Around here people tend to look at unused land and lament that it was all farmed 30 years ago. But the reality is that grain growing operates on ever-thinner m

Around here people tend to look at unused land and lament that it was all farmed 30 years ago. But the reality is that grain growing operates on ever-thinner margins. It now makes sense to skim grain from the best lands, insolation and precipitation-wise, and leave the rest to grasses, shrubs and marshes. What do people do in depressed regions in the absense of productivity, especially in the country, is another story.