Biases

Someone accused me of being biased towards greenhouse farming. Perhaps they meant to set me straight. For me to say, “No. No. I am not biased. See, I even do open-field farming!!”.

Truth is, I will be the first to admit I am biased towards green-house farming.

What is there not to be biased about?

Now, rain keeps me up at night. I wonder if tomorrow I will find my open-field tomatoes safe and sound. Or the rain will have carried them away. I am at that critical time of the first weeks of harvests. I’ve spent 80 percent of the money I will spend on that farm and this [uncontrollable] rain has me risking a lot.

If I were in a greenhouse, I would order a clay jiko from the Clay Republic. Switched on my JBL speakers for a tomato and me party. We would sway in the greenhouse to soulful music, our spindly arms in the air. The sound of rain pounding the paper sheet screaming "This must be what heaven looks like! This must be what heaven looks like!" At the end of this beautiful time, I would irrigate the tomatoes.

Seriously though, I have made several visits to a lady who farms coloured capsicum in Ruai. She has about 2 acres under greenhouses. I have written about her severally so if you’ve seen a comment about a lady who does coloured capsicum and lives off her farm, that is she. ?

One day, I asked her, “Does this farm support your lifestyle?”

Yes, she said. She lives off her farm.

Now, of course, having a greenhouse is not a ticket to financial freedom, I will be the first to tell you that. However, if you can earn the same from 2 greenhouses, what you would earn from 2 acres, what is not to be biased about?

In conclusion, I do not think the issue of greenhouse farming is cost. It is mental.

“I am unfamiliar with greenhouse farming, so it is bad”

“I do not see the need for a greenhouse”

“I do not deserve a greenhouse”

“Work should be hard”

And other mental blockers we've put in our minds.

Tell me, why are you biased against greenhouses?