# How many generations removed are you from farmers? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 12, 2012, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-generations-removed-are-you-from-farmers/628062 "2012-07-12T23:53:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-generations-removed-are-you-from-farmers/628062/1 "2012-07-12T23:53:42Z")
I attended a lecture today in which it was said the average American is about 3 generations removed from a farm. I don’t know the source, but the closest I’ve found is a “2 to 4 generations” claim on one site that he may have averaged. How many 2 to 4 generations is would depend on how you count yourself among other things, and how you define farmer could also be important. I grew up on a cattle farm but I don’t really count myself as a [pardon the term] former farmer since the farm wasn’t our primary means of income (my parents were teachers) and didn’t usually require daily labor (feed in winter, some summer duties, etc., but in warm weather the cows pretty much took care of themselves and even other times it was rarely more than a couple of hours per day.) However, when my father was growing up the same land was a bonafide “till the earth, gather the eggs, save that chicken manure, haul water to the corn patch, etc.” farm. (My mother’s family had a garden but my grandfather’s wages were their main support.) So, which best describes your distance from a farm in this poll? ---
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2012, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-generations-removed-are-you-from-farmers/628062/2 "2012-07-12T23:57:27Z")
At least 1 of my great grandfathers was a farmer. Most of my great grandparents would have been born in the last quarter of the 18th century. (Canadian born in the 80s) ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2012, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-generations-removed-are-you-from-farmers/628062/3 "2012-07-13T00:00:37Z")
How about “ranching”? ---
**Author:** ![destineal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f9b8f/32.png) [@destineal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/destineal)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2012, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-generations-removed-are-you-from-farmers/628062/4 "2012-07-13T00:04:58Z")
My grandfather was a chicken farmer in Georgia. My dad spent his childhood and adolescence working the farm, but didn’t follow in his father’s footsteps, so I’m the 2nd generation of non-farmers. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2012, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-generations-removed-are-you-from-farmers/628062/5 "2012-07-13T00:05:47Z")
My father grew up on a working farm, keeping at it till he moved to the city at 17 or so. My mother grew up in a small town, but though her family were not farmers, she, her mother, and sisters often picked cotton when such work was available. At least one of my first cousins is still a farmer. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2012, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-generations-removed-are-you-from-farmers/628062/6 "2012-07-13T00:06:37Z")
At least 6. As far back as our family can be traced, there were no farmers, just a shitload of hellfire & brimstone preachers. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2012, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-generations-removed-are-you-from-farmers/628062/7 "2012-07-13T00:08:48Z")
My dad grew up a sharecropper. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2012, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-generations-removed-are-you-from-farmers/628062/8 "2012-07-13T00:13:40Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > How about “ranching”? If it was the main source of livelihood then it totally counts. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2012, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-generations-removed-are-you-from-farmers/628062/9 "2012-07-13T00:13:41Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > At least 6. As far back as our family can be traced, there were no farmers, just a shitload of hellfire & brimstone preachers. :eek: My father’s both! ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2012, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-generations-removed-are-you-from-farmers/628062/10 "2012-07-13T00:14:01Z")
On one side, I don’t know where either Grandma or Grandpa were raised, but he ran a chicken farm for a few years, so I wouldn’t be surprised if either of them were “raised on a farm”. Grandma had cousins and second cousins who grew wheat, raised livestock, and ran a dairy. In some cases, their kids are still keeping the outfit going. On the other side, Grandma lived on a farm for a couple of years while she was growing up. Grandpa left letters that mentioned his parents’ garden, but not a farm. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2012, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-generations-removed-are-you-from-farmers/628062/11 "2012-07-13T00:16:54Z")
I am quite sure that none of my ancestors from great-grandparents on down was a farmer, although a couple of them whose early years I know little about _might_ have grown up on a farm (unlikely though) My great-great grandma may well have grown up as a hunter-gatherer though. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2012, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-generations-removed-are-you-from-farmers/628062/12 "2012-07-13T00:22:04Z")
I’m sort of “other.” My father grew up on a working farm, and he and I flew back every summer when I was a lad to work the family farm. My uncles were the people on site the rest of the year, but I spent my share of time on the kidney-buster that was the old Ford tractor. I trace my fear and hatred of tornadoes to WoZ and the nights I spent with a radio and a pair of binoculars on tornado watch (this was the 60s). ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2012, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-generations-removed-are-you-from-farmers/628062/13 "2012-07-13T00:22:23Z")
My father grew up on a _subsistence_ farm in Pennsylvania, if that counts. _His_ father made his primary living as a coal miner, but they raised chickens and had a large garden plot to supplement their limited income ( my father also did a little fur-trapping for extra money as a lad ). If you mean as the primary source of income I have grandparents on both sides that grew up on working farms or as sharecroppers, but all of them transitioned into other lines of primary employment as adults. ETA: Oops, reading closer I guess my dad doesn’t count. Well, shift my poll result one generation up then :). ---
**Author:** ![PandaBear77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@PandaBear77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PandaBear77)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2012, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-generations-removed-are-you-from-farmers/628062/14 "2012-07-13T00:23:21Z")
Grandparents – possibly my dad, not sure. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2012, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-generations-removed-are-you-from-farmers/628062/15 "2012-07-13T00:23:31Z")
My personal experience is similar to Sampiro’s, though not on ancestral land. My parents didn’t grow up farming, but _their_ parents more or less did, though my great grandparents’ farming was in addition to outside work like railroad, building, etc. that gets it back to Civil War era. They were pretty much all yeoman farmers before that. ---
**Author:** ![MissTake](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misstake/32/3189_2.png) [@MissTake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissTake)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2012, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-generations-removed-are-you-from-farmers/628062/16 "2012-07-13T00:25:12Z")
My maternal grandfather grew up on a farm, as did his father. My maternal grandmother spent some time on a farm, but spent most of her early years moving around the Midwest. My step grandmother (the one I knew) grew up on a farm in Kiev, bolted the hell out of there when she was 13 and never looked back. My Dad was sent to work on a cousins’ farm when he was 12. He lived / worked there until he was 18, when he left. His parents weren’t crop farmers, but they had a few livestock for themselves and a huge garden. ---
**Author:** ![Ludy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Ludy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludy)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2012, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-generations-removed-are-you-from-farmers/628062/17 "2012-07-13T00:27:58Z")
My father grew up on an apple orchard, and that orchard was passed down for at least 3 generations. My MIL grew up on a turkey farm and my husband spent many of his childhood summers helping on the farm. ---
**Author:** ![VernWinterbottom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c67d28/32.png) [@VernWinterbottom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VernWinterbottom)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2012, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-generations-removed-are-you-from-farmers/628062/18 "2012-07-13T00:34:14Z")
My French Canadian great grandfather left many generations of farming behind for a better life working in the cotton mills in southeastern Massachusetts. My grandfather and great uncles, though not full-time farmers had very large home gardens–each the size of a 1/4-acre house lot or more. My father’s home garden was smaller, somewhere around 1,250 square feet. I have a couple of tomato plants, a handful of strawberry plants and some raspberry bushes. . . ---
**Author:** ![Sahirrnee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sahirrnee/32/13937_2.png) [@Sahirrnee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sahirrnee)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2012, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-generations-removed-are-you-from-farmers/628062/19 "2012-07-13T00:35:21Z")
My mother grew up on a working farm, milking cows, slopping hogs, feeding chickens, weeding, planting, canning. the works. I spent all my childhood summers on farms owned by great-aunts and uncles. Although my cousins and I played more than we worked. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2012, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-generations-removed-are-you-from-farmers/628062/20 "2012-07-13T00:54:22Z")
My grandfather owned a very lucrative fruit business in Oregon. He wasn’t a farmer, but both he and his brother owned distribution networks and orchards. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-generations-removed-are-you-from-farmers/628062.md?page=2)