Yep, my buddy owns a small farm. He leases the land and he has to work a day job because the farm makes just enough to avoid operating the at a loss. His customer base is mostly upscale restaurants who are willing to pay a premium for locally grown because the big chains only deal with the big farms. Every other weekend he holds a potluck where he feeds anyone who shows up... and there's always a lot to go around because so much produce goes unsold.
I'm not saying this guy is some shining bastion of ethical capitalism. He's a good dude but he's only able to do any of this because he comes from money, and ultimately, there isn't much room for scaling up while maintaining these practices. That said, farmers like him would be the first ones to benefit if chain supermarkets disappeared from our area tomorrow.
"Comes from money" but has to work a day job because he owns a farm.... for what purpose, exactly? Not money? He just got dissatisfied with the produce at Whole Foods?
Yeah, I wanna see this dude's tax returns. Farm owners are some of the biggest welfare queens in this country and half of Congress owns a bullshit farm to collect millions in "tax incentives" and subsidies from them.
"Comes from money" in that he has a comfortable safety net if he fails. The farm is not profitable yet - they don't even have any employees besides the co-owners - but if it sinks then he will ultimately be just fine because his mommy and daddy can lift him back up. There's less risk involved for him.
He was able to take advantage of an agricultural loan instead of a traditional mortgage on his house, so there probably are tax advantages. I'll ask him about that.
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Yep, my buddy owns a small farm. He leases the land and he has to work a day job because the farm makes just enough to avoid operating the at a loss. His customer base is mostly upscale restaurants who are willing to pay a premium for locally grown because the big chains only deal with the big farms. Every other weekend he holds a potluck where he feeds anyone who shows up... and there's always a lot to go around because so much produce goes unsold.
I'm not saying this guy is some shining bastion of ethical capitalism. He's a good dude but he's only able to do any of this because he comes from money, and ultimately, there isn't much room for scaling up while maintaining these practices. That said, farmers like him would be the first ones to benefit if chain supermarkets disappeared from our area tomorrow.
"Comes from money" but has to work a day job because he owns a farm.... for what purpose, exactly? Not money? He just got dissatisfied with the produce at Whole Foods?
Yeah, I wanna see this dude's tax returns. Farm owners are some of the biggest welfare queens in this country and half of Congress owns a bullshit farm to collect millions in "tax incentives" and subsidies from them.
"Comes from money" in that he has a comfortable safety net if he fails. The farm is not profitable yet - they don't even have any employees besides the co-owners - but if it sinks then he will ultimately be just fine because his mommy and daddy can lift him back up. There's less risk involved for him.
He was able to take advantage of an agricultural loan instead of a traditional mortgage on his house, so there probably are tax advantages. I'll ask him about that.