n 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 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. There can be long

stretches of leisure time, but this is

because you can't speed up either the

plants or the animals, or the seasons.

(And farmers who can often do odd jobs

during those stretches, to eke out the

necessary money.)

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.

If a character who has no experience

farming takes to running a farm without

a noticeable learning curve, that is

this trope. (In the case of a "gentleman

farmer" or hobby farmer, who's merely

farming for fun with no economic

pressure, the learning curve can be less

steep.) If a character with no

experience farming has to do some

farmwork and does it with no training,

no practice, and no trouble, that is

also this trope.