Farmers deserve a lot more credit than they get. They have a hard job that lasts all day and all night depending on any situations that might come up. Movies try their best to explain the life of a farmer, but not many ever get entirely right. Everything has to be run on a meticulous timetable that measures nearly everything down to the last grain of wheat and the last animal sent to be raised or sent to slaughter. It’s not a job for the weak of heart or those that can’t stand the smells, sights, and decisions that a farmer must make at times. In truth, the life of a farmer is perhaps one of the most thankless of all because they feed a vast majority of the population and get very little in the way of recognition.
Here are just a few things that Hollywood tends to gloss over when it comes to farming.
5. It’s not a glorious, dramatic job.
Farmers are up either with or before the chickens and in some cases don’t go to bed until the last animal has been fed, cared for, and put to rest. They have to get everything ready for the next day and hope that nothing happens during the night that needs their utmost attention. The life of a farmer is not really the type that lends itself to movies.
4. Miracles to get a crop in on time are often short in supply.
When the harvest is short there’s little if anything that can be done to make it up. Sometimes a blight will hit, other times an infestation that comes out of nowhere. A lot of farmers plan for these things, but there’s really nothing that can prevent everything. Farmers have lost entire harvests to one calamity or another and there’s really only a few options that can bail them out if they need it, and none of them are very favorable. They can attempt to take out a loan to save the farm, or they can sell their land a piece at a time to make ends meet. Neither option is ever really desired.
3. There are hard truths that movies and cartoons don’t often tell about farming.
A few movies have gotten the right of it, but a lot of others gloss over in favor of comedy and drama. Farmers have to kill their own livestock unless they send them off to the slaughterhouse. They might have to kill a mother cow if she has a hard birth. They might have to kill a pig if the sow won’t let it suckle or there isn’t enough room. These are just a couple of examples of the harder part of life on a farm. They might even need to sacrifice their crops to prevent the rest of their harvest from being infected.
2. Farmers won’t sacrifice their crops for anything if they can help it.
Field of Dreams might be a special case, but most farmers would rather lose a finger or two than dice up their land to make room for a baseball diamond that’s only in use on certain nights. The effect is great and the miracle that people show up and pay for the game is even better, but most farmers would tell you that giving up even one acre isn’t going to happen.
1. Farmers are often struggling make ends meet.
A lot of farmers aren’t rich no matter what it looks like. They tend to make pennies on the dollar and are often trying to make ends meet to support their families. The equipment, the labor costs, and everything else that goes into the farm takes up a great deal of the profits.
Farming isn’t an easy job at all. So the next time you’re picking out fresh veggies in the market just take the time to say a quiet thank you to the farmers that provided that commodity for you.
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