Thread: The isaan farmer. To be pitied or envied?

I was talking to a local English teacher I've befriended earlier. I saw her acknowledge a mid 50s looking Thai man who rode past on a scooter that looked older than me. She said it's her dad.

I asked if he was going to the farm. "No" she said. "He can't be bothered today. The crops don't need watering again until Wednesday so he is going to watch a local cock fight"

No boss, no income tax, work when you want, crops get collected by the local buyer, stress free, but probably bugger all money, and rent out the land when too old to work it. I'm not sure if I pity him or I'm envious.

Your future Por, he's hit the jackpot ,Hurray Henrie

It is very hard work around planting or harvest time so swings and roundabouts.

Cocks fight is synonymous with going down to the pub.

Sounds good to me..roof,food and someone to love and be loved by...does anyone really need much else??..Well maybe a few beers? 55

Farmland was inherited by my friend's father from her mother's parents. Family house is built in their garden. Sorted.

Originally Posted by Henrie

I was talking to a local English teacher I've befriended earlier. I saw her acknowledge a mid 50s looking Thai man who rode past on a scooter that looked older than me. She said it's her dad.

I asked if he was going to the farm. "No" she said. "He can't be bothered today. The crops don't need watering again until Wednesday so he is going to watch a local cock fight"

No boss, no income tax, work when you want, crops get collected by the local buyer, stress free, but probably bugger all money, and rent out the land when too old to work it. I'm not sure if I pity him or I'm envious.

Since tvere is a long term glut on staple commodities like rice, rubber and palm oil, you would not want to be in his shoes for the next few years. It is not just co.fined to Issaan either.
Alternative crops will soon be in surplus too, driving prices even lower.
They can only hope for a Thaksin puppet to get elected and save them.

Spring onions.

Originally Posted by Henrie

Spring onions.

Are you saying 'Spring onions' is now an alternative crop?

No. Reporting on his crop.

Yet, all farming situations are not the same as the next.

Absolutes and variables don't mix.

Do I feel sorry for Kuhn Issan farmer sitting on his backside all day picking his nose while luksaw sucks cock to pay for his 4x4 truck and his lifestyle, errrrrr I'm gonna say no.

Like the gallic peasant, or the wurzel, whether or not you feel pity or envy for farming types is up to you. To make it real of course- go and make it Real. Live this bucolic, straw sucking existence you dream about- and then get back to us with the gory details. The Reality.

Get pissed on lao khao all day, and send your daughter off to perform rented fellatio LoL. Ain't life great?

Really, some of you are so ignorant it beggars belief.

Originally Posted by VocalNeal

It is very hard work around planting or harvest time so swings and roundabouts.

Cocks fight is synonymous with going down to the pub.

Is it fuk, all mechanized these days - they pay contractors so actually boozing and cock fights is about all they do

^ Idiot. Go do it then, armchair expert. Really- go give it a try, and then maybe someone with brains might even acknowledge that you possess some.

So you are saying they don't wait for the harvester to come round then? Issan farmers like most other Thais are lazy bastards with no motivation, and no ambition apart from getting rich without effort and moaning and blaming others when they don;t.

My sister in law just to highlight one of the lazy bastards is a 'farmer' others do all the work while she sits at home all day downing 5-6 beers then lao khow. They are almost all a stupid as a brick and as lazy as a sloth.

Originally Posted by Dragonfly94

Originally Posted by VocalNeal

It is very hard work around planting or harvest time so swings and roundabouts.

all mechanized these days

I still see plenty of re-planting by hand.

Not so many these days, exercise does 'em good anyway. Of course it's not always the 'farmers' doing the work anyhow and lots rent out the land to others. Real feudal peasant society with everyone beholding to some other chicken head a bit further up the social chain.

Originally Posted by Neverna

Originally Posted by Dragonfly94

Originally Posted by VocalNeal

It is very hard work around planting or harvest time so swings and roundabouts.

all mechanized these days

I still see plenty of re-planting by hand.

More so this year, around here.
With the fall of rubber prices, all the local building work has dried up, no new houses, fences, sheds going up.
When there is plenty of work, sprinkle planting is the go, less rice, but more money from other work.

As to pity or not, that poor Issan farmer has it better then a minimum wage worker, barely keeping above water in the west.
He owns his home or hut, eats food that he has been brought up on, works a few months a year, not 50 plus hours a week.

This sending your daughter off to do bar girl work, not as common as some seem to think, most bar girls have kids, see it as an easy way out of the fields.

The way some see it, there is not one single girl left in farming villages, they are all in Pattaya, making big money, it's just not so.

Originally Posted by Dragonfly94

So you are saying they don't wait for the harvester to come round then?

Around here, it depends on the wind. Every year is different, but more is done mechanically these days (rough guesstimate, about 35-40% in local vicinity). A bit like our own lazy bastard farmers, I suppose. But if a prevailing wind bends the rice grass in one direction, mechanical harvesting is way too inefficient- it wastes too much. That means money, for lao khao, kids uniforms and school books, food, roof, transport etc.

My outlaws only ever harvest by hand, btw. It's backbreaking work- maybe you should try it sometime.

Originally Posted by Dragonfly94

Issan farmers like most other Thais are lazy bastards with no motivation,

You mean, like businessmen, entrepreneurs, small businessmen etc? Definitely- when I was in business I sought the easiest ways to get ahead too. Go do some farming.

A lot of small farmers are only part-time farmers, having other full-time jobs. They may have a small plot of land they own and farm it themselves, or they may rent out some land. Those types of "farmer" will likely plant by hand. Large scale farmers will be more likely to use mechanisation, IMVHO.

I know every time I go back to the mrs Issan village I see more new cars, expensive agricultural equipment, home extensions and new builds and none of it is from whoring, well one house out of over 200. Unless it's ALL on credit the are not doing too badly.

My buddy ikes it and has done for many years.

Originally Posted by Dragonfly94

I know every time I go back to the mrs Issan village I see more new cars, expensive agricultural equipment, home extensions and new builds and none of it is from whoring, well one house out of over 200. Unless it's ALL on credit the are not doing too badly.

It's all credit. Policeman next door to me just bought a big fcuk off motorcycle. Cost 380,000. With credit 450,000. Policemans wage about 20,000 per month. The poor and credit go hand in hand.