Bet the Farm.

November 8, 2002 8:42 AM

Bet the Farm. Friday Flash Fun! Do you have what it takes to run a modern farm? This online game pits your decision making against the forces of nature and the market in a simple, clever, educational flash game. I made $9.33 an hour! Who will be MetaFilter's master farmer?
posted by putzface_dickman (29 comments total)

Apparently I don't have what it takes to run that Flash without crashing my browser.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 8:49 AM on November 8, 2002

I made $21.35 an hour...
posted by Jughead at 8:57 AM on November 8, 2002

$29.79 an hour. I went with corn, wheat, and soybeans. Low fertilizer, low herbicide, no fancy stuff.
posted by winterdrm at 8:59 AM on November 8, 2002

Sorry crash. I got it running in IE, Netscape 7, and Moz 1.2 on Windows before I posted. It looks like it's getting MeFi'ed now though.

Also, my $9.33 I expect to be low. I went the same way as winterdrm and got hit with 2 pest infestations in my corn and beans. (Vegan organic farmers rule.) Later, I went ovo-lacto and made closer to $20.00.
posted by putzface_dickman at 9:05 AM on November 8, 2002

Milk, corn and hay, precision farming (GPS), no hormones or anti-biotics (my cows got an infection that cost me a little money to cure) and medium everything else. $24.50 an hour.
posted by GriffX at 9:15 AM on November 8, 2002

E-I-E-I-O, yo.
posted by jonmc at 9:18 AM on November 8, 2002

Yes it doesn't appear that organic was considered in this simulation. Ah well, 7.57 an hour...
posted by Windopaene at 9:19 AM on November 8, 2002

umm -$8.63/hr. I somehow managed to lose $25,000.
posted by remlapm at 9:21 AM on November 8, 2002

$18.69 an hour with just soybeans and wheat. Low fertilizer and pesticides. Got a little chomped on by bugs in my soybeans and a little mildewy in my wheat, but it turned out OK.

Too bad the game doesn't give you an option to go the community supported agriculture route.
posted by ursus_comiter at 9:24 AM on November 8, 2002

that's ok remlapm, i ended up -$27.18/hr
posted by goddam at 9:24 AM on November 8, 2002

$29.02 per hour. Maybe I'm in the wrong business.

Corn, soybeans, hay, hogs and dairy. Low tech all the way. Except for the bio-engineered stuff.
posted by mygoditsbob at 9:30 AM on November 8, 2002

I got 11.something/hour. Fun game, thanks for posting this.
posted by oissubke at 9:31 AM on November 8, 2002

This is not nearly as much fun as Harvest Moon, the Japanese farming simulation game which is oddly charming and addictive.
posted by dipolemoment at 9:32 AM on November 8, 2002

I tried twice, once as an environmentally-conscious, no genetic engineering, no hormones, etc beef/soy/hay grower; and again throwing as much technology and chemistry into the mix as possible.

The enviro-farmer lost nine bucks an hour; the other guy made $20 (despite lousy weather, crop infestations, and running out of feed.)

Very interesting link. Thanks, putzface_dickman. Now that's a phrase I didn't expect to say today. Or ever.
posted by ook at 9:34 AM on November 8, 2002

A cool $32.47/hr. Here's the kicker; the chickens got ring worm, my dairy cattle all(!) got staph infections, and the wheat crop was infested with something or other. Top it all off with not being able to fulfill any of my futures contracts, and i thought I was pretty screwed. . . in Wisconsin at least, this would be bad. Does Ohio have a large Voodoo population buying crooked cow hoofs? Maybe all the chemicals I shot my livestock up with caused Bessie and Crackers to give off a pleasing green glow, and I saved on electricity.

Funny, I don't remember Grandpa reading No-Till Farmer by cowlight . . . .
posted by squared at 9:37 AM on November 8, 2002

Hmmmmmm, I made $-1.12 an hour. I'm not very good at this. That was my third (and best!) try.
posted by john_son at 9:38 AM on November 8, 2002

Thanks for the great link! I made $8.44 an hour, hopefully my farm isn't in California or else I'm screwed. I have been seriously considering goat farming lately and am now re-thinking that little dream as the first time I played my chickens all got sick and I wound up over $70k in the hole.
posted by Woolcott'sKindredGal at 9:49 AM on November 8, 2002

At $-17.11/hour, it is a remarkably accurate simulation of a wheat farm.
posted by bonehead at 10:48 AM on November 8, 2002

Woolcott'sKindredGal, goat farming is a nightmare. You'll smell like bag balm every day and you'll find yourself at 4 a.m., poking nostril holes through goat placenta with a piece of straw, covered in afterbirth, crying and wondering why you decided to do this. (Scarily, I speak from experience). Eh, at least its better than sheep and cows.

And despite my farming experience, I sucked at this game.
posted by RJ Reynolds at 10:58 AM on November 8, 2002

$35.54 an hour, planting corn and hay, and dairy. 3 milkings a day, my farm made a profit of $321,650.
posted by crunchland at 11:10 AM on November 8, 2002

I don't know about being MeFi's master farmer, but as far as I know, I'm MeFi's only real farmer. Answering the questions based on how I run my farm, it told me I'd make -$1.43 an hour. The bias against natural farming was apparent from the beginning. "Use chemicals or everything will go wrong!" The simulation was sponsored by Ohio's industrial agricultural groups. If I had money, I'd help sponsor a less biased version -- but since I'm operating at a net loss, I guess it'll be a while yet.
posted by ewagoner at 11:13 AM on November 8, 2002

Gosh, I love COSI - the game brought back fond memories of field trips there to get my hair full of static and be a science geek. Perhaps growing up in Ohio helped - $36.58 an hour ($345,609 profit), environmentally-conscious all the way (with the requisite pestilence to plant and livestock.)
posted by shinyj at 12:23 PM on November 8, 2002

$339,420 profit
$35.65/hr
I want a farm now.
posted by St Seneca at 12:34 PM on November 8, 2002

Right! New competition... who can lose the most... ;)
posted by twine42 at 3:40 PM on November 8, 2002

ewagoner - you say that it's inaccurate, but then say that your own farm is running at a net loss (which is what it predicted for you), so i'm not sure i understand what your objection is. is it that your loss is a lot less than the one that the game predicted? or that the game isn't detailed enough or long-term enough? curious...
posted by andrew cooke at 3:55 PM on November 8, 2002

"Farming" is when you are at a word for losses.

They call them "cockies" around here cause the're always
screeching.

(dg,he'll get it but not many others)
posted by johnny7 at 12:53 AM on November 9, 2002

I went the low-impact approach with only corn and soybeans. Although I only made $42K profit, I was earning nearly $21/hr.

Unlike some of you super-farmers up there with $300k profit, I wouldn't have to hire any labrorers and could run the whole operation myself during a 40 hour work week.

Green Acres, here I come! Now if only tomacco was an option for crops....
posted by ahughey at 2:00 AM on November 9, 2002

Andrew, I meant that as a swipe at their simulation. In its first year, my farm has paid for itself and future outlook is rosy. My objection to the game is its emphasis on technology and no opportunity to make natural choices. For example, if you use bio-engineered seed in the game, you will do better. My farm uses heirloom varieties that, when properly cultivated, generally outperform modern varieties. For every choice in the game, their was either a healthier option left out or it suggested you away from the healthier choice.

The game's premise seems to be that farms that do not use products from the laboratory will not do well. My own farm and countless other small natural family farms operate at odds with that premise.
posted by ewagoner at 11:20 AM on November 9, 2002

thanks (and glad to hear it!)
posted by andrew cooke at 12:04 PM on November 9, 2002