Close,but no cigar.
The FACT is that "the family farm" that was a cornerstone of what made America great is all but gone,and "Corporate Farming" has all but taken over.
Part of this,I am sure,is due to farm children getting advanced educations and no longer being "chained to the family farm". They get technical degrees of one sort or another,and work inside climate-controlled offices instead of outside in the heat,the cold,the rain,and the snow.
The other part is that EVERYTHING involved in successful farming these days is insanely expensive,and even IF you can afford to buy the new machinery needed to be a successful farmer in today's world,you can't find anybody to hire to operate it.
And who can blame the people who used to provide seasonal labor,when the world has now changed and you need a full-time job in order to survive?
Not only that,but the simple tractor of the 40's and earlier is GONE from everywhere but "hobby farms" and museums. You can't just hire any semi-sober dummy to run it. It requires specialized knowledge and education to set and monitor the gauges. Knowledge/experience/education that part-time farm help just doesn't have.
I live in a county that 50 years ago was primarily ran by farmers because that was basically the only industry operating here at that time,other than the occasional small grocery store or gas station. Today,there is only ONE of the original farm families operating at maximum capacity,and the man at the top of this family is a friend of mine. He is now in his 70's,has no children at home,and he only has a handful of seasonal workers because that is all that he can find who know what is required,how to operate the machinery,and is reliable enough to show up for work sober.
I am friends with another farm family that was a major farming operation in years past,but they only had one child,and she and her husband are now in their 60's and childless. When they die,the farm is gone.
I just don't have the first clue as to how to "fix" this problem because the children of today mostly want to push papers in high-rise business buildings,and if you don't have the resources of someone like Bill Gates,who is the largest farmer in America today,you just can't even operate,never mind compete.
Yeah,I DO know of a few very large family farms still operating,but I suspect the same thing will happen with them once this generation of farmers dies off. Developers will want the large tracts of land for housing developments,and the former farm children/sudden multi-millionaires will want to live like the millionaires they will be.
