"I wondered how many small farmers actually made a living.... I talked to all the farmers I knew, considered farms I or my partner had worked at in the past, farms I’d visited, friends’ farms. Most farmers I talked to worked outside jobs to keep their farms above water, others skirted by on an income they calculated to be $4 per hours, and most depended on interns, volunteers or WWOOFers for labor. I did not encounter a single farmer who met my requirements."
This is what got my attention in that Salon article. When initially considering life on the road, I stumbled across the whole WWOOF thing -- work a farm for free, get room and board. Ostensibly it's so that one can learn organic farming from those doing it, but the upshot for me would be a place to park for a while, with food and conveniences taken care of. Holding pattern kind of time, like if one was low on their gas budget, or just wanted to stop and be social for a while, do some physical work.
I just hooked back up with my ex-no.1-in-laws, who run a small beef farm. They could never make a go of it after the Feds changed dairy laws in the 70s -- ex-FIL and his brother both got jobs at the local navy yard, switched the farm over to beef, and worked nights and weekends. They made just enough working the farm to pay taxes on the land and maintain it, but not enough on which to live. Ex-BIL does the same thing -- works an engineering job during weekdays, and then does farmwork on the weekends. Plenty of the other kids want nothing to do with the farm... hard work, low pay.
