Eah. A lot of “farmers” are land owners who hire other people to work on their farms. The average net worth of an American farming household is like, north of $1.5 million iirc.
1.5 million is not that much. Also theres a massive difference between how much you own (without debt) and how much money you make. Even while 1.5 million may sound like a lot it is in fact a quite small farm. They are probably not making that much money (also remember, that a lot of their income gets tunneled directly into paying back debt for investments.
If they weren’t proletarian they wouldn’t have to work. Farmers are some of the most hard working people in society. 70h a week is a normal workload. They work 365 days a week and still get fucked over.
Not just the equipment, but also the costs for land and buildings. In my region a single hectare of land costs around 10-20k€ so for a small farm (which would be at around 50ha) you would pay 500k to 1m € just for the land alone. You havent bought a single piece of equipment, you didnt build a building and depending on what your structure is, you also havent bought a single animal.
Everything is of course expensive. One of my exes was a farm girl. They had a smallish farm 250 Acres (101 Hectares).
He had a couple dozen cows, planted every other inch he could find, and rented a few neighboring fields. He had everything for planting/maintaining/harvesting. Anytime something got paid off, he picked up something else. Everything was a juggling act. Every free dollar was reinvested. They lived relatively decently, but modestly. Everyone got whatever they needed; nothing was extravagant. He had some outrageous amount in loans, many millions.
And there’s a lot of right to repair fights. If you think a Honda trying to lock you out for not taking it to the dealership for an oil change is bad, just imagine how bad it is for somebody with a combine that costs most of that million.
Eah. A lot of “farmers” are land owners who hire other people to work on their farms. The average net worth of an American farming household is like, north of $1.5 million iirc.
1.5 million is not that much. Also theres a massive difference between how much you own (without debt) and how much money you make. Even while 1.5 million may sound like a lot it is in fact a quite small farm. They are probably not making that much money (also remember, that a lot of their income gets tunneled directly into paying back debt for investments.
I’m not saying they’re “rich”. I’m saying they’re not, as OP suggests, proletarian.
If they weren’t proletarian they wouldn’t have to work. Farmers are some of the most hard working people in society. 70h a week is a normal workload. They work 365 days a week and still get fucked over.
Large equipment alone steals the fucking show.
Not just the equipment, but also the costs for land and buildings. In my region a single hectare of land costs around 10-20k€ so for a small farm (which would be at around 50ha) you would pay 500k to 1m € just for the land alone. You havent bought a single piece of equipment, you didnt build a building and depending on what your structure is, you also havent bought a single animal.
Everything is of course expensive. One of my exes was a farm girl. They had a smallish farm 250 Acres (101 Hectares).
He had a couple dozen cows, planted every other inch he could find, and rented a few neighboring fields. He had everything for planting/maintaining/harvesting. Anytime something got paid off, he picked up something else. Everything was a juggling act. Every free dollar was reinvested. They lived relatively decently, but modestly. Everyone got whatever they needed; nothing was extravagant. He had some outrageous amount in loans, many millions.
John Deere has entered the farm
An authorized service technician has entered the farm
Invoicing intensifies
And there’s a lot of right to repair fights. If you think a Honda trying to lock you out for not taking it to the dealership for an oil change is bad, just imagine how bad it is for somebody with a combine that costs most of that million.