History Main / TheSimpleLifeIsSimple

** Also subverted in that, being the obsessive studier and planner that he is, he quickly takes to the new material. Academically wise, that is. Though he never get's the top marks in anything, to his disappointment, he impresses everyone else by pretty much always coming in second, while everyone else has their own subject they do well in. It's the more physical activities that go with the conceptual understanding that get him.

Everyone knows about farming. Farming is simple and picturesque. It happens in the country, where there's grass and trees and fields. Farmers are simple, hard-working people who till the soil, with a tractor if they're modern or a plow if they're historical. They grow crops, raise animals, and live a simple, healthy life in a natural setting, free from the complications of modernity. If we were less addicted to the internet, we'd probably all go join them.

As you might have guessed, farming is extremely complicated. A farmer working a diversified farm has to be a highly skilled generalist with specific, situation-relevant knowledge from a dozen different [[DoubleEntendre fields,]] from botany to mechanics to veterinary medicine to chemistry to entomology. What's more, a real mistake (or for that matter a late frost) can spell disaster: a ruined crop can't be fixed, and can't be replaced until the ''next year''. The historical farmer didn't have it any easier; driving a tractor is in fact considerably simpler than getting a mule to do exactly what you want it to.

This trope is played straight in some TheCityVsTheCountry plots (where the {{aesop}} is "city life is too complicated, you should get back to nature") and averted or subverted in others (where the aesop is more like "everyone has his cross to bear").

It's often played straight in adventure stories where our wandering hero earns his keep at local farms as he passes through. (Does not apply, of course, if said hero [[FarmBoy already knows how.]]) This trope is also commonly found in {{Arcadia}}, where farming is idyllic and pleasant as well as simple, and may sometimes show up when a character is [[CallToAgriculture Called To Agriculture.]]

And surely we'd have no trouble doing so. Farmwork is well known to be unskilled. You don't even have to go to college to run a farm, let alone work on one. Sure, of course it's hard work. But it's not ''complicated''. We could totally do it if we just buckled down.

This misconception of farming shows up fairly often in fiction--more as a result of [[CityMouse Having No Experience.]]

In fact, farming is extremely complicated. A farmer working a diversified farm has to be a highly skilled generalist with specific, situation-relevant knowledge from a dozen different [[DoubleEntendre fields,]] from botany to mechanics to veterinary medicine to chemistry to entomology. What's more, a real mistake (or for that matter a late frost) can spell disaster: a ruined crop can't be fixed, and can't be replaced until the ''next year''. The historical farmer didn't have it any easier; driving a tractor is in fact considerably simpler than getting a mule to do exactly what you want it to.

And that unskilled labor like hoeing and picking? Yes, any newbie can do that. If a farmer is willing to pay them the same rate as experienced people who can do the work five to ten times faster.

* While discussing the industrial revolution in his classic documentary series ''The Ascent of Man'' Jacob Bronowski points out a common historical misconception. Namely, that people who used to be simple farmers were forced to work in hellish factories. Yes, he says, the factories were hellish, but farm labour in those days wasn't much better.

This trope is played straight in some TheCityVsTheCountry plots and averted or subverted in others. It's often played straight in adventure stories where our wandering hero earns his keep at local farms as he passes through. (Does not apply, of course, if said hero [[FarmBoy already knows how.]]) This trope is also commonly found in {{Arcadia}}, where farming is idyllic and pleasant as well as simple, and may sometimes show up when a character is [[CallToAgriculture Called To Agriculture.]]

* Inverted by ''Radio/TheArchers'', a long running BBC radio SoapOpera which was set up to both entertain and advise farmers (although a lot of suburban and urban dwelling people also enjoy it and its since grown from that role).

This misconception of farming shows up fairly often in fiction--not so much a product of DidNotDoTheResearch as of [[CityMouse Having No Experience.]]

* The Ba'ku in ''StarTrekInsurrection'' run on this--for such a non-technological society, everything sure is clean! Then again, they ''were'' SpaceElves...

[[AC:{{Anime/Manga}}]]
* Subverted in ''SilverSpoon''. The main character Hachiken has this attitude and thinks that since he got generally high marks as a junior high student in his city school, an agricultural high school should be a total academic cakewalk. He finds out very quickly just how wrong he was and is frequently overwhelmed by the amount of technical skill required to do the many aspects of farming, from the basics of animal husbandry to the administrative knowledge required to run a large-scale agricultural operation. Much of the comic is spent on the complexities (and back-breaking hard work) involved for people who make their living as farmers.

* [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in [[TerryPratchett Terry Pratchett's]] {{Discworld}} - when Tiffany gets her hands on a bunch of romance novels, she misses the point of the stories, mostly concerned how the portrayal of farm life is all wrong.
* ''How I Edited An Agricultural Paper'' by MarkTwain is entirely based on this -- a editor not having a slightest idea about the matter giving "valuable advice". Sometimes he's even right, sort of ("the pumpkin as a shade tree is a failure").

* In ''AtlasShrugged'', industrialists and businessmen take to farming with no trouble at all and even have enough time left over to write symphonies and work on inventions. On one hand, they're explicitly described as the world's most capable people, but on the other, they have no specific farming knowhow and no labor but themselves.

* [[ExploitedTrope Exploited]] on ''TheSimpleLife'', where Paris Hilton and Nicole Ritchie go to live and work on a real farm.
* ''JohnnyBago'': Johnny's RV is out of water so he gets some from a nearby pump. Then he's informed that since the area is irrigated he basically just stole their water. He doesn't have the $20 they want so he's forced to work it off by picking cauliflower alongside the Hispanic migrant workers. He thinks he'll get done quickly but is then informed that all his picking for the day amounts to a little under $1 - not counting expenses.
* [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] on ''GreenAcres''. Oliver Douglas quits being a big city lawyer to move to the country and be a farmer. He has an idealized view of what farming is a like, but when he gets there he is shown to be a terrible farmer who has worn out, outdated equipment (his Hoyt Clagwell tractor is always breaking down) and goes farming in a suit. Furthermore he expects his wife Lisa to become a typical farmer's wife and learn to how cook which she is terrible at. In one episode an agent from the Department of Agriculture even shows up to tell him he's doing things wrong, but he doesn't listen.

* Averted in ''DickTracy'' when killer on the run 88 Keyes hides out by taking a job on a dairy farm. The fact that he knows nothing about dairying is obvious and quickly exposes him. (Writer Chester Gould owned a dairy farm and knew how technical much of the work is.)

* Inverted by ''TheArchers'', a long running BBC radio SoapOpera which was set up to both entertain and advise farmers (although a lot of suburban and urban dwelling people also enjoy it and its since grown from that role).

* The farmers in ''HarvestMoon'' sometimes fall into this.
* Farming in ''{{Minecraft}}'' is much easier than in RealLife - for instance, you can make your crops grow instantly if you add bonemeal. Somewhat [[EnforcedTrope enforced]] in this as in other video games, since games are intended to be, what was that word again, "fun."

* Subverted in ''SilverSpoon''. The main character Hachigen has this attitude and thinks that since he got generally high marks as a junior high student in his city school, an agricultural high school should be a total academic cakewalk. He finds out very quickly just how wrong he was and is frequently overwhelmed by the amount of technical skill required to do the many aspects of farming, from the basics of animal husbandry to the administrative knowledge required to run a large-scale agricultural operation. Much of the comic is spent on the complexities (and back-breaking hard work) involved for people who make their living as farmers.

* In ''SilverSpoon'', Hachigen has this attitude and thinks that since he got generally high marks as a junior high student in his city school, an agricultural high school should be a total academic cakewalk. He finds out very quickly just how wrong he was and is frequently overwhelmed by the amount of technical skill required to do the many aspects of farming, from the basics of animal husbandry to the administrative knowledge required to run a large-scale agricultural operation.

* In ''SilverSpoon'' Hachigen has this attitude and thinks that since he got generally high marks as a junior high student in his city school, an agricultural high school should be a total academic cakewalk. He finds out very quickly just how wrong he was and is frequently overwhelmed by the amount of technical skill required to do the many aspects of farming, from the basics of animal husbandry to the administrative knowledge required to run a large-scale agricultural operation.

* Farming in ''{{Minecraft}}'' is much easier than in RealLife - for instance, you can make your crops grow instantly if you add bonemeal. Somewhat [[JustifiedTrope justified]] in this as in other video games, since games are intended to be, what was that word again, "fun."

* Averted in ''DickTracy'' when killer on the run 88 Keyes hides out by taking a job on a dairy farm. The fact that he knows nothing about dairying is obvious and quickly exposes him. (Writer Chester Gould owned a dairy farm and knew how technical much of the work is.)

* Subverted in GoneWithTheWind when Scarlett and her sisters learn just how hard farming really is.

* In AtlasShrugged, industrialists and businessmen take to farming with no trouble at all and even have enough time left over to write symphonies and work on inventions. On one hand, they're explicitly described as the world's most capable people, but on the other, they have no specific farming knowhow and no labor but themselves.

* Richard Kimble in TheFugitive often took jobs on farms. He presumably got good at it after a while, but he never seemed to encounter any problems caused by him not knowing what he was doing.

* The Ba'ku in StarTrekInsurrection run on this--for such a non-technological society, everything sure is clean! Then again, they ''were'' SpaceElves...

* Subverted on the Fabulous Beekman Boys - they believe farming life is like this, but it turns out to be much harder than they think.
* [[ExploitedTrope Exploited]] on ''The Simple Life'', where Paris Hilton and Nicole Ritchie go to live and work on a real farm.

* [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] on GreenAcres. Oliver Douglas quits being a big city lawyer to move to the country and be a farmer. He has an idealized view of what farming is a like, but when he gets there he is shown to be a terrible farmer who has worn out, outdated equipment(his Hoyt Clagwell tractor is always breaking down) and goes farming in a suit. Furthermore he expects his wife Lisa to become a typical farmer's wife and learn to how cook which she is terrible at. In one episode an agent from the Department of Agriculture even shows up to tell him he's doing things wrong, but he doesn't listen.

* Inverted by TheArchers, a long running BBC radio SoapOpera which was set up to both entertain and advise farmers (although a lot of suburban and urban dwelling people also enjoy it and its since grown from that role).

* The farmers in HarvestMoon sometimes fall into this.
* Farming in {{Minecraft}} is much easier than in RealLife - for instance, you can make your crops grow instantly if you add bonemeal. Somewhat [[JustifiedTrope justified]] in this as in other video games, since games are intended to be, what was that word again, "fun."