Perseverance, self-reliance, and American stubbornness tattooed in the dried skin of the farmer/rancher... That's a fact.
And the war on country folks is longstanding, all the way beck to calling everything between NYC and LA 'fly over states'. But they will play heck messing with country folks, even as they always have. You cannot control a guy that can feed himself...
There are two different economies involved here. And the country economy is not tied to the dollar. Other than making the taxes, and inheritance taxing, the rest is hard to tear down. And they have been trying to take farmland through inheritance taxing and land improvement taxing since Hector was a pup...
Shorting farmers has been going on for at least three generations. All this is nothing new.
And I can tell you, the response is a reaction by country folks to avoid the economic chain.
I generally buy 20 head or so, and raise them for resale, keeping one or two back for our family. And I can generally make a buck, or break even with free beef for the family at the worst.
But the way that works, to eliminate loss. if not risk entirely, is because I am partnered with local processors that sell direct to consumers via internet, taking the profit into ourselves that would normally be taken by the Big Beef folks. The same will go for chickens. So what is rising up is parallel to Big Beef, just like the organic farms are cutting loose Monsanto and John Deere, reducing acreage and moving to a direct-to-consumer model that favors market gardens (high yield, low acreage)
If a feller gets rid of the cost of seed and chemical, there is a whole lot more room for profit, or at least ameliorated risk.
And these things happen naturally - Folks have to make money, and when there ain't no money, you figger out a different way - And that is exactly what is happening. That country economy, where money ain't king, is hard to tear down.
