• grue@lemmy.world
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    1 month ago

    my main job

    I’m also a farmer

    Never has Japan felt so foreign to me as while reading this comment. Being a farmer (as a job, not just gardening as a hobby) and having another career at the same time? What is this sorcery?

    • LesserAbe@lemmy.world
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      1 month ago

      I have a cousin who is a farmer in the US and also has to have a second job. He probably has millions invested in machinery, but last time I talked to him about it he said for the cost of the equipment to really make sense he needs more land to farm. Right now he has unused capacity.

    • tiredofsametab@fedia.io
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      1 month ago

      I just bought a house with land and started farming this year so maybe ask me in another year or two how it’s going, heh. No animals for now. I’ve managed to get a lot of food for us with some left over to sell.

      Oh, in the US, nearly all farmers are either getting subsidies and/or have off-farm jobs

        • tiredofsametab@fedia.io
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          1 month ago

          The only government subsidies I could get that I know of (as a registered farmer) are from my local city to plant certain types of crops and it’s not a ton. JA (Japan Agriculture) might have something else, but I’m not sure. I imagine rice farming gets the bulk of things, and I don’t currently farm rice.