It's real hard and time consuming to level up and earn money, especially when you can't harvest what you planted in just a couple of minutes.
Do the farms of your neighbors look as if they hired a professional landscaper? Are they filthy rich, but started playing farmville after you?
Buying farmville cash is expensive - in case you don't know you can buy FV cash on Zynga but it cost a lot.
Be honest we all like to brag a bit about our accomplishment on our farm to our friends - and of course you can't do that if your farm sucks...