Farmer

Farmer spreading grasshopper bait in his alfalfa field.

A farmer is a person who is engaged in agrarian business by using land. This is a lifeway that was the dominant occupation of the majority of human beings well into the 20th century. The term farmer usually applies to a person who grows field crops, or has orchards, vineyards or market gardens with a view to selling to others as food. They may, however, provide raw materials for industrial purposes, such as cereals for alcoholic beverages, fruit for juices, hides for leather, and wool or flax for yarns and cloth-making. Farmers may also be involved in rearing cattle for meat or milk. Often, a narrow range of crops or produce is sold for money with which the farmer buys everything else in a market.

A farmer engaged in raising horses or in large-scale cattle or sheep raising for meat is usually referred to as a rancher, grazier (Australia) or stockman. Special terms also apply to other people who husband domesticated animals, namely shepherd for sheep farmers and goatherd for goat farmers. The term dairy farmer is applied to those engaged milk production. A poultry farmer is one who concentrates on raising chickens, turkeys, domesticated ducks and geese, or is involved in egg production. A person who raises a variety of vegetables for market may be called a truck farmer or market gardener. Many North American farmers prefer to be referred to as growers due to negative stereotypes associated with the former term. On the other hand, "farmer" is seen as having greater prestige than the conventional English translation for the corresponding word in Chinese and some other languages: "peasant".

In the context of developing nations or other pre-industrial cultures, most farmers practice a meager subsistence agriculture - a simple organic farming system employing crop rotation or other techniques to maximize yield, using saved seed which is native to the ecoregion. In developed nations however a person using such techniques on small patches of land might be called a gardener and be considered a hobbyist - or may be driven into such primitive methods simply by poverty or, ironically, against the background of large-scale agribusiness, be an organic farmer growing for discerning consumers in the local food market.

In developed nations, a farmer (as a profession) is usually defined as someone with an ownership interest in crops or livestock, and who provides labor or management in their production. Those who provide only labor but not management, and do not have ownership, are most often called farmhands, or, if they supervise a leased strip of land growing only one crop, as sharecroppers or sharefarmers. In the context of agribusiness, a farmer can be almost anyone - and can legally qualify under agricultural policy for various subsidies, incentives and tax reliefs.

Because of this diversity of terms, and the availability of money for those who "qualify" as farmers, grower is a more neutral word for this lifeway.

The Dutch word for farmer is boer, from which the Boer people of South Africa took their name. In the Netherlands calling someone a "farmer" is considered a derogatory term.

Occupational Information

The income for farmers is quite varied. In the US the average farmer earns about $45,000 per year. However since most farmers have to provide their own benefits, their real pay is less than someone making the same amount working for a large business. Many farmers find themselves "land rich but cash poor", and it is not unusual for a farm to lose money year after year, gradually eroding the value of the business.

A large percentage of farmers received on the job training as they grew up on a family farm. Many in the developed world also received training in high school or vocational classes. As advances in technology are applied to agriculture, it is becoming more common for these farmers to get 2 year or 4 year degrees in agriculture management.

Use in other professions

A curious offshoot of the term farmer was in common use in the British Merchant Navy until the latter part of the 20th century. Before the advent of automatic helmsmen, sea watches consisted of three seamen covering three four-hour watches: 4-8, 8-12, 12-4. During the hours of darkness the first seaman would do two hours on the wheel, followed by one hour below on standby then one hour lookout. Another would do the first hour on lookout, one hour below then two hours wheel. The third man would do no spells on the wheel having the first hour on standby followed by two hours lookout followed by another hour standby. The non-steerer was known as 'the farmer', but the connection with the agricultural term is not known. The three spells of wheels/lookout etc were rotated so each would get a different turn on following nights.

Notable farmers and agriculturalists

*Jimmy Carter
*George Washington Carver
*Thomas Jefferson
*John Worlidge

Farmers in fiction

Farmer Giles of Ham, novel, J. R. R. Tolkien
Farmer In The Sky, science-fiction novel, Robert A. Heinlein
*Farmer Jones, whose animals revolt in George Orwell's Animal Farm
*Farmer McGregor, from The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter.
*Farmer Palmer, comic strip, Viz
*The Joad Family, from The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
*The Goodnoughs, from The Tie That Binds by Kent Haruf
*Fred Dagg, character created by New Zealand performer John Clarke
The Archers, radio serial, BBC
*Jonathan Kent, from the Superman comics continuity and Smallville television series.

References

* Farmer Occupational Analysis
* Cawthorne Young Farmers Club

Farmer: Encyclopedia BETA