The Farmer's Daughter USA

Hi, I'm Amanda! My family farms corn and soybeans in Southwest Michigan. I'm also a practicing attorney.

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2018 Off-Farm Income

March 6, 2018

This statistic breaks my heart.

Farming is a full-time job. Early morning milking and feeding. Long hours in the tractor. Even longer hours in the barn fixing. Late night feeding and milking. Paperwork. Planning. Meetings. Building. Mending. The list goes on and on. Even if farmers have another job off of the farm, they still have to put in these hours to make it all work.

But, right now, our farmers aren’t making a full-time paycheck, and all of those bills still have to be paid.

That means a lot of farm families are seeking employment off the farm to compensate. Imagine working two full-time jobs. Or even a full-time job and a part-time job. It means sacrificing on sleep, missing your son’s football game, late night dinners, and no vacation. It means spreading yourself too thin, not being there when you should be, and barely making ends meet. The alternative is to cut your losses and sell. To watch all the hard work from generations of your family slip away. To no longer call yourself a farmer.

It’s tough.

I don’t write this to find sympathy or pity. I share this with you because it is the reality that so many farm families are facing. Politicians can talk in Washington. Activists can yell and protest. Companies can have their marketing gimmicks. But this economic reality? That’s really what we’re trying to figure out right now. At the end of it, not all of us will still be on the farm.

Farm families are strong though. I hope they’re strong enough this time around.

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Filed Under: Family Farms Tagged With: family, family farm, farm economy, farm families, money

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  1. Philip McArdle says

    March 6, 2018 at 9:14 am

    I am confident that farm families will find a way to get through this!! We always have.

Hi, I'm Amanda. My family farms corn and soybeans in Southwest Michigan. I'm an attorney and I'm passionate about agriculture!

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thefarmersdaughterusa

Amanda | The Farmer's Daughter USA
I'm a proud farmer's daughter & advocate for modern agriculture. U.S. farmers are leaders in sustainability.

Perusing my photos from #Denmark and getting the i Perusing my photos from #Denmark and getting the itch to travel again.
These concepts aren't mutually exclusive. #farms # These concepts aren't mutually exclusive. #farms #farmfamily #environment #soilhealth #nutritiousfood
Stop worrying about labels and just eat them! Stop worrying about labels and just eat them!
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We all know RFK, Jr. is well known for vaccine dis We all know RFK, Jr. is well known for vaccine disinformation. But he's also a danger to agriculture, even promising to "weaponize" regulatory agencies against our farm families.

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