Farmers have historically benefited little from advancement in technology and this is no exception. If I think I'm worth more than my employer is paying me, I can shop my services around for a higher bidder. And while the concept is true for a farmer's output/services in reality most farmers (I grew up on a small family farm) have little choice but to sell at the price the local market will give them. Likewise they have to buy input goods (seed, fertilizer, breeding stock, etc.) at the price others choose. Holding output product is often not an option as banks (and other bills) need paid and food needs to be on the table. I'm thankful for a fairly healthy (by comparison) tech market.
> Farmers have historically benefited little from advancement in technology and this is no exception.
I think I have benefitted massively from technology. As a sixth generation farmer on my family's land, I expect I do not make any more money (inflation adjusted, of course) on the farm than my forefathers did. I believe this is where your concern lies.
However, they spent the entire year working on the farm. I can do all the work in a few weeks, thanks to technology. That also allows me to have a career in the tech industry. Being able to have everything they did and a tech salary is a huge gain!
> most farmers (I grew up on a small family farm) have little choice but to sell at the price the local market will give them
Western Canada, for instance, had a wheat/barley pool until a few years ago where you had to put your product – by law – into the pool and receive whatever price the pool was able to market your grain at. But these kind of programs are pretty much long gone in 2018. In America, which seems to be the main audience of HN, there was never such a thing. Subsidies are the preferred way to support farmers.
Not knowing where you are from, you may still have such a system, but generally that is not the case. For me, different buyers, even within the local market, will pay more or less depending on what they plan to do with the product, and will generally negotiate price. And, of course, I can ship my product outside of the local market if an even better deal is found elsewhere.
> Likewise they have to buy input goods (seed, fertilizer, breeding stock, etc.) at the price others choose.
This is the same as every other business in existence, however. All sales require negotiation. If the offer made by the seller is not acceptable to any buyers, the seller will make no sales and will be quickly compelled to reduce their next offer.
> I'm thankful for a fairly healthy (by comparison) tech market.
Uncompetitive is the word you are looking for, I believe. Everything you mentioned before is a result of farming being very competitive. I might even suggest the most competitive industry in the world. Tech is not very competitive, relatively speaking. When it comes to labour, there are not a lot of people to go around, and intellectual property laws limit how many vendors can offer the same product.
Did you write more about this somewhere? I feel like an AMA would be very interesting to read. My mother’s side of the family comes from a very rural area where they farmed on a very small scale so I’ve always eyed the technological efficiency gains in agriculture with a very curious eye considering how much back-breaking labor they still have to do.
That's just not true. Farmer's have benefited MASSIVELY.
Go try breaking some ground without a Rototiller, or tractor.
Harvest crops by hand. Or go ahead and seed by hand.
Oh! Don"t forget to weed! And you might want to fertilize as well.
The thing is there is only the IMPRESSION the farmer doesn't benefit from tech. Modern "Tech" I.e. software is no exception. The reality is the farmer has to cope with the realities of physical constraints, and learns how to deal with things in a way that requires minimal input. They acquire an economy of action.
"Tech" today wouldn't understand the notion if it slapped them in the face. "Lets make another thing to do a thing, so THIS thing is justified/monetized."
Ask a Farmer if or why they don't collect metrics on all their customers. If they aren't industrial, answer is easy. More important things to do.
You can learn a lot from the guys and gals who grow your food. I certainly have. The value you can get out of not doing things you don't need to can be quite large.
