US | Elon Musk Why on Earth Is SpaceX Hiring a Farmer? Maybe for potatoes on Mars, or maybe for the tax breaks By John Johnson Posted Dec 3, 2014 2:20 PM CST Copied Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX (and Tesla Motors). (AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu) As a company that hopes to rocket passengers into space and colonize other planets, you might expect SpaceX to run some unusual help-wanted ads from time to time. But a new one is definitely raising eyebrows: Elon Musk's company is looking for an experienced farmer in Texas. Applicants should have a "minimum of 10 years of row crop farming experience" and be handy with John Deere equipment, notes the Christian Science Monitor. So what gives? SpaceX isn't saying, leading to speculation that the company hopes to send a farmer to space someday to sow seeds on an another planet. But Agriculture.com suspects the reason is far more mundane: tax breaks. It notes that SpaceX could get agriculture-use exemptions for both land and equipment. (That makes sense, given Musk's ability to extract cash out of state coffers.) Read These Next Greenland is less cash cow and more money pit. The 60 Minutes segment that was abruptly pulled has now been aired. US citizens find a new way to keep loved ones from being deported. Ex-Russian teacher is accused of luring foreigners to the front lines. Report an error