While many people can attest to how hard it is to have your own small garden at home, farmers who produce food for people all over the world are often overlooked for how hard they work and what their job entails. So before you take for granted the food you purchase at the grocery store or the farms that you drive by on a long road trip, here are three things you should know about the life and jobs of professional farmers.
Farming Takes A Lot Of Planning
On the surface, farming might seem like a relatively easy and laid-back profession. However, to have a truly successful farm takes a lot of planning.
To start off, you have to think about what you want to farm and how long it will take for you to produce a crop that you can start selling. For some crops, it can take years before they produce enough for you to sell. Farmers also have to consider how they will harvest and weigh their product, how they’ll transport their product, and how they’ll make money off of whatever they produce. So along with being able to physically grow whatever it is they’re farming, they also have to understand the business side of their farm. And each of these sides of professional farming requires a lot of planning.
Location Is Everything
For more professional farmers, you can’t just start a farm wherever you want. In order for whatever it is they’re growing to really thrive, they have to have their farm situated in a place that’s most conducive to their chosen crop.
In most situations, this will involve finding an area that has good soil. But another consideration is how far away the product will have to travel to get to market. So while the best soil might be out in the middle of nowhere, if the crop doesn’t have a long shelf-life, some kind of middle ground has to be found.
Farmers Have A High Rate Of Job Satisfaction
Although the life of a farmer can include long hours and a lot of stress, many farmers report that they have a higher rate of job satisfaction than in other industries.
Because farmers know that all their hard work is going to pay off by allowing those around the world to fill their bellies and have the energy they need to survive, those long hours and hard work days suddenly feel like they’re for a purpose ever bigger than that farmer may realize.
If you’ve ever thought about becoming a farmer, or if you simply don’t know much about what it takes to be a professional farmer, consider how the information presented above might help you feel a greater amount of respect and appreciation for those who have chosen this path as their profession.
