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Comment by 3yr-i-frew-up | Hacker News Reader

I've been thinking about farming in Michigan. If global warming takes off, we should have a nice environment and plenty of water to grow...

I just can't imagine doing agriculture in 2026. I have a masters in Mechanical Engineering and 2 decades of experience. It just seems like something for uneducated people.

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Modern farming is much closer to science and engineering than most realize. Rowcropping in particular is heavily reliant on gps, soil chemistry, and genetics to put the right seed, in the right soil, with the right nutrients to maximize output.

One big reason I got out of mushroom farming was a great big mushroom 'factory' was set up not too far from me. They produced literal tons more than we could have ever dreamed, at a much lower cost. They are a highly technical, industrial enterprise. For a while one of their selling points was: 'mushrooms never touched by human hands', to emphasize how automated their system was. I felt like John Henry against the steam shovel.

Michigan already has a pretty great environment for agriculture. I used to always hear we were second only to California in terms of output. If current climate disruptions continue(we've had two "once in a lifetime" catastrophic ice storms just this past year in my area) I may searching for 'greener pastures' myself.

There are all kinds of degrees for farming

Why do you think that?

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