Former ‘Little People Big World’ star Jacob Roloff is preparing for what might be his final pumpkin season at Roloff Farms after revealing on social media that he and wife Isabel are “being asked to leave” the farm by his dad, Matt.
As fans of ‘Little People Big World’ know, Matt re-listed a 16.6-acre portion of his family’s farm earlier this year following previous attempts to sell the property. The father of four initially put the piece of property– which includes the family’s former home and red barn– on the market in 2022, a move that went on to ignite a Roloff Family feud between Matt and his twin sons Zach and Jeremy.
Amid the family discourse, Matt and ex-wife Amy‘s youngest son Jacob and daughter-in-law Isabel have been living, working on and raising their young son on Roloff Farms.
Just last month, Isabel fired back on social media after Jeremy’s wife, Audrey, (once again) mentioned that she and Jeremy have considered purchasing the 16.6-acre property. In response to her sister-in-law’s remarks about wanting to “save Roloff Farms,” Isabel told fans on TikTok that she and Jacob had been “trying to figure out how to authentically save” the farm, but were lacking the funds to do so.
While Roloff Farms has yet to be sold, Jacob and Isabel have recently begun posting candid content to social media about their current situation, with Jacob recently sharing on Reddit that the two are now “being asked to leave” his family’s as-seen-on-TV farm.
“ … It’s a beautiful property and a lot of the sacrifice in wages and time was worth it if we could keep it,” Jacob wrote. “I would happily work it for the rest of my life, and yet.. being asked to leave!”
At the beginning of his comment, Jacob claimed that he’s been paid “an average of $22/hr” to work at Roloff Farms over the last four years and that he and Isabel have been paying an average of $1150 each month to live in a doublewide trailer on the farm’s property. (The couple also operate Helvetia Gardens on a rented portion of the farmland that’s not included in the piece of property being sold.)
Despite his commitment to Roloff Farms, Jacob claimed that he “can’t get a look at the books,” nor can he “get any latitude for further events or development.”
“Toxicity is finally getting to me, but it didn’t have to be this way,” he wrote.
In another comment on his post, Jacob hinted that Matt was not being financially savvy and stated that he would like to host more of his seasonal markets on the farm to earn more money for the farm’s upkeep.
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“If we held 2 markets a month for 8 months we could pay all of the electric bills (even for the well) and most of the property taxes, and markets are a throwaway, self sustaining thing..” Jacob wrote on Reddit. “There’s plenty I want/wanted to do to pay for this place, just don’t necessarily want to pay for other people’s vacations or financial obligations.”
“…I own nothing here I would happily pay a reasonable lease fee, but I think the longer-term option is ensuring the funds go straight to sustaining the farm (key word ‘ensuring’) with myself getting a wage or small fee,” he told another person on Reddit.
Last week, Jacob posted to his Instagram Stories, letting his followers know he is looking for a job in the area that Roloff Farms is located.
“Need a lead on jobs in Hillsboro,” he wrote.
On Monday, he provided some more insight into his current situation on Roloff Farms. After someone in his comment section claimed that, in addition to being paid to work on the farm, Jacob receives free housing and has been given the opportunity to “acquire skills that will help him on the next chapter in his life,” Jacob set the record straight.
“ … I do get paid for my work, I get about $24 per hour, I think– maybe $23,” Jacob explained in his response. “That ends up being, I don’t know, $28,000 a year or something, after taxes and such. I pay $1100 a month in rent. I do split that, but about 30-ish percent of what I make goes straight back to who pays me, [my dad].
“Yeah, I have acquired numerous skills, but it was kind of the idea behind taking that pay … that it was saving the farm [some] money so that it could last for some lengthy time [and] some more years,” he continued. “So clearly that’s not happening. Now I’m like, ‘Hmm, why did I do that?’ I guess lesson learned.”
“Being asked what it is I actually do around here by management: maybe a labor stoppage in order to illustrate,” he wrote.
Jacob had also hinted at his growing frustration last week on TikTok after a fan expressed how glad they were to see him “keeping the tradition going” at Roloff Farms.
“I certainly tried to keep the tradition going,” Jacob said. “[I] didn’t love the idea of pumpkin season being centered around the TV show. I know a lot of people here recognize me from that, or know me from that, but, like, we need more locals, frankly. There was nothing too distinguishing about our pumpkin patch beyond the show, so [I] definitely wanted to get back to growing our own pumpkins, growing our own corn, doing a corn maze … and opening up on other parts of the year, but couldn’t really get there with management.”
While Jacob said that “other things are happening” at Roloff Farms, he suggested that he (and his family) will not be around as these changes unfold.
“ … I likely will not be here past January,” he said. “So, tradition [for] one more year, yay!”
Isabel also commented on what will likely be her and Jacob’s final pumpkin season at Roloff Farms after a fan expressed on social media how sad they were to hear the news.
“Trust us, we’re sad too,” Isabel wrote, as reported by Us Weekly. “All we can do is keep doing what we’re doing and hope it’s enough.”
Despite Matt allegedly asking him to leave the farm, Jacob has encouraged fans on social media to visit Roloff Farms during the upcoming pumpkin season.
Jacob also assured fans that, despite “a bunch of people” asking, he will not be doing a GoFundMe “for anything related to this farm bulls**t.”
Matt has yet to comment on Jacob’s recent claims. Meanwhile, the 16.6-acre parcel of Roloff Farms remains on the market with an asking price of $2.6 million.
RELATED STORY: Amy Roloff Expresses Regret Over Giving Up Her Share of Roloff Farms as Her Ex Matt Puts It Back on the Market
(Photos: Instagram; TLC; TikTok)
That’s some garbage. I grew up on a farm myself. Farmhands typically were paid around $30 an hour for the type of work Jacob was doing…in the early 2000s! It was also common to give them free housing on the property. We had two small houses on our land that housed farm workers free of charge. $23 and hour in OREGON while charging your own kid rent?! Jesus, Matt, you are going to end up dying alone in whatever third rate nursing home those kids put you in and you have no one to blame but yourself.
He just needs to split it up between his four kids and call it a day imo. He’s ruining his family and he prob doesn’t have much time left.. my dad died recently and it really makes ya think. Money destroys families sometimes and it’s unfortunate but I blame Matt mostly
GIVE JACOB THE FARM, MATT!! You had TV cameras on his entire childhood so YOU could make money!! You did NOT protect Jacob from being SA’d as a MINOR by one of the show’s producers!! GIVE HIM THE FARM!!
Matt is a cheapskate and honestly is a crappy “businessman” and father. Matt has a pretty substantial net worth- And while I understand collecting rent even if you live on relatives land, if you have a Net worth of that much, while paying your child very little to actually put work in around the land, you could probably lay off asking for it or ask for much less… My kids and I share a house with my mom. She has her own part of the house (in-law quarters) with a one bed, one bath, kitchenette, living room, while I have 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and a living room, dining room and full kitchen. I pay much more than she does towards the mortgage and also 70% of the electric/gas bill, but she is retired, on a fixed income and I have four people to house/feed/clothe etcetera and she has one and is rarely home… I know if she had more money, she would probably not ask me to take on the majority of the mortgage or utility bills. Anyway- you also know that Matt probably isn’t doing any manual labor either. He doesn’t seem to hold himself accountable ever either. I used to think Amy was just a huge b**ch but over the years I see why she was one- Matt.
I don’t think that Matt is a very nice person. His net worth is somewhere around 4.5 to 6 million.
Jacob was doing all of the farm work and getting paid $23 an hour by his own father?! I would venture to say that farm work is grueling. I also don’t think Matt contributed a lot to the labor.
Clearly Matt doesn’t even think of his grandchildren. I can’t count how many times Matt said he wanted to keep the farm in the family so his kids and grandchildren could benefit.