The number of older people is increasing worldwide - within both the general and the farming population. Thailand is also becoming an ageing society, and with limited welfare support older people are increasingly required to rely on themselves. This study focuses on how Thai older farmers who are still working experience their lives and how they manage to 'balance' the multiple demands that they face. The study employed a design drawing on the principles of Constructivist Grounded Theory and the findings based on in-depth semi-structured interviews with 27 Thai older farmers and in some instances their family members. Theoretical sampling was applied to find potential participants and two phases of data collection were implemented to ensure that sufficient data were gathered for theoretical saturation. Comprehensive data analysis revealed the range of challenges that farmers face as they age and also highlighted the changes that they have experienced throughout their working lives. The substantive theory that emerged comprised of three main elements and charts how farmers have adapted to their lives over time and continue to do so. The theory captures the temporal nature of changes the farmers faced utilising the basic social processes of becoming and being. The core category of balancing, which lies at the heart of the theory, serves to bring the other elements together into a cohesive whole. Taken together these three elements capture the dynamic and continually changing nature of the farmers' lives and how their experiences have been shaped by a wide range of local, national and global influences. The theory produced in this study is subsequently related to the wider literature on older farmers in other countries and areas of commonality are identified. Attention is then turned to broader theories of ageing and comparisons made between the core category of 'balancing' and similar processes described in the international literature. Implications for the future support of older farmers in Thailand are presented and the contribution the study makes to a wider understanding of the shared process of ageing in differing contexts is considered.