highdesertranger said:
I to have been in the ag business for most of my life. between people demanding ever lower prices and gov regs the small guys get the shaft. it's what goes in this age. we can see it in every industry. highdesertranger
mconlonx said:
"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 $4 per hours, and most depended on interns, volunteers or WWOOFers for labor. I did not encounter a single farmer who met my requirements."
This is what got my attention in that Salon article. When initially considering life on the road, I stumbled across the whole WWOOF thing -- work a farm for free, get room and board. Ostensibly it's so that one can learn organic farming from those doing it, but the upshot for me would be a place to park for a while, with food and conveniences taken care of. Holding pattern kind of time, like if one was low on their gas budget, or just wanted to stop and be social for a while, do some physical work.
I just hooked back up with my ex-no.1-in-laws, who run a small beef farm. They could never make a go of it after the Feds changed dairy laws in the 70s -- ex-FIL and his brother both got jobs at the local navy yard, switched the farm over to beef, and worked nights and weekends. They made just enough working the farm to pay taxes on the land and maintain it, but not enough on which to live. Ex-BIL does the same thing -- works an engineering job during weekdays, and then does farmwork on the weekends. Plenty of the other kids want nothing to do with the farm... hard work, low pay.
It isn't just farming that's headed that way. It's affecting almost every industry, it's a race to the cheapest price no matter what it costs. I worked nights at a basic job to keep the business running for the past several years, and most of the small business owners I know are doing the same now.
I have a small(3 employees, 1600 sq ft indoor, 1000 sq ft covered outdoor) marine and RV service shop. Trying to keep up with regulations and insurance and all the different taxes is shockingly hard. Just to meet the basic requirements for the work we do, and the 20 year old shop truck costs me 9000$ a year spread over 5 different policies all of which have to be kept up to date. Most companies I know have thrown in the towel on figuring it out and just hope they won't need it.
We're constantly updating tooling and techniques to keep up with the most efficient and longest lasting solutions, things like plumbing with PEX and expansion tools instead of hose, HEPA filtered vacuums and lightweight sanders, catalysed sealants that self mix in the nozzle and the powered guns to use them instead of the cheap air cure polyureathanes that are popular, even just things as simple as stocking the correct and sharp reciprocating saw blade for the material at hand instead of some old half work out cheap blade costs me hundreds of dollars a year.
We work hard, and do the best quality work in the area but customers are always chasing the cheapest price, many of the projects we do for people have been attempted 2-3 times before by other shops who told them it could be done for less. You give a quote, they try to substitute their own parts, dispute the hours it will take or argue that you shouldn't have even a 10% profit margin on the parts, even though it takes so many hours to source just the right components, chase suppliers to keep them coming etc, plus all the hours to educate the customers, make the quote and then the nitpicking and endless reviews of the bill after the job is done, usually 30 minutes on the phone with them, or reviewing the bill per hour of work paid.
The running industry joke is that most customers would grudgingly accept the repairs being done for free, but they'd really prefer to be paid for the privilege of working on their toys.
Even working at Mcdonalds would generate more money. I calculated it out last year, that I earn 2$ an hour for my work, not counting the tens of thousands I have invested in tools and training. If I'd stuck to a steady minimum wage job, I'd be 90, 000$ richer from the past 3 years of work than trying to deliver quality work, and a safe clean working environment for my people. Even going on on unemployment insurance or welfare would have left me with more money. Yet customers still wonder why there is no one doing good work anymore in most places.
