Anecdata: from my travels in indigenous areas in various parts of the world, and from my experience with organic farmers in the US (not really comparable I know

Anecdata: from my travels in indigenous areas in various parts of the world, and from my experience with organic farmers in the US (not really comparable I know), I would say that the variance is high. With modern medicine and transportation (to bring some produce and things such as handicrafts to market for supplementary income) in some climates and soils the life of subsistence farmers is not at all terrible. Many involved make materially more rewarding choices when they can, but (and again I know this is not really comparable) I know successful PhD scientists (one a biologist and another a physicist) who gave it all up and became organic farmers in the mountains in the SE U.S. and are happy for the choice they made.