Yup, just like the formerly innovative companies that end up being managed by the financial types. They now optimize for current profits and not market-leading

Yup, just like the formerly innovative companies that end up being managed by the financial types. They now optimize for current profits and not market-leading innovation, so profits improve - for a (sometimes long) while. Then, the profits decline, and no amount of financial sleight-of-hand can make it improve, and the company is too far behind to invest in R&D to again lead. It is making money by extraction not by creation. Nice while it lasts, but unsustainable. If this method takes over for farmland, expect another 1930's dust bowl type of farm out put crash in some years (esp w/the increasing scarcity of critical potash/potassium). So, let's hope this new 'Tillable' biz model dies sooner rather than later.