SpaceX is hiring a farmer

[Jim]

Must be news since I never knew that there are farming activities in KSC and VAFB.....how are the arrangements done?  (especially with VAFB since it is an air force base after all....)

The orchards on KSC go back to when the center was formed and the gov't bought the land from citrus growers.  It leased the land back to the original owners.

[dror]

Any idea why they want to hire a farmer instead of renting the land to a local farmer?

Potential legal issues if an accident damaged the crops. If they leased the land, the crops belongs to the farmer. If they hire a farmer to tend crops owned by SpaceX, then there's no problem.

The farmers best year is the year of compensation

[mvpel]

By vigorously farming (with boo coo plowing and chemicals) the land around their future launch site, the chances that an Endangered Species Act critter will take up residence will be greatly reduced.

Surely a "Dilettante" should know that it's spelled beaucoup.

That's the Texas spelling.

[bilbo]

It will be interesting to see what they find when they do the first harvest, Who knows how many parts F9R exploded into.

I'm guessing that they may lose a tractor or two from debris from F9R.

[WTF]

Please put your coffee mugs down ...

With the readily adaptive and innovative culture of SpaceX, I offer this insight.

Note in the job posting:

"Valid Driver’s License, and a clean driving record
Must be able to climb ladders and work in tight spaces. ... Must be able to work an extremely flexible schedule with extra hours as needed ..."

It appears to me SpaceX is recruiting for Dragon 2 flight crew.

[411rocket]

Please put your coffee mugs down ...

With the readily adaptive and innovative culture of SpaceX, I offer this insight.

Note in the job posting:

"Valid Driver’s License, and a clean driving record
Must be able to climb ladders and work in tight spaces. ... Must be able to work an extremely flexible schedule with extra hours as needed ..."

It appears to me SpaceX is recruiting for Dragon 2 flight crew.

It is much easier, to climb a ladder to get into the tractor cab, than climbing up a tire.
Not sure if the tight spaces, is the space within the tractor cab, or meaning not running the tractor, into other co-located equipment (or dropping it into the FH flame trench), at the test site. The flexible schedule, means working around test fires & whatever else as required, in the interest of safety. As the staff, are probably all indoors during a test fire.

[sanman]

Why would SpaceX hire a farmer instead of leasing the land to one?

Seems like they specifically want the land to be farmed/cultivated, rather than just leased or rented to someone for their own use.

[Dave G]

Why would SpaceX hire a farmer instead of leasing the land to one?

Again, I suspect this has to do with property tax issues. 

If the owner of the land farms that land, it may be taxed at a much lower rate than if the land were leased.

I seriously doubt SpaceX is hiring a farmer for anything related to Mars.  It's probably just a way of saving taxes.  Boring stuff.

[Robotbeat]

Why would SpaceX hire a farmer instead of leasing the land to one?

Seems like they specifically want the land to be farmed/cultivated, rather than just leased or rented to someone for their own use.

Also, if they're farming "inside the gate" then it may be they want to avoid corporate espionage or ITAR issues by having a leaser farm instead.

[Dave G]

... if they're farming "inside the gate" then it may be they want to avoid corporate espionage or ITAR issues by having a leaser farm instead.

Good point.  The job posting mentions ITAR specifically.

So maybe its property taxes, or ITAR issues, or both.  Probably nothing to do with sending a farmer into space, or anything like that.

[billh]

Why would SpaceX hire a farmer instead of leasing the land to one?

If the owner of the land farms that land, it may be taxed at a much lower rate than if the land were leased.

No, you would get the same property tax discount even if it were leased, as long as the land is in agricultural (or timber) production. I am a Texas landowner who benefits from exactly the same tax break by leasing my property for agricultural use.

The best guess so far is that the reason to hire rather than lease has to do with ITAR. No way does this have anything to do with agriculture in space or on Mars. The job description is too specific.

[muomega0]

Why would SpaceX hire a farmer instead of leasing the land to one?

If the owner of the land farms that land, it may be taxed at a much lower rate than if the land were leased.

No, you would get the same property tax discount even if it were leased, as long as the land is in agricultural (or timber) production. I am a Texas landowner who benefits from exactly the same tax break by leasing my property for agricultural use.

The best guess so far is that the reason to hire rather than lease has to do with ITAR. No way does this have anything to do with agriculture in space or on Mars. The job description is too specific.

it specifically says "in tight spaces" and "Space" has many things that are ITAR related, while farm equipment, TMK has zero ITAR related items.

Perhaps SpaceX wants to actually pay a farmer to actually, well, farm in tight spaces rather than make a profit leasing land, where 75% of the profits go to the 10% of farming companies "Payments are going to people in Manhattan who simply have invested in farmland and are about as far away from farmers as one could imagine"?  IOW:  if you lease land, are you still a farmer, or just the middle man?  A corporate farm with thousands of acres in production will receive more than a small-acreage hobby farm

    Must be able to climb ladders and work in tight spaces.
    Required to exert physical effort in handling objects up to 50 pounds
    Required to be exposed to physical environment which involves dirt, odors, noise, weather extremes or similar elements most of the work day
    Must be able to work an extremely flexible schedule with extra hours as needed by business demands; typically, SpaceX employees work a minimum 50 hour week.  This position will be required to work around test schedules as necessary to ensure the successful crop production does not interfere with testing progress.

[billh]

I believe you are really overthinking this. If you read the full list of qualifications, it is clear they are looking for someone who knows everything you need to know to run a farm in central Texas, and has ten years experience doing it. The only question is why, and the most obvious answer is the tax break. It can be quite substantial - even if the farm can barely break even. What's not obvious is why they would want to hire someone as opposed to lease the property to someone.

[groundbound]

I'm guessing that they may lose a tractor or two from debris from F9R.

Maybe they are planning to pull a plow using grasshopper.

If so they may have trouble finding candidates with experience.

[apollolanding]

Darn, the first SpaceX job I am mostly qualified for but I live (and farmed) in NJ not Texas!  I spent a good portion of my youth farming soybeans... until the grain embargo on the Soviet Union and some family business hijinks sunk us.   This is absolutely for the tax breaks.  If SpaceX buys say 1000 acres of land but doesn't intend on developing a test facility or launch site or office complex for the next 5 years, in order for the land to stay zoned "agricultural" there must be a working farm which produces a certain percentage of the property's income from agricultural activity.  The tax break probably outweighs the income from leasing the land to another farmer, which is why he will become a SpaceX employee.  The income from the crop must go into SpaceX's coffers.  If Texas tax laws are similar to the ones up here, land leased for agriculture is taxed higher than land used by the owner to grow crops himself.  My cousin leases his 80 acres to another farmer but pays higher taxes on the property than when we farmed it as a family business.   

[Nindalf]

Regardless of the mundane explanations, I wouldn't be surprised if they were putting a little twist of relevance on this, such as an experiment in producing bio-sourced kerosene and methane.

I'm sure Elon Musk would prefer to be making some progress toward carbon neutral launch operations.

[The Amazing Catstronaut]

Whilst we all would secretly adore space farmers, it's probably a safe bet to assume that it's a tax thing. Yet just because they can benefit through that particular form of land usage doesn't mean that they're leeching cash actively from the state; it's still an operating farm and as aforementioned - there's any number of ways that SpaceX could use a working farm for its Mars ambitions - to some degree, they are going to need to familiarise themselves with the basic, menial activities of food production. Why not study it practically?

All SpaceX news is good news till proven otherwise.

[SWGlassPit]

Uh I don't think this has anything to do with SpaceX. If Boeing did the same or NASA did the same I think a post would also appear for those. I had not heard that KSC had orchards.

Get real, it has everything to do with Spacex.  Nobody would have posted it if it was done by other organizations.
 Also, VAFB has cultivated fields on it.

I have nothing relevant to add to this conversation except to say that I was surprised when I moved to Houston by the fact that JSC has cattle.

[WindyCity]

Why would SpaceX hire a farmer instead of leasing the land to one?

Seems like they specifically want the land to be farmed/cultivated, rather than just leased or rented to someone for their own use.

How 'bout "First Farmer in Space"?

"He drove a tractor and pulled a plow. He turned rocket-blasted black soil in Texas green. Now he's riding a different rig, a red-tailed Dragon, and he's plowing a furrow to the stars!"

[pericynthion]

The ITAR requirement is because it's easier to have a policy that *every* SpaceX employee be a "US person" than to set up the systems for segregation.