One Man to a Thousand Acres

[Grassman]

Progress supposedly!
One man sat at a desk farming thousands of acres whilst the population get fatter and fatter due to lack of manual work.
But more will be needed in the health service to look after us so all is not lost!
One day I can see there will have to be a radical change in how humans exist in the supposedly developed world.

 

[Nearly]

I'm underperforming by 85%.

 

[bluebell]

around here in essex you have large farming companies farming what was say a dozen individual farms twenty years ago, i have often thought over my time in farming that countries like austria have got it right while supporting smaller farms and maintaning a traditional landscape which is tidy and attractive with modern equipment and ideas

 

[Farmer Roy]

Sounds a bit over populated to me . . .

I doubt if one family could survive on. a 1000 acre

As for one man looking after 2000 sheep - that's a hobby, what's he gunna do for a job ?

 

[franklin]

Every year, with no required increase in production, a large % of the UK population who work for the public sector or who are pensioners see their incomes (paid from general taxation) rise by inflation or more. Can anyone explain to me how my income can do the same without increasing the area I farm by 3%? Traditional mixed farming and/or farming a couple of hundred acres sounds great - now can it pay me a comparable wage, or do I have to accept a poor and declining standard of living relative to the rest of the population simply on the basis that I like my work or that it is a lifestyle choice? Older, rent-free farmers may be in a position to farm essentially as a hobby or as nothing more than "gentrified retirement". I am not.

 

[traadilooar]

1 man per 10.000 ac will be the next step looking at the rise of the autonomous machines at Agritechnica this year

But what is the answer to this?
A living wage/dole?
I read an article about Elon musk and a few similar tech people meeting with world leaders, explaining that on the next 20 years 45% of jobs will be replaced by tech (even doctors lawyers bankers etc)
So either a line drawn in the sand to stop development or a living wage!
Interesting times!

 

[neilo]

I've seen plenty of one man one thousand acres, not nice places. OK a bit of a generalisation but there's no getting away from acres of monoculture, few trees, little wild-life or their habitats & of course the inevitable grant-aided margins. Not a lifestyle I'd like to emulate or for that matter one that I'd be envious of.
SS

Aren't those 'grant aided margins' providing habitat for wildlife?

 

[Drillman]

I'm underperforming by 85%.

Was just thinking that I was under performing by 70% but your making me look good

 

[Clive]

But what is the answer to this?
A living wage/dole?
I read an article about Elon musk and a few similar tech people meeting with world leaders, explaining that on the next 20 years 45% of jobs will be replaced by tech (even doctors lawyers bankers etc)
So either a line drawn in the sand to stop development or a living wage!
Interesting times!

I guess similar questions were asked when tractors started to replace the horses etc ?

The next 10-20yrs are going to be interesting times !

 

[Timmer]

We are 1.5 to 550 acres (some contracting/ arable and 300 cattle) I used to do it on my own but didn't enjoy it as everything was a struggle or rush to get onto the next. Now have a part time guy that comes in until lunchtime every day which is a great help and makes the job so much easier with more attention to detail. I also get more time to do maintenance around the farm and of coarse with the family!
Only concern is that our worker is not getting any younger and is irreplaceable as finding someone affordable with his skill level who will split their job over 2 Farms with flexibility at harvest is near impossible!

 

[franklin]

But what is the answer to this?
A living wage/dole?

Working family tax credit.

Or do like the foreigners and see farming as a part-time job and go do something else / have a wife earning a decent wage.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

As for one man looking after 2000 sheep - that's a hobby, what's he gunna do for a job ?

Probably head round the road to his bigger farm and check the cattle.
Then to the pub for the afternoon to work on his one-ab

 

[Feldspar]

1 man per 10.000 ac will be the next step looking at the rise of the autonomous machines at Agritechnica this year

Anything on the arable side that's immediately available?

 

[Spud]

Progress supposedly!
One man sat at a desk farming thousands of acres whilst the population get fatter and fatter due to lack of manual work.
But more will be needed in the health service to look after us so all is not lost!
One day I can see there will have to be a radical change in how humans exist in the supposedly developed world.

Is it not just possible that we see a full circle being turned? The population is growing rapidly, but yet the industry seems hell bent on replacing the human element at all costs. Driverless cars, trucks, tractors etc, seems a bit bonkers, we arnt short of people!!
This population needs something to do, a purpose to get up on a morning. Govt can't afford to just keep paying folk to stay at home. Reduce incentives not to work, increase incentives to employ folk, make it less of a monumental nightmare to employ people, make folk take responsibility for their actions and we might get somewhere.

Big automated kit might well work on a prairie in the US or Australia, but this is Britain. Its diverse, beautiful and varied. It needs maintenance. Maintenance happens much more regularly when there are plenty of people to do it, and plenty of money to pay them. So why pay them not to work. Make folk want to keep a job instead of not giving a hoot, make it so they are worse off by not working, and not by just saying "pay higher wages" too. You cannot make the poor wealthy by making the wealthy poor.

Think about it. Kind of 1980's style. More 100hp tractors, less automated 500hp monsters. More mixed farming. More staff required. More tractors, more implements, more trade for the supply industry, better support. Easier work from more hands. Better standards through greater attention to detail. More families fed from the same acres. Less doylams clogging up the system and ruining our great country. More skills, more pride.

It seems like we're squeezing every last bean out to reduce the cost of food production, maximise the tax we pay to cover the cost of paying folk not to work. It all seems a bit bonkers.

Am I really so wrong?

 

[Hilly]

Is it not just possible that we see a full circle being turned? The population is growing rapidly, but yet the industry seems hell bent on replacing the human element at all costs. Driverless cars, trucks, tractors etc, seems a bit bonkers, we arnt short of people!!
This population needs something to do, a purpose to get up on a morning. Govt can't afford to just keep paying folk to stay at home. Reduce incentives not to work, increase incentives to employ folk, make it less of a monumental nightmare to employ people, make folk take responsibility for their actions and we might get somewhere.

Big automated kit might well work on a prairie in the US or Australia, but this is Britain. Its diverse, beautiful and varied. It needs maintenance. Maintenance happens much more regularly when there are plenty of people to do it, and plenty of money to pay them. So why pay them not to work. Make folk want to keep a job instead of not giving a hoot, make it so they are worse off by not working, and not by just saying "pay higher wages" too. You cannot make the poor wealthy by making the wealthy poor.

Think about it. Kind of 1980's style. More 100hp tractors, less automated 500hp monsters. More mixed farming. More staff required. More tractors, more implements, more trade for the supply industry, better support. Easier work from more hands. Better standards through greater attention to detail. More families fed from the same acres. Less doylams clogging up the system and ruining our great country. More skills, more pride.

It seems like we're squeezing every last bean out to reduce the cost of food production, maximise the tax we pay to cover the cost of paying folk not to work. It all seems a bit bonkers.

Am I really so wrong?

Good in theory, doubt it will happen though.

 

[Yale]

Maybe there should be a one off tax or no tax relief on automated equipment to allow the government to cater for the displaced workforce.

@Clive

Tin hat on.......

 

[hindmaist]

At the moment,we have think tanks telling us we'll need to work more hours for more years to pay our pensions.Other think tanks tell us jobs will disappear due to technology.I don't think the current model is going to cope with the speed of change that's thundering towards us.Some kind of universal income will be the answer.

 

[Pieces_of_Eight]

Anything on the arable side that's immediately available?

I can go down the road today and buy a robot that will mow my lawn while i'm doing something more productive.

It wouldn't be difficult to upscale to a robot topper that would work to a marked perimeter without human interference.

During the Agricultural Revolution, labourers headed to the cities and retrained. This flood of cheap labour then fuelled the industrial revolution.

A repeat of this just doesn't seem possible, with no obvious source of employment anywhere.

 

[PSQ]

1000 acres, 10,000 acres. It's all some farmers are good for: willy waving and "beggar thy neighbour".

I've put this on the forum before, but it bears repeating.
Leo Tolstoy's excellent short story, 'How much land does a man need?'.
http://www.online-literature.com/tolstoy/2738/


Spoilers:

"Ah, what a fine fellow!" exclaimed the Chief. "He has gained
much land!"

Pahom's servant came running up and tried to raise him, but he saw
that blood was flowing from his mouth. Pahom was dead!

The Bashkirs clicked their tongues to show their pity.

His servant picked up the spade and dug a grave long enough for
Pahom to lie in, and buried him in it. Six feet from his head to
his heels was all he needed.

 

[GTB]

Ring fenced,1000 acres is a good size around here and one man could farm it.

However you try finding a farm like that not cut up by country roads,footpaths,houses,people and..........cars double parked.

Huge +1 for that one. I'd give (almost) anything to have all our land in one block. Even our home farm is divided into four blocks by small roads. One man cannot safely move stock across roads etc. There are too many numpties using the roads these days.

We have expanded a fair bit over the years and now have other blocks of land up to thirty miles away and in reality it has made us less efficient. Far too much time spent travelling and trailering livestock these days.