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Comment by gepeake | Hacker News Reader

> But detractors say it could have economic consequences, particularly for farmers who would have to wrestle with later sunrises.

I genuinely don't understand the "farmer's like DST" argument. Farmer's schedules are dictated by the sun not the time and the sun changes continuously year round. If the argument is about commercial coordination that follows the same logic of being difficult regardless given constantly shifting sunlight, at least without DST there's year-round consistency by the other businesses.

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THIS. To quote Wikipedia:

> It is a common myth in the United States that DST was first implemented for the benefit of farmers.[40][41][42] In reality, farmers have been one of the strongest lobbying groups against DST since it was first implemented.[40][41][42] The factors that influence farming schedules, such as morning dew and dairy cattle's readiness to be milked, are ultimately dictated by the sun, so the clock change introduces unnecessary challenges.[40][42][43]

DST was never about farmers, it was to conserve energy for the war effort. Farmers also aren't punching a clock at an office. They can start and end work when they want, based on the weather and daylight that suits the work.

If you have animals you are up with the sun, nothing about when you want to work.

That is really only true if you are milking animals. Crops don't care when you plant them or fertilize them or spray them. The closest thing you can get with crops is certain grains you want to sell at certain percentage levels which the sun helps bring down. But even that is 50% just so the mill doesn't rip farmers off.

The “went you want” part was more about in relation to the clock. The sun will rise and fall just the same regardless of how we set our clocks. The farmers are completely unaffected. Their days don’t shift just because the time shifts.

Yep. I mean I knew Amish growing up in PA who didn’t observe daylight savings time and just kept it the same year round. And they’re living off the land more than most.

I grew up in rural Oregon, if there was rain forecasted and the farmer was in the middle of a alfalfa or wheat harvest, they would be up in the middle of the night with a combine or bailer to get the harvest done before it gets soaked and potentially destroyed.

It also varies depending on where in a time zone you are. The eastern and western sides of a timezone could see sunrise and sunset at significantly different times.

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