Crop FarmerStress

You are responsible for your own success and well-being, so there’s a lot of pressure there if you run your own farm. If that Chilean storm heads waaaay north to YOUR back yard, bad things happen. Having to worry about Mr. Weatherman simply sucks. Nothing you can do about him. Yet you have to worry. In bad storms, your crops can be ravaged by floods, beasts, pestilence and/or a lightning-induced wildfire or two. Biblical stuff. Your combines could go on strike (the machine thingies that pick and process crops). And then there’s that Chile thing. Prison labor prices are hard to compete against. And God help you if China comes into that crop market. And then there’s the big farms doing things “at scale,” i.e. cheaper than you ever could. Walmartification of the small farm and all that… Since they buy 14 billion tons of fertilizer at a time for millions of acres, they get the fertilizer at half the price you have to pay. And they are always knock-knock-knockin’ at your door. So it’s up to you to keep things running smoothly - or else. You won’t get a lot of days off. Also, don’t necessarily freak out if you discover you have a stalker - this may just be someone whose job it is to help you harvest and shuck corn.