Far too expensive for 1 farmer

Frits Pieper
10 apr 2020

When I was a 10 year old boy, I had a deep awe of corn harvesters.

I grew up in a village near Arnhem. We lived on the edge of the village, near the meadows.

Many of the pastures were grassed, and cows or horses grazed. Other areas were used to grow corn.

The corn stood in straight rows on the field. It was fun to play hide-and-seek in it. You just had to watch out for the sharp leaves – I regularly cut my hands and arms on them.

The corn that was grown there was feed for cows. I once tried to make popcorn from it, but it was really inedible.

When the corn had grown much taller than me, around the end of September, the farmers would begin to harvest their fields of corn.

With those enormous choppers. Corn mowers that 'ate' a few whole rows of corn in one go, chopped it up, and spat it out again behind the machine. Another, agile farmer drove his tractor next to it, and exactly as fast as the corn mower. He neatly caught the jet of chopped corn in his trailer.

My father explained to me that such a machine cost a lot of money. So much that 1 farmer would not be able to pay for it quickly. That is why many farmers bought one such machine together. When the corn had to be mowed, they used the corn mower in turns.

Smart!

I did think that I would like to be the farmer who had the machine in the barn, so I could decide when I would mow my corn.

I just thought it was strange that everyone in our street had their own lawn mower.

We had one, but so did both of our neighbors. And the neighbors next door too.

You also hardly ever used the lawn mower, and you could easily share it.

The same goes for cars.

You could share that too.

Only, apparently many people are just like me: you want to be that farmer who has the corn mower in the barn. Or in the case of a car: who has the car parked in front of your door.

As long as cars remain affordable, I think it will stay that way.

If cars become as expensive as maize mowers (a second-hand 10-year-old forage harvester starts at €100.000), we might start sharing them too.

I didn't start renting out corn mowers, but I did start renting out cars.

It's not September yet, but you can rent one.

For tomorrow, for the Easter weekend or for next week.

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