> What about...

That is all much the same as the prices being set in Chicago: Someone else has made the decision. While someone else no doubt feels the "ick", I am but the customer who is being taken advantage of. (Well, except in the case of Monsanto — they closed up shop years ago)

> Your average local job (waiter...

It seems you, deep down, even understand that. Comparing farming to being a waiter as opposed to the restaurant owner, I feel, is a pretty good portrayal of the difference and it is telling that you chose that point of comparison. Technically farming is like owning the restaurant, but in practice, because everything is laid out for you and decisions are made elsewhere, it feels more like being the waiter. You are layers removed from the "ick".

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dataflow 13 hours ago | parent | next [-]

> Technically farming is like owning the restaurant, but in practice, because everything is laid out for you and decisions are made elsewhere, it feels more like being the waiter. You are layers removed from the "ick".

To be blunt: I don't buy this... at all. Farmers have (in theory, and to some extent in practice) choice in (a) what they grow, (b) whether to grow organic/GMO/etc., (c) what pesticides/fertilizers/etc. they use and how much, (d) how they treat any animals they have, (e) whom they sell to... I could go on. Of course competition and supply and demand constrain what they can do, but that's true for most if not all business owners, including restaurant owners.

Waiters are not* like this... at all. They have -- by definition of their jobs -- zero control over the dishes, the recipe, the cooking, what is ordered, whom to serve, etc.

Therefore the idea that "technically" the farmer is like the restaurant owner but "in practice" like the waiter therefore makes no sense to me. They are (extremely) more similar to the restaurant owner in basically every dimension, not just "theoretically".

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ethbr1 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

To the whataboutism, at the end of the day a farmer has a physical product they can look at, and they know the land it came from.

There’s a certain satisfaction there that most people don’t get out of their ‘cog somewhere in the middle of a machine’ jobs.

	▲	9rx 2 days ago \| parent [-]
		Both my farm and non-farm businesses have a physical product, though. In fact, in both cases the product is food, as it happens. I expect the farm business is less "icky" because it is entirely dehumanized. You don't set the price, you don't have to win over customers, and increasingly with more and more automation you don't even interact with the customer at all. There is no "Poor service. 0 stars." or "Too expensive! Scam." to contend with.