B. Here’s 24 mitzvahs for the Farmer Bob within: Positive Mitzvahs 119-130 and 134-138, and Negative Mitzvahs 210-214 and 220-221. These detail how to run a farm according to Torah. How to treat your workers and your animals. How to give to the poor. How to give to G-d. How to reap a bountiful harvest. How to give to the poor so that you reap a bountiful harvest. From G-d.

C. The Torah’s rules don’t just make for more earth-sensitive agriculture, or more angelic farmers—they teach us to give. A field to a farmer is an operating room to a neurosurgeon—that’s where they make their money. So whether you work in a courtroom, coatroom, boardroom or barroom, give of everything you’ve got.

[Among the agricultural Mitzvahs enumerated below, (a) some of them applied everywhere, but only when the Temple stood in Jerusalem; (b) some applied only in the Land of Israel, and only during Temple times; (c) some apply everywhere at all times; (d) some apply at all times, but only in the Land of Israel. If you are actually a farmer, or contemplating entering the profession, you will need to study these laws in depth to discover which of these laws apply to your situation. (Click here to read 'Which Mitzvahs are only observed in the Land of Israel?')]

The Torah’s rules don’t just make for more earth-sensitive agriculture, or more angelic farmers—they teach us to give

1. The Field of Charity

Before there was socialism, there was Judaism. So:

Negative Mitzvah #210: Don’t harvest a corner of your fields and orchards... (Click here to read 'What is Peah?')

Positive Mitzvah #120: ...leave it for the poor to harvest for themselves.

Negative Mitzvah #211: Don’t retrieve individual stalks that fall to earth...

Positive Mitzvah #121: ...leave them for the poor to gather for themselves.

Negative Mitzvah #212: Don’t pluck every single grape off your vines at “press time”...

Positive Mitzvah #123: ...leave the clusters of little ones for the poor to pluck for themselves.

Negative Mitzvah #213: Don’t retrieve individual grapes that fall off the vine at harvest…

Positive Mitzvah #124: …leave them for the poor to gather for themselves.

Negative Mitzvah #214: Don’t return to your field to retrieve any produce you forgot there…

Positive Mitzvah #122: …leave it for the poor to collect for themselves.

2. Whoa, Farmer! G-d is Your Foreman

Besides giving to others, the Jewish farmer must give to G-d. Hence:

Positive Mitzvah #119: Bring the fruits of the fourth-year plantings as a gift to G-d in Jerusalem.

Positive Mitzvah #125: Bring the first fruits of your harvest as a gift to G-d in Jerusalem. (Click here to read  'What is bikurim?')

Positive Mitzvah #126: Bring of the first of your harvest as a gift to the Kohens in Jerusalem. (Click here to read 'What is Terumah?'  and also 'What gifts were given by the Israelites to the Kohanim and Levites?')

Positive Mitzvah #128: Bring Maaser Sheni (the Second Tithe) of your produce to Jerusalem.

Positive Mitzvah #129: If you’re a Levite, give part of your allotted Maaser Rishon to the Kohens.

Positive Mitzvah #130: Give Maaser Ani (the Poor Man's Tithe) every third and sixth year.

3. Remember Who’s Boss

Every seventh day, we reorient: Shabbat. And every seventh year, we reaffirm: Shmittah (rhymes with cheetah). Shmittah is to agriculture what Shabbat is to the working life—a reminder of what it’s all really about. On Shabbat, we retreat from work. During the Shmittah year, we retreat from our fields. The original Sabbatical. And upon completion of every 49th year, Yovel (jubilee, pronounced YO-vail) is held throughout the fiftieth: all land property returns to the original owner, and all servants are freed. Here are the mitzvahs of Shmittah and Yovel:

Positive Mitzvah #134: Renounce as ownerless all produce of the Shmittah year;

Positive Mitzvah #135: Allow the land to rest farming-free during the Shmittah year…

On Shabbat, we retreat from work. During the Shmittah year, we retreat from our fields. The original Sabbatical

Negative Mitzvah #221: …or its trees;

Positive Mitzvah #136: Declare the 50th year as the Yovel year; (Click here to read 'When will be the next Jubilee year?')

Positive Mitzvah #137: Blow the Shofar on the tenth of Tishrei (Yom Kippur) of the Yovel year; and

Positive Mitzvah #138: Revert all properties to their original owners at the Yovel year.

4. Odds and Ends

Here are some other miscellaneous laws which apply to your field and/or barn:

Negative Mitzvah #200: Not to eat fruit of a tree during its first three years (“Orlah”). (Click here to read 'What is Orlah?' )

Negative Mitzvah #234: Not to plant diverse seeds together. (Click here to read 'Are hybrid fruits kosher?' )

Negative Mitzvah #235: Not to plant grains or greens in a vineyard.

Negative Mitzvah #236: Not to crossbreed animals.

Negative Mitzvah #237: Not to work different animals together.

Negative Mitzvah #254: Not to improperly preface one tithe to the next, but separate them in their proper order.

Positive Mitzvah #269: To read the confession of tithes every fourth and seventh year.

Positive Mitzvah #275: To give the first sheering of sheep to a Kohen.

Positive Mitzvah #277: To redeem the firstborn donkey by giving a lamb to a Kohen.

Positive Mitzvah #426: To set aside the firstborn animals [to be eaten by the Kohens and sacrificed unless they are blemished].

Positive Mitzvah #429: Separate the tithe from animals [to be eaten by the Kohens, and sacrificed unless they are blemished].

Negative Mitzvah #472: Not to move a boundary marker to steal someone's property.

Positive Mitzvah #518: Pay wages on the day they were earned.

Negative Mitzvah #519: Not to delay payment of wages past the agreed time.  

Positive Mitzvah #520: The hired worker may eat from the unharvested crops where he works.

Negative Mitzvah #521: The worker must not eat while on hired time.

Negative Mitzvah #522: The worker must not take more than he can eat.

Negative Mitzvah #523: Not to muzzle an ox while plowing.