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SWMN | I agree that it is all about perspective and experiences. It's difficult to know how hard someone else's job is unless you have done it yourself. I worked for 15 years as a retail agronomist while farming with family as well. All work weeks at my town job were at least M-F 8-5, but some were 12+ hours a day 7 days a week during the busy seasons. I then went to do my own farming on top of that. Most of the customers I worked with were great, but there were a few that forgot that our busy season starts when the first farmer starts rolling and doesn't finish until the last farmer stops. The ones that didn't understand that were usually the farmers that never worked off of the farm in their life. I remember a time during a busy spring when my wife brought me lunch at work on a Saturday so that I could see my young son for 15 minutes. I had not been able to see him the whole week prior.
Not all off farm jobs turn off when you "leave" for the day. For me, the phone still rang during evenings, weekends, holidays, or vacations. During a particular rough time, I spent my nights dreaming that I was at work. I would wake up exhausted feeling like I just worked a full shift during my sleep. I then had to go off and do it for real. That caused some extreme burnout for me that I thankfully haven't felt since leaving that job.
Since that time, I have had two other off farm jobs. Each one has given me a more freedom and flexibility for farming and personal life. Currently I have a part time job, I also own a business in town, and farm corn and soybeans. I work just as hard or harder than I did when I was an agronomist, but I have a lot less stress now and way more flexibility. I can now have my family with me while farming which definitely makes the working day more enjoyable. Working around appointments or unexpected events is easier as well. Yesterday, my daughter was home from school sick. Instead of getting equipment ready for spring, I was able to transition and do office work all day. At my previous off farm job either my wife or I would have had to take a vacation day to be with her. | |
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Farmers about how hard they work
