Small time farmers seem to be a lot more likely to know these sorts of skills, because it allows them to save an obscene amount of money on specialty equipment

Small time farmers seem to be a lot more likely to know these sorts of skills, because it allows them to save an obscene amount of money on specialty equipment by modifying something inexpensive to do the job. That's how/why my grandfather knew how to weld. And all his children. And his grandchildren too. His kids all went to college but also got a big boost from having practical hands-on skills to augment with theory and specialization. One of my uncles got a PhD and then spent most of his career helping grad students fabricate equipment for their field experiments, because hardly any other students or professors knew practical welding/soldering/instrumentation.