So, our town set a world record! NOW WITH VIDEO AND PICTURES!

[wfbberzerker]

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: yowolabi
I don't think farmers are lowly in any way, but please cut out the "without farmers you'd starve to death" nonsense.

In an end of the world scenario, i'm more than capable of planting and harvesting enough crops to feed just myself. Running a huge farm might be beyond me, but i'm pretty sure i wouldn't just stare at a patch of concrete until I died wondering why the corn hadn't sprung up yet.

Really? How many crops have you grown? Do you really think it's as easy as putting seeds in the ground and watching them grow?

humans managed for the first several million years of our existence without farming.

 

[yhelothar]

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: virtualgames0

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: virtualgames0

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: virtualgames0

Originally posted by: Amused
I find it uniquely funny how people make fun of the very hand that feeds them.

You all make fun of farmers, yet without them the vast majority of you would starve to death.

You make fun of janitors.. yet without them, the vast majority of you would be living in slum.

I don't make fun of janitors... but honestly, I'd rather be dirty than starve to death.

Point is that even the lowliest of the jobs benefit our society. We need them to do our dirtywork. It doesn't make them respectable because of it.

And yet farming isn't a lowly job. It requires not only hard labor, but an education and signifigant knowledge.

And most of you seem to have never met a farmer, and have them confused with white trash trailer park residents... which they are far from.

I've met a farm owner online from playing total annihilation about 8 years ago. I keep in touch every now and then.
I agree that it isn't lowly for many(farm managers, biotech farms).. but it is for most(labor workers).

A field hand is not a farmer. One is a land and business owner, the other is a simple laborer.

I live in central IL. Anything outside of towns here are farms. Every farmer I know makes better than 150 grand a year, is very hard working, yet very clean and educated. They have large farm houses that are either classic and remodeled, or newer homes. They drive nicer cars and trucks than most people and are a major contributor to local economies.

Most of the farms around here are family run and employ few, if any laborers. Corn, wheat and soybeans are not labor intensive like fruits and vegetables.

You live in CA where most of the farming is labor intensive and relies heavily on migrant labor. Yet the farmers themselves are very well off and still work very hard.

And, yet again, if it wasn't for farmers you'd starve to death.

The farmer I met didn't make $150k a month.. especially not after all the expenses he had to pay to run the farm.

 

[n7]

You morons here sicken me.

I lived on a farm for 10 years (age 7-17), so i consider myself raised on the farm

I always find it incredible how misinformed city dwellers are on what life is like on the farm, & reading this thread just disgusts me.

It seems the majority of people on this forum don't have an effing clue what they are talking about.

I have a ton of respect for farmers, as it's a hard job in most cases.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

WOW! 11 minutes!?!?!

*head asplodes*

Go farmers!

err... other way around.

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: yowolabi

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: yowolabi
I don't think farmers are lowly in any way, but please cut out the "without farmers you'd starve to death" nonsense.

In an end of the world scenario, i'm more than capable of planting and harvesting enough crops to feed just myself. Running a huge farm might be beyond me, but i'm pretty sure i wouldn't just stare at a patch of concrete until I died wondering why the corn hadn't sprung up yet.

Really? How many crops have you grown? Do you really think it's as easy as putting seeds in the ground and watching them grow?

Let me counter with another question. Are you of the opinion that food didnt grow until human beings came along and put up farms?

Have you had survivalist training? Do you even know what is safe to eat and how it must be handled if it doesn't come from a supermarket?

Most people do not. And most people would starve to death if the food supply suddenly stopped. Hell, most of the geeks on this board would fall prey to the first band of roving scavengers.

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: wfbberzerker

Originally posted by: Amused

Originally posted by: yowolabi
I don't think farmers are lowly in any way, but please cut out the "without farmers you'd starve to death" nonsense.

In an end of the world scenario, i'm more than capable of planting and harvesting enough crops to feed just myself. Running a huge farm might be beyond me, but i'm pretty sure i wouldn't just stare at a patch of concrete until I died wondering why the corn hadn't sprung up yet.

Really? How many crops have you grown? Do you really think it's as easy as putting seeds in the ground and watching them grow?

humans managed for the first several million years of our existence without farming.

Same answer to you.

Have you had survivalist training? Do you even know what is safe to eat and how it must be handled if it doesn't come from a supermarket?

 

[Pikachu]

This whole line of thought is scary as hell. I've got no food stored up, and not sure how much is worth stocking up anyway. Is one week's worth enough? One month, or a year? I can get water after only a few feet of digging, but food is a huge issue. Might be a good idea to stock up on ammunition too, but how much...

 

[Specop 007]

Damn thats FAST!.

I'll take the tracked Cat. I havent personally seen one, but I've heard they are the tank equivelent of a combine.

We used to have a 510 and 2 92's, even those three could cut alot of wheat in a day but 100 new machines running full on?
Ke-rist.......

Wish I could have been there. Thanks for the video though.

:beer:

EDIT

Too damned much Green in that line up

 

[jkersenbr]

Originally posted by: wfbberzerker
humans managed for the first several million years of our existence without farming.

[/quote]

And how is this relevant?

The earth's population was an extremely small ffraction of what it was today. Those in existence survived primarily without cultivating crops of any kind at all -- living merely off what they could scavange from natural vegetation and wildlife.

Farmers, for the most part, produce edible crops from areas that do not naturally grow significant amounts of edible vegetation. Tall and short-grass plains are ideal farming areas. But aside from a few berries and cactus in spots, none of the native flora is edible.

Therefore, if it wasn't for farming, most of the worlds population would have to die, because it would be limited once again to eating native flora.

Therefore, the statement: "without farming you would starve" is for the most part accurate.

And for those who arrogantly think they could grow enough food for themselves in an "end of the world" scenerio, think of this: What would keep others from stealing your little food plot or stored food? Most of your time would be consumed by protecting your plot. Probably to the extent that it would be ruined. So, you have 2 options:

1) You tend the plot a best you can, but it doesn't do well because you've been busy and somewhat unsuccessful at protecting it. So you have to spend even more time away hunting and scavanging from nature.

2) You have comrade help you. You work your plot and he keeps the scavengers away. What have you become? A farmer.

Hmmm.

 

[jkersenbr]

Originally posted by: Specop 007
Damn thats FAST!.

I'll take the tracked Cat. I havent personally seen one, but I've heard they are the tank equivelent of a combine.

We used to have a 510 and 2 92's, even those three could cut alot of wheat in a day but 100 new machines running full on?
Ke-rist.......

Wish I could have been there. Thanks for the video though.

:beer:

EDIT

Too damned much Green in that line up

From first-hand experience I would summarize that Cats are better corn combines, but nothing eats wheat like a CTS John Deere. In most wheat conditions, they can cut a 36' wide swath at over 5 miles per hour (that is about 25 acres/hour/machine)

 

[GeekDrew]

I've lived on a farm for all but two years of my life (ages 17-19); I'm 21. Our family's farms are small (totalling only around 500 acres, give or take some more land that we rent), but I've also worked with larger farmers on various projects (those that have over double the amount of land we do). "I bleed Green."

Originally posted by: AntisociaL

Originally posted by: iwearnosox
Congratulations, you're a redneck! :beer:

They held a combine demolition derby at our county fair this year. Now thats redneck.

It's more redneck to hold a combine demolition derby with THOUSANDS of attendees every year, that is well known in the region. Fairfield County, Ohio.

Originally posted by: Amused
And yet farming isn't a lowly job. It requires not only hard labor, but an education and signifigant knowledge.

And most of you seem to have never met a farmer, and have them confused with white trash trailer park residents... which they are far from.

*Successful* farming isn't a lowly job.

I know a lot of "farmers" that have no "education" to speak of (including high school), don't know ANYTHING about efficiency or basic logic, and still manage to farm hundreds of acres. They usually make next to nothing, and are generally regarded as the "trash" of the farmers. That'd be Perry County, Ohio.

Oh yeah, those same farmers that generally don't have a clue are frequently found in trailer parks.

Originally posted by: SlitheryDee
The rednecks that you so like to make fun of most likely do the "dirty-work" for the respectable farmers that you're trying to lump them with.

Farming may be dirty, but it's not the kind of "dirty-work" that you are implying it is. That being menial labor that is only for folk who you perceive to be inferior to yourself.

Farming, in general, deserves a lot of respect, but I can understand why people (that have limited observance of farming) would think otherwise. There are a lot of clueless farmers out there, that bring a bad name to those that are otherwise very respectable.

Originally posted by: Pikachu
How many of the numbnuts posting here could afford the "redneck's" $300K combine? Yeah, that's what I thought. :roll:

Many farmers cannot initially afford it either, and take out 15 year loans on them, to pay them off... and frequently get those loans extended. That is the smaller farmers, at least. Those that have decent sized farms could probably pay off a combine with cash or w/ a few year loan.

Originally posted by: jagec

Originally posted by: Sukhoi
A lot of city dwellers need to understand there is a big difference between farmers and redneck white trash.

Yes, farmer = someone who gets up at 5AM every morning and works 14-hour days doing all manner of physical labor on their farm.

Redneck white trash = farmer's drunken cousin who moved to the nearest small town and hasn't done a day of farm work in his life.

No, a farmer is someone that works as many hours as he has to, and has the skills and knowledge to make sure that everything that needs to get done is completed on schedule. He can manage resources, and knows exactly what is happening on all parts of the farm(s) at all times.

A farm hand/worker is someone who gets up at 5AM every morning and works 14-hour days doing all manner of physical labor in the farm.

Smaller farmers are typically both the farmer and the worker.

Your definition of redneck white trash stands.

Originally posted by: sygyzy

Originally posted by: Amused
I find it uniquely funny how people make fun of the very hand that feeds them.

You all make fun of farmers, yet without them the vast majority of you would starve to death.

Did you know that many farmers are subsized by the government? That they are told/forced to farm even when there isd absolutely no need for their crop? That huge silos hold their grains with months or years of excess? And no, this is not "in case of an emergency." Farmers obviously are extremely valuable and provide us food but farming isn't what it used to be and being a farmer now is not the same as it was 50-100 years ago.

Farmers are sometimes also forced to *not* farm, on occasion. Just FYI.

Originally posted by: jkersenbr
From first-hand experience I would summarize that Cats are better corn combines, but nothing eats wheat like a CTS John Deere. In most wheat conditions, they can cut a 36' wide swath at over 5 miles per hour (that is about 25 acres/hour/machine)

:thumbsup:, though my preferred crop is corn, for no rational reason.

 

[Mill]

Amused, lighten up, sheesh. I respect the hell out of farmers. Regardless, the Doha accords proved that we aren't serious about stopping their subsidies, and we are going to suffer globally for it.

 

[pulse8]

Originally posted by: Mill
Amused, lighten up, sheesh.

That's unpossible!

 

[Specop 007]

Originally posted by: GeekDrew

Originally posted by: Pikachu
How many of the numbnuts posting here could afford the "redneck's" $300K combine? Yeah, that's what I thought. :roll:

Many farmers cannot initially afford it either, and take out 15 year loans on them, to pay them off... and frequently get those loans extended. That is the smaller farmers, at least. Those that have decent sized farms could probably pay off a combine with cash or w/ a few year loan.

Want and need often times get confused when looking at new toys.
And for most farmers, want is all too often the driving decision on a new purchase.



That said, I surely miss living on the farm.
Nothing I've done yet beats sittin on top of the truck at night watching the lights of the combines moving around the field with the moon low on the horizon.

Yeah, I'm a country boy, what can I say.

 

[GeekDrew]

Originally posted by: Specop 007
That said, I surely miss living on the farm.
Nothing I've done yet beats sittin on top of the truck at night watching the lights of the combines moving around the field with the moon low on the horizon.

I *completely* agree.

I never thought I'd discuss that *perfect* feeling on a forum such as this.

 

[Specop 007]

Originally posted by: GeekDrew

Originally posted by: Specop 007
That said, I surely miss living on the farm.
Nothing I've done yet beats sittin on top of the truck at night watching the lights of the combines moving around the field with the moon low on the horizon.

I *completely* agree.

I never thought I'd discuss that *perfect* feeling on a forum such as this.

Its a small world.
Us sodbusters gotta stick together.

 

[GeekDrew]

Originally posted by: Specop 007
Its a small world.
Us sodbusters gotta stick together.

:thumbsup:

 

[Specop 007]

Originally posted by: GeekDrew

Originally posted by: Specop 007
Its a small world.
Us sodbusters gotta stick together.

:thumbsup:

I thought you were in IT now?
Give up the farming?

 

[GeekDrew]

Originally posted by: Specop 007

Originally posted by: GeekDrew

Originally posted by: Specop 007
Its a small world.
Us sodbusters gotta stick together.

:thumbsup:

I thought you were in IT now?
Give up the farming?

I work full-time in IT -- that's my passion, at least most of the time. I moved to Columbus for a couple of years, but then realized that I kinda missed the country, so I moved back (among other reasons).

My perfect job would be doing IT contracting for farmers or Agri-Automation Engineering or something like that.

After I moved back to the farm, I started helping my parents on their farms again, but I don't enjoy it all that much, since I'm more of a farm hand than anything. I miss being the "farmer" that I was when my grandma put me in charge of her farms for a couple of years. Eh. It's kind-of a sucky situation, really.

My favorite memory of one of the farms is sitting on top of a tractor (that was sitting on a hill, overlooking the rest of the farm) at about 10:30 at night, long after dark, watching a combine and several other trucks go about their business. Something just felt so.... perfect... that night.

 

[n7]

Eh, i too miss the farm to an extent.

Granted, i moved away from home, but it was more due to my parents than dislike of farming.

Cutting hay was likely my favorite occupation.
The sweet smell of fresh cut alphalfa & clover is something you can't find anywhere else.

Baling afterwards wasn't terribly fun if it was windy, since we didn't have nice closed-in cab tractors, which meant breathing alotta hay dust

That & piling round bales with the our front end loader forked White.
Tons of fun, as well as challenging...wrong piling = falling/rolling bales


Ah yes...