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Comment by strait | Hacker News Reader

Don't include beans on that list! They are the easiest of all to produce, as long as your summer isn't too terribly cold. Maybe you were thinking of corn?

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Presumably the parent is referring to dry beans, which aren't exactly fun to process by hand. I grow them commercially and when we want to thresh even a small amount (i.e. nothing close to what one would want to sustain themselves on) for a moisture sample without having to take the combine to the field, it is a lot of work. Same goes for wheat. Anything that normally goes through a combine, really.

Theoretically there should be nothing stopping one from growing any of those crops in small scale, assuming the right climate and soil conditions. There are small scale separating units that can be used to deal with the above. But it is tough to compete with the economies of scale that commercial operations have. These crops in particular are probably the most efficiently grown farm products of all. The cost of growing them at home will scare away most.

I normally look forward to shelling my black beans by hand as I find it pleasant and relaxing, but yes, it does take some time that way, even for a few cups. However, I've also put loads of the shells into a sack when they were all pretty much dried and vigorously worked it over for less than a minute. Then, nearly all the beans will come pouring out into a pan where a fan or a little blowing will take out the little dry bits of shell. Not much work at all, though wheat is probably a lot tougher to do that way.

A friend asked me why I bother with dry beans, when they are so cheap to buy anyway. I replied that I can control the inputs, resulting in the highest quality beans, and they are so easy to grow, so why not? I'm not growing a ton of them to sell, so I care less about the economies of scale.

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