Is it actually possible to make a living from farming?

I’m looking to pick the brains of actual farmers here—and I don't mean people with a backyard garden and a couple of chickens... I’m talking about folks running serious acreage. Is the government subsidy money actually reliable? And how does it work when farming is your sole source of income if you ever need to deal with banks and credit scores?

I’m especially curious about anyone running commercial orchards.

Sure,

It could be just as good..

I know quite a few people personally who are actually in agriculture, and honestly, they seem to be doing much better than those of us grinding away for someone else—regardless of whether our paychecks even show up on time (which, sadly, is still a thing in places like Chicago)! I’ve got plenty of arguments to back this up, too. If you’ve ever had even a passing thought about getting into farming or any branch of agriculture, I’d love for you to reach out so we can really hash things out. The reason I’m bringing this up is that I’m currently laying the groundwork to move toward working the land, living closer to nature, and being around animals, though I'll likely keep one foot firmly planted in the city life. I suppose the only thing that truly matters is that everyone knows what they actually want out of life; whether you want to be the one out there working the soil, or if you'd rather just stroll through downtown and buy whatever the farmer produces. At the end of the day, the choice is entirely ours.

Around here, calling someone a "country bumpkin" is just code for saying they're broke or unrefined... but honestly, that shouldn't be the case at all. IMO