Back in the day when everything was manual I think you could reasonably make a living farming your own land. It was hard work but it was possible.
Nowadays everything is so optimized that margins are razor-thin and the remaining farmers are being squeezed from every side, both from the demand side for their produce (supermarket chains driving prices down) and from the equipment side (John Deere & co intentionally making equipment that's impossible to repair unless you pay them exorbitant prices).
Missed the point. Hardly anyone is a farmer. We all have many luxuries because people who otherwise would be farmers are to some degree instead doing useful things other then fighting gophers and locusts.
Do they?
Back in the day when everything was manual I think you could reasonably make a living farming your own land. It was hard work but it was possible.
Nowadays everything is so optimized that margins are razor-thin and the remaining farmers are being squeezed from every side, both from the demand side for their produce (supermarket chains driving prices down) and from the equipment side (John Deere & co intentionally making equipment that's impossible to repair unless you pay them exorbitant prices).