Dan Powell
Member
- Location
- Shropshire
Warning: some elements of this post are a bit of a rant.
I think many if not all farmers assume that they need to grow their business. The mentality is that if you are not expanding, then you are standing still or even going backwards.
Where does this notion come from?
Take it to the logical extreme and you would end up with one bloody great business farming the whole country.
It's actually mania.... a kind of madness and an example of where the human race has gone completely doolally over the past two centuries. This is not the natural state of humanity. Yes there has always been competition between neighbours, but that has usually been for a resource that was needed by both parties. Now it just seems to be a dogmatic belief in "growth."
There's only one thing that grows continuously in nature. It's called a cancer and it eventually kills the host.
The endless competition with neighbours for an extra 200 acres, so we can drive down our marginal cost of production. All it does is slowly corrode our selling price and create one dimensional farm jobs lugging slurry all day or driving a cultivator all day instead of the quite enjoyable and varied life on a small farm doing all sorts of different things.
I know, I know, it's "progress." "You've got to get on."
Just remember people, you can't take it with you, and 100 years after you're dead no one will be able remember your achievements.
Enjoy your weekend people, you might drop dead tomorrow.
I think many if not all farmers assume that they need to grow their business. The mentality is that if you are not expanding, then you are standing still or even going backwards.
Where does this notion come from?
Take it to the logical extreme and you would end up with one bloody great business farming the whole country.
It's actually mania.... a kind of madness and an example of where the human race has gone completely doolally over the past two centuries. This is not the natural state of humanity. Yes there has always been competition between neighbours, but that has usually been for a resource that was needed by both parties. Now it just seems to be a dogmatic belief in "growth."
There's only one thing that grows continuously in nature. It's called a cancer and it eventually kills the host.
The endless competition with neighbours for an extra 200 acres, so we can drive down our marginal cost of production. All it does is slowly corrode our selling price and create one dimensional farm jobs lugging slurry all day or driving a cultivator all day instead of the quite enjoyable and varied life on a small farm doing all sorts of different things.
I know, I know, it's "progress." "You've got to get on."
Just remember people, you can't take it with you, and 100 years after you're dead no one will be able remember your achievements.
Enjoy your weekend people, you might drop dead tomorrow.