http://farmers.righteousbacon.com/2013/05/29/be
ware-the-hobbyist/#comment-2
by DIANA on MAY 29, 2013
A couple of years ago I attended a talk given by a
man who began his piece recounting a cross-
country move he’d made with his wife and kids.
Though his primary job in agriculture was as a
professor and researcher rather than a farmer, he
still dabbled in a small cow-calf operation on the
side. There were thousands of miles between
their old home and the new one, and as anyone
who has ever had the pleasure of moving
livestock knows, they quickly found that
transporting their herd from one home to the next
would not be an insignificant expense. They went
back and forth on what to do and despite the
costs associated with the move ultimately decided
to bring every last one of their cows with them…
to Kansas.
That’s right, to the tune of many thousands of
dollars, they picked up their herd of beef cows
and moved them to The Land Of Beef Cows.
They could have easily sold their herd before
moving and restocked with the money from those
sales when they arrived at their new home, but
they didn’t. They were attached to the cows they
had, weren’t tethered to their bottom line, and
made the decision to do what they wanted, rather
than what would have been the most
economically sound decision for their farm
business.
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with this, as
long as we understand the decision in the context
of the type of farm he was running. There are,
perhaps, as many reasons to farm as there are
farmers, after all, and no one reason is inherently
better or worse than any other — so long as we
acknowledge that they are, in fact, very different.
There is farming for the lifestyle and then there is
living the lifestyle for the farm. There is farming as
a hobby, and farming because you wish to build
and maintain a successful, sustainable business.
The latter does not preclude an enjoyment of the
lifestyle, I don’t know a farmer that doesn’t enjoy
his lifestyle. And the former doesn’t necessarily
preclude all business-wise decisions, but it
certainly eclipses a great deal of them.
There are both hobby and professional farms in
every segment of the agricultural industry and in
virtually every shape, size, and mode of
production. I’ve met hobby farmers with large,
well-established operations and professional
farmers with tiny, beginning operations. The two
are distinguished only by the decisions they make
and the priorities they set. The important thing is
that whichever you should choose, you make that
choice deliberately.
And if it happens to be the latter: beware the
hobbyist who would tell you how to be a
professional; he’s never known what it’s like to
make a farm business “go” and has none of the
practical experience it requires to do so.
ware-the-hobbyist/#comment-2
by DIANA on MAY 29, 2013
A couple of years ago I attended a talk given by a
man who began his piece recounting a cross-
country move he’d made with his wife and kids.
Though his primary job in agriculture was as a
professor and researcher rather than a farmer, he
still dabbled in a small cow-calf operation on the
side. There were thousands of miles between
their old home and the new one, and as anyone
who has ever had the pleasure of moving
livestock knows, they quickly found that
transporting their herd from one home to the next
would not be an insignificant expense. They went
back and forth on what to do and despite the
costs associated with the move ultimately decided
to bring every last one of their cows with them…
to Kansas.
That’s right, to the tune of many thousands of
dollars, they picked up their herd of beef cows
and moved them to The Land Of Beef Cows.
They could have easily sold their herd before
moving and restocked with the money from those
sales when they arrived at their new home, but
they didn’t. They were attached to the cows they
had, weren’t tethered to their bottom line, and
made the decision to do what they wanted, rather
than what would have been the most
economically sound decision for their farm
business.
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with this, as
long as we understand the decision in the context
of the type of farm he was running. There are,
perhaps, as many reasons to farm as there are
farmers, after all, and no one reason is inherently
better or worse than any other — so long as we
acknowledge that they are, in fact, very different.
There is farming for the lifestyle and then there is
living the lifestyle for the farm. There is farming as
a hobby, and farming because you wish to build
and maintain a successful, sustainable business.
The latter does not preclude an enjoyment of the
lifestyle, I don’t know a farmer that doesn’t enjoy
his lifestyle. And the former doesn’t necessarily
preclude all business-wise decisions, but it
certainly eclipses a great deal of them.
There are both hobby and professional farms in
every segment of the agricultural industry and in
virtually every shape, size, and mode of
production. I’ve met hobby farmers with large,
well-established operations and professional
farmers with tiny, beginning operations. The two
are distinguished only by the decisions they make
and the priorities they set. The important thing is
that whichever you should choose, you make that
choice deliberately.
And if it happens to be the latter: beware the
hobbyist who would tell you how to be a
professional; he’s never known what it’s like to
make a farm business “go” and has none of the
practical experience it requires to do so.
Comment