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The article is really interesting. And a decent investigative piece. I recommend a full read. It also confirms what I have always said..most of our food and fa

The article is really interesting. And a decent investigative piece. I recommend a full read. It also confirms what I have always said..most of our food and farmland is controlled by sovereign wealth funds, insurance companies, pension funds, unions and institutional investment. In the coming decade, all small farms and family farms will disappear. They will only exist as hobby farms or subsidy collecting token farms.

kls 6y ago
Some of this is by design, food insecurity is one of the largest driver of unrest. Those in the power seats and politicians have a vested interest in taking an active part in the management of agricultural production. I grew up on a small citrus farm, I saw NAFTA and the migrant worker bills ravage the small farmers first hand. The way it was done was unfair and amounted to a transfer of wealth to these entities but with that being said, I know why they did it. They need economies of scale, as well as the ability to offset risk, the easiest way to do that is to conglomerate the land together so that if there is a loss of production in one area output can be raised in another. This is hard to do with a co-op of independent farmers. Starving people are dangerous to stability it really is as simple as that, and that is why you see these entities involved in farmlands.
- jackfoxy 6y ago
  While this is entirely true, real assets don't get any realer than productive farmland. The Fed's super money creation policy of 2020 is resulting in a new landrush (pun intended) of well-funded entities into real assets.
- jelliclesfarm 6y ago
  Economies of scale is a real thing. There will always be large farms for food security. Food is too important and essential to be handed down to small farmers. Small farms are super-inefficient. Having said that, we can’t do away with small farms and family farms. The only way to save it is with automation and labour cost saving tech so it provides enough to be considered a career like any other. I see it as forming co-ops and co-op hubs. Jellicles Farm is creating Hundred-Acre-Hubs and then co-ops of clusters hubs. I want to focus on small acreage automation. Small robots/cobots swarming in small acreages managed by individual farmers. Labour is 40-60% of cost. And it’s becoming increasingly unreliable and unavailable and expensive for small farmers. Automation is the only way. It will satisfy local food security and niche crops. Commodities will still be grown in large commercial corporate farms as they should be..
  - kls 6y ago
    Yes I get it, I remember the day I told my grandfather that I would never scratch a living out of dirt, that I respected him for doing it but that the reality of the world has changed and that it was time for him to sell before he lost everything. That was a hard day, it was his life, and his fathers life. His father and his grandfather moved to Florida and homesteaded the land, it was a hard pill to swallow, but he knew there was no future in it for the future family given the realities that it is the way America was aligning farming resources. I totally get it that is why I convinced him to sell the land, but it sucks when you are on the receiving end of policy set to realign a segment of the American economy, that being said, there are always going to be winners and looser of policy decisions, I am happy with the way life turned out, he was proud of me and the path I choose before he passed. I was just noting that there was a human toll that happened for all this farm land to be rolled up by the conglomerates. Not implying that it was the wrong decision on the larger geo-political scale. I would like to see the return of small farms if someone can make it viable, I would not trade the life I lived as a child for anything, but as I said above, I will never again scratch a living out of dirt, unless it is absolutely necessary for my and my families survival.
    - jelliclesfarm 6y ago
      Automation of small acreages is the answer. We are covered for grains, commodities and essentials. But we can maintain off grid homesteads and grow niche and high value crops on small acreages. Look at all the vineyards we have now, marijuana grows, lavender fields and an embarrassment of riches when it comes to gourmet consumption. Farming is magical. We convert sunlight and water through alchemy and plant genetics. There is absolutely nothing that compares.
      - kls 6y ago
        In all sincerity I wish you well and hope your endeavors succeed in this market. I cannot help but be cynical given my experiences with of being a farmer in the 70's and 80's. I do hope someone can solve the issue and bring a return to farming for the family farm. It was a good life to grow up in and is a worthwhile endeavor for someone to provide a solution to get back to.
captainredbeard 6y ago
That's pretty much already true and there's a third-tier: boutique. The only "sustainable" operations out there are based on this model; c.f. Polyface Farms et al
lainga 6y ago
Do you think the proposed American bill to purchase and distribute land to descendants of African-American farmers will change that?
- ilyaeck 6y ago
  No. Most of that land will then be sold to the highest bidder.
  - kridsdale1 6y ago
    No kidding. Not making any comment on validity or ethics of reparations, but just putting myself in the shoes of someone who would be the beneficiary of this policy, would I like to uproot the life that I have led, and many generations of my ancestors have led as non-farm-owners, to go try to figure out how to farm? Or would I like a big fat check from Mr Gates?
- jelliclesfarm 6y ago
  That’s a really bad idea. Farming is a profession and an essential one. People need to be educated, trained and experienced. We can’t waste valuable farmland and distribute it. However, if it does pass..then it could just be the dollar value of farmland that is redistributed or with the caveat that they form a co-op to professionally farm the acreage to be productive. All farmland needs protection. Transitioning of farmland into commercial land or residential land should be fully discouraged. Also..small holdings(less than 1000 acres) should be automated. Farming is for the rich. You need to lose a lot of money first before you can start making returns. Encouraging those with no farm experience with farmland is pushing them into debt and penury.
- ralusek 6y ago
  That would just delay the same process that has allowed these larger landowners to own most of the land in the first place.
  - jelliclesfarm 6y ago
    You are speaking of land ownership and redistribution of property. I am talking about food production and farming. They are two entirely different issues
saddlerustle 6y ago
Good. If you speak to anyone in the agriculture industry they will tell you the small and family farms tend to have the worst safety, environmental and animal cruelty records.
- jelliclesfarm 6y ago
  This is somewhat true but not absolute truth tho’. But if I don’t want to get into the weeds to nit pick on details, I would say that you are right. Having said that, it is because of economics. Small farm environmental sustainability is not feasible due to $$. The solution for this small acreage automation(what I am working on) systems and protocols. Small acreage automation is important because globally, food comes from small acreages and it is becoming increasingly difficult for many small and poorer nations to feed their people. Not all countries have rich people owning very large acreages in cultivation. American farms also produce little food and more fodder/fiber/fuel. We import most of our nutritious food like produce. For food security, there needs to be more small acreage automation and more small farmers. We educate everyone these days and they need to be employed. They are not going to manually pick weeds if they run a sustainable farm. The only reason California has $45+ billion in ag revenue is because of the poorly paid undocumented immigrant labour force. And massive entitlements that big farmers(most of them as corporates own between 20k-100k acres of land) earn mostly through our complicated water agreements that the tax payers bear most of the cost indirectly.
  - codethief 6y ago
    > The solution for this small acreage automation(what I am working on) systems and protocols. Could you elaborate on this? What exactly is it that you want to automate?
    - deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]
    - jelliclesfarm 6y ago
      Automation to reduce operating costs. I am unable to elaborate at this point, but I think this will give you an idea about the kind of costs and returns we face in our industry: https://coststudyfiles.ucdavis.edu/uploads/cs_public/7a/c9/7ac93a02-6ad3-439a-a74d-2bcf9e40180c/2019romainehearts-final-7-8-2019.pdf https://coststudyfiles.ucdavis.edu/uploads/cs_public/7a/c9/7... Any thoughts or insights would be appreciated and helpful to me.
dhruvrrp 6y ago
There is a cutoff where small farmlands are not sustainable or economical. Small farms means that the overhead for the produce is too high, and they require extensive subsidies to stay afloat.
- jelliclesfarm 6y ago
  Not if we bring tech and automation to small farms. Outside of the USA, small farm holdings feed the citizens. It is even more important for them to avail new tech and labour cost saving automation.
  - dhruvrrp 6y ago
    That is not completely true. In EU more than 40% small farmers consumed more than half their produce. In India heavily subsidizes farming as well, for good reason since a significant portion of the population is employed in the agricultural sector. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Small_and_large_farms_in_the_EU_-_statistics_from_the_farm_structure_survey&oldid=406560 https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php...
    - jelliclesfarm 6y ago
      What is ‘not completely true’?
driverdan 6y ago
> It also confirms what I have always said..most of our food and farmland is controlled by sovereign wealth funds, insurance companies, pension funds, unions and institutional investment. Does it though? Based on a post above yours he owns less than 0.1% of US farmland. That means ownership is not concentrated. It seems to be much like the logistics / trucking industry. There is no concentration of power.
- bluGill 6y ago
  In Iowa there are laws against corporate farms (I think this means publicly traded, but I'm not sure exactly what). They have loopholes so that seed companies can grow seed (but nothing else), and other companies can test their farm equipment. John Deere employee, but not speaking for my employer.
- srveale 6y ago
  Sure, it's not really monopolistic, but there's definitely a trend towards concentration. Think about the number of unique farmland owners as a percentage of population, compared to 50, 100, or 200 years ago.
  - missedthecue 6y ago
    Looking at it the other way around, I'd much rather be a farmer in 2020 than 1920 or 1820. You'd earn much more.

kls 6y ago

Some of this is by design, food insecurity is one of the largest driver of unrest. Those in the power seats and politicians have a vested interest in taking an active part in the management of agricultural production. I grew up on a small citrus farm, I saw NAFTA and the migrant worker bills ravage the small farmers first hand. The way it was done was unfair and amounted to a transfer of wealth to these entities but with that being said, I know why they did it. They need economies of scale, as well as the ability to offset risk, the easiest way to do that is to conglomerate the land together so that if there is a loss of production in one area output can be raised in another. This is hard to do with a co-op of independent farmers. Starving people are dangerous to stability it really is as simple as that, and that is why you see these entities involved in farmlands.

jackfoxy 6y ago
While this is entirely true, real assets don't get any realer than productive farmland. The Fed's super money creation policy of 2020 is resulting in a new landrush (pun intended) of well-funded entities into real assets.
jelliclesfarm 6y ago
Economies of scale is a real thing. There will always be large farms for food security. Food is too important and essential to be handed down to small farmers. Small farms are super-inefficient. Having said that, we can’t do away with small farms and family farms. The only way to save it is with automation and labour cost saving tech so it provides enough to be considered a career like any other. I see it as forming co-ops and co-op hubs. Jellicles Farm is creating Hundred-Acre-Hubs and then co-ops of clusters hubs. I want to focus on small acreage automation. Small robots/cobots swarming in small acreages managed by individual farmers. Labour is 40-60% of cost. And it’s becoming increasingly unreliable and unavailable and expensive for small farmers. Automation is the only way. It will satisfy local food security and niche crops. Commodities will still be grown in large commercial corporate farms as they should be..
- kls 6y ago
  Yes I get it, I remember the day I told my grandfather that I would never scratch a living out of dirt, that I respected him for doing it but that the reality of the world has changed and that it was time for him to sell before he lost everything. That was a hard day, it was his life, and his fathers life. His father and his grandfather moved to Florida and homesteaded the land, it was a hard pill to swallow, but he knew there was no future in it for the future family given the realities that it is the way America was aligning farming resources. I totally get it that is why I convinced him to sell the land, but it sucks when you are on the receiving end of policy set to realign a segment of the American economy, that being said, there are always going to be winners and looser of policy decisions, I am happy with the way life turned out, he was proud of me and the path I choose before he passed. I was just noting that there was a human toll that happened for all this farm land to be rolled up by the conglomerates. Not implying that it was the wrong decision on the larger geo-political scale. I would like to see the return of small farms if someone can make it viable, I would not trade the life I lived as a child for anything, but as I said above, I will never again scratch a living out of dirt, unless it is absolutely necessary for my and my families survival.
  - jelliclesfarm 6y ago
    Automation of small acreages is the answer. We are covered for grains, commodities and essentials. But we can maintain off grid homesteads and grow niche and high value crops on small acreages. Look at all the vineyards we have now, marijuana grows, lavender fields and an embarrassment of riches when it comes to gourmet consumption. Farming is magical. We convert sunlight and water through alchemy and plant genetics. There is absolutely nothing that compares.
    - kls 6y ago
      In all sincerity I wish you well and hope your endeavors succeed in this market. I cannot help but be cynical given my experiences with of being a farmer in the 70's and 80's. I do hope someone can solve the issue and bring a return to farming for the family farm. It was a good life to grow up in and is a worthwhile endeavor for someone to provide a solution to get back to.

captainredbeard 6y ago

That's pretty much already true and there's a third-tier: boutique. The only "sustainable" operations out there are based on this model; c.f. Polyface Farms et al

lainga 6y ago

Do you think the proposed American bill to purchase and distribute land to descendants of African-American farmers will change that?

ilyaeck 6y ago
No. Most of that land will then be sold to the highest bidder.
- kridsdale1 6y ago
  No kidding. Not making any comment on validity or ethics of reparations, but just putting myself in the shoes of someone who would be the beneficiary of this policy, would I like to uproot the life that I have led, and many generations of my ancestors have led as non-farm-owners, to go try to figure out how to farm? Or would I like a big fat check from Mr Gates?
jelliclesfarm 6y ago
That’s a really bad idea. Farming is a profession and an essential one. People need to be educated, trained and experienced. We can’t waste valuable farmland and distribute it. However, if it does pass..then it could just be the dollar value of farmland that is redistributed or with the caveat that they form a co-op to professionally farm the acreage to be productive. All farmland needs protection. Transitioning of farmland into commercial land or residential land should be fully discouraged. Also..small holdings(less than 1000 acres) should be automated. Farming is for the rich. You need to lose a lot of money first before you can start making returns. Encouraging those with no farm experience with farmland is pushing them into debt and penury.
ralusek 6y ago
That would just delay the same process that has allowed these larger landowners to own most of the land in the first place.
- jelliclesfarm 6y ago
  You are speaking of land ownership and redistribution of property. I am talking about food production and farming. They are two entirely different issues

saddlerustle 6y ago

Good. If you speak to anyone in the agriculture industry they will tell you the small and family farms tend to have the worst safety, environmental and animal cruelty records.

jelliclesfarm 6y ago
This is somewhat true but not absolute truth tho’. But if I don’t want to get into the weeds to nit pick on details, I would say that you are right. Having said that, it is because of economics. Small farm environmental sustainability is not feasible due to $$. The solution for this small acreage automation(what I am working on) systems and protocols. Small acreage automation is important because globally, food comes from small acreages and it is becoming increasingly difficult for many small and poorer nations to feed their people. Not all countries have rich people owning very large acreages in cultivation. American farms also produce little food and more fodder/fiber/fuel. We import most of our nutritious food like produce. For food security, there needs to be more small acreage automation and more small farmers. We educate everyone these days and they need to be employed. They are not going to manually pick weeds if they run a sustainable farm. The only reason California has $45+ billion in ag revenue is because of the poorly paid undocumented immigrant labour force. And massive entitlements that big farmers(most of them as corporates own between 20k-100k acres of land) earn mostly through our complicated water agreements that the tax payers bear most of the cost indirectly.
- codethief 6y ago
  > The solution for this small acreage automation(what I am working on) systems and protocols. Could you elaborate on this? What exactly is it that you want to automate?
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - jelliclesfarm 6y ago
    Automation to reduce operating costs. I am unable to elaborate at this point, but I think this will give you an idea about the kind of costs and returns we face in our industry: https://coststudyfiles.ucdavis.edu/uploads/cs_public/7a/c9/7ac93a02-6ad3-439a-a74d-2bcf9e40180c/2019romainehearts-final-7-8-2019.pdf https://coststudyfiles.ucdavis.edu/uploads/cs_public/7a/c9/7... Any thoughts or insights would be appreciated and helpful to me.

dhruvrrp 6y ago

There is a cutoff where small farmlands are not sustainable or economical. Small farms means that the overhead for the produce is too high, and they require extensive subsidies to stay afloat.

jelliclesfarm 6y ago
Not if we bring tech and automation to small farms. Outside of the USA, small farm holdings feed the citizens. It is even more important for them to avail new tech and labour cost saving automation.
- dhruvrrp 6y ago
  That is not completely true. In EU more than 40% small farmers consumed more than half their produce. In India heavily subsidizes farming as well, for good reason since a significant portion of the population is employed in the agricultural sector. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Small_and_large_farms_in_the_EU_-_statistics_from_the_farm_structure_survey&oldid=406560 https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php...
  - jelliclesfarm 6y ago
    What is ‘not completely true’?

driverdan 6y ago

> It also confirms what I have always said..most of our food and farmland is controlled by sovereign wealth funds, insurance companies, pension funds, unions and institutional investment. Does it though? Based on a post above yours he owns less than 0.1% of US farmland. That means ownership is not concentrated. It seems to be much like the logistics / trucking industry. There is no concentration of power.

bluGill 6y ago
In Iowa there are laws against corporate farms (I think this means publicly traded, but I'm not sure exactly what). They have loopholes so that seed companies can grow seed (but nothing else), and other companies can test their farm equipment. John Deere employee, but not speaking for my employer.
srveale 6y ago
Sure, it's not really monopolistic, but there's definitely a trend towards concentration. Think about the number of unique farmland owners as a percentage of population, compared to 50, 100, or 200 years ago.
- missedthecue 6y ago
  Looking at it the other way around, I'd much rather be a farmer in 2020 than 1920 or 1820. You'd earn much more.