in your crops several and being able to take a vacation is not in the cards if your a farmer. The job is definitely need it feeding people definitely hard with little appreciation from people.

[glennos89]

I think it can be relaxing but it also comes with responsibility and stress every year. There's is every time you plant new seeds in the grounds the possibility that the climate can screw up your entire cropfields. Many things can go wrong if you monitor daily how your plants are doing, especially during the grow period.

Farming can be relaxing but there is always a lot of hard work involved in being a farmer

[sage2021]

I would think that it would be very hard work and waking up at 3 AM to get the animals fed.

I wouldn't be relaxed at all. The work never gets done!!

[Kelly6]

@sage2021
It olive farm with no animals, only need harvesting one time in year

[AviatorTom]

A family farm is very stressful. Everyone in the family, plus farm hands, works long hours every day, from before sunrise to after sunset, and the farm must compete against the huge agri-conglomerates.

100 years ago, it was much more relaxing, but those days are long gone.

[SteveSmith1985]

I have always lived in the city. I'm still pretty sure there is nothing relaxing about farming. I do think of it as a high-stress business. But again, I'm definitely not speaking from experience.

[DJB72]

Both. I grew up round farmers. There's always the thought if it's going to rain too much or not enough. Will it be a hot or cold summer because it impacts the harvest time. But when government keeps their dick out of it then there's something very fulfilling in farming

[CaptainSmartass]

It would be stressful as fuck. Especially since the regime wants to tax the fuck out of farmers, and whack a fucking obscene level of inheritance tax on farms. Add that to the normal farm stress and yah, no chance of me being a farmer. Stress and eau de horseshit.

Simples...

[exitseven]

it is a very high stress job. A lack of rain, or a flood or a sudden frost can mean bankruptcy.

[NathanDavis]

business = stress

stress free = not a business

[Sunrising]

I'm not even a gardener, though I pull up weeds, and stop the garden from being overgrown. The only thing I'm good at growing is weeds, so farming would be stressful for me.

.

[bowenw]

Probably stressful as you are dependent a lot on the weather.

[molonski2]

Can only speak for Australia , incredibly stressful , super long hours , no life , expensive labour.

[QuestionObsession]

It is hard work and stress only for those who are not cut out for it. It is no different from any blue collar labour job. The only difference is that the pay is steady on a blue collar job and farming income can be unstable.

[Blueeyes81]

Farming is a lot more work than people think. Plus you are at the whim of mother nature. You could lose your livelihood in an instant. Heatwave, frost, insects, fungus all can wipe you out in a single day.

[fish5505_87]

Any farming is a lot of work. However, if it's what you love?

[krin_m]

I think it is a mix, like any other lifestyle.

[Danny_dan92]

Depending on the size of your farm and how many assets you have. Etc.

[Surely]

Farming is hard work. But it can be calming with great rewards!

[LiamJHayden]

Can be super stressful if that is one's sole source of income.

[Valdemort]

Probably gonna be stressful

[bornNerd]

It's stressful but being close to nature is very relaxing

[LunarEclipse433]

Not a farmer but I would say stressful due to so many variables that could bankrupt you.

[KittygosMeoWW]

It can be stressful as well

[Jennz6]

Hard work and stress

[Lilly1979]

Heavy stress unless it’s for your own usage.

[Lynx122]

Stress, stress stress :)

[NicholasRedone]

Hell - sorry @purplepoppy and stressful

[jahaims]

It depends on what resources you have available

[Dongie]

Seems relaxed to me.

[alice55]

stressing

[Credentialmayhem]

It’s very hard work

[In_Trance]

stressed

[eagle1951]

stress

[worldscolide]

Both.