6 Things You Didn't Know About Farming

Farming is not just cows, chickens and corn, there is so much more into it. This is a whole science and there are misconceptions, secrets and things people don’t really know about so in this article we are going to reveal a list of 6 things you might not know about farming.

1. Nearly everything we eat, wear and use comes from a plant or an animal that has been raised on a farm

We have a challenge for you! Can you name something we eat that doesn’t come from a plant or an animal?

Everything except wild fish and shellfish

came from a farm and eventually ended up into our fridges. If we also consider wood, cotton, corn and soybean that are used in industrial products as ingredients, we realize how long the list of farm- made products is.

Besides metal, stone, and plastic, nearly everything we use includes something from a plant or animal raised in a farm.

2. Most farms are owned and operated by families

According to The 2012 Census of Agriculture, approximately 97% percent of the 2.1 million farms in the United States are family-owned operations. If we ask farmers why they are so passionate about what they do, most of them would tell you that they love farming because they work with their families.

There’s a misconception circulating around lately. People think that big farms are labeled as factory farms, and that they just use the land and move on.

However, the truth is that every farm is very much family- oriented. Farmers consider their farm as something they can pass on to their family: a legacy, a business and a lifestyle!

3. Not all farmers are in it for the money

As the market is always changing, it’s no different in agriculture. Reaching the top is never guaranteed. If we calculate the investment they put into their crop, we realize that it takes away a very large chunk of what they profit. So, most of the time, they do it because they love it. It is seen more as a tradition that should continue more than a job or an income source. These farmers love the freedom of being out in an open field, taking their child or grandchild for a ride in the tractor, providing for their family and providing for the whole world.

4. A lot of farms have implemented advanced technology

In recent years, as the technology has rapidly evolved, farmers have also started using everyday-use gadgets, from the latest iPads and laptops, to high-end drones, and robots to manage and oversee in detail the progress of their crops. Many livestock barns have Wi-Fi and web-cams for monitoring and security.

They also have an automated feed, and ultimate control systems. With the help of this kind of technology, farmers can do things like monitoring a cow while in labor, or adjusting the temperature of a barn directly from their smartphones. In case the power goes out, they have back-up generators that will automatically start and the farmer is alerted with a text on his phone. Embracing these technologies enables farmers to be even more efficient and provide extra care to their animals and crops.

5. Farms today are extremely specialized

If we go back several centuries ago, farms and farmers looked like those pictures in children’s books. They would raise a little of everything on their farm and produce nearly everything the family ate. Also, they’d make a good living off of some 160 acres of crops, a few cows, some chickens, and some pigs.

Over the years, farms and farmers have changed. As they grow, they invest in tractors and other equipment to focus their efforts in making the most profit. If farmers raise livestock, they usually focus on only one type. This enables them to obtain the facilities, technology, skills and knowledge needed to produce it with maximum quality.

6. There are a lot of woman farmers.

Empowering rural women to engage with agriculture has great potential influence for the country. However, women face a number of challenges and obstacles not only in farming but in every job that is stereotyped as a male job. These types of challenges include things such as gender pay gap, informality of jobs, triple work burden (as women do housework, they work on household production, and also do wage work).

Other things include poor access to social services that will hinder them from leveraging their full potential. Women are very smart and have the same potential as males to be farmers and studies show that the number is increasing and they are doing even better than men.

Bonus fun fact

Let me ask you a question; What kind of milk do brown cows produce?

Of course for many people the answer to the above question might seem pretty obvious, but an online survey uncovered a quite shocking statistic. They discovered that approximately 7% of the adult U.S. population believes brown cows produce chocolate milk. Funny, right?

Well, apparently, that’s not the end of the cow facts that these adult people are confused about. Another study in the early 1990’s, revealed that almost 20% of adults didn’t know hamburgers were made out of beef.

If you are into agriculture or just getting into it and you need information, tips, tricks, statistics, analytics regarding agriculture and farming, Agriculturist is the right place.