It wasn't so much "gave up on" as it was "deliberately destroyed". Since the late 1800's, the banks and the governments have pursued a continuous policy of eco

It wasn't so much "gave up on" as it was "deliberately destroyed". Since the late 1800's, the banks and the governments have pursued a continuous policy of economic centralization and integration, and key to that policy has been the gradual ratchet of making farms unprofitable and uneconomical. We could have a thriving agricultural economy — just change the policymakers.