4 ms·

Are you saying that it takes more land to support the same number of people? If so, why? Edit: maybe I'm mixing up the meaning of support here. Do you mean sup

Are you saying that it takes more land to support the same number of people? If so, why? Edit: maybe I'm mixing up the meaning of support here. Do you mean support as in financial support through the farm's profit, or sustenance support, i.e. feeding the family from the farm?

comfypotato 4y ago
Profit, in dollars, per acre has gone down. You need more acres for the same profit. Modern ag-tech is much more efficient.
- jiggywiggy 4y ago
  Your last sentence doesn't make sense. You would expect yield to go up if ag tech is efficiënt. Profit going down is a sign of organisational change.
  - SoftTalker 4y ago
    For commodity products, profit always trends to zero.
  - jefftk 4y ago
    Becoming more efficient tells you that yield is going up. It doesn't tell you anything about profit: that depends on the market.
  - comfypotato 4y ago
    No, efficient technology will reduce profits to nothing and eliminate an industry/role entirely in some cases.
- RajT88 4y ago
  I assume you're getting at the major corporate farms exerting a downward pressure on prices, which is thus lowering the profit per acre?
  - comfypotato 4y ago
    The biggest factor is technology. The same capital can produce more food. I think that’s what you’re talking about but not really sure. It’s a good thing for everyone but the farmers. The cost of food is one of the few things that has significantly gone down relative to minimum wage in the US. Supply has gone up more than demand. Profit margins have gone down.
  - antisthenes 4y ago
    No need to reinvent the wheel: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economies_of_scale https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economies_of_scale
- temporarara 4y ago
  Note that the profit and profit margins are highly dependent on crop.
moomoo11 4y ago
I believe he is saying the COGS doesn’t work out in favor of small farms against bigger ag-corps. Those bigger operations can afford to reinvest in technology and evolve to do more with less (people).

comfypotato 4y ago

Profit, in dollars, per acre has gone down. You need more acres for the same profit. Modern ag-tech is much more efficient.

jiggywiggy 4y ago
Your last sentence doesn't make sense. You would expect yield to go up if ag tech is efficiënt. Profit going down is a sign of organisational change.
- SoftTalker 4y ago
  For commodity products, profit always trends to zero.
- jefftk 4y ago
  Becoming more efficient tells you that yield is going up. It doesn't tell you anything about profit: that depends on the market.
- comfypotato 4y ago
  No, efficient technology will reduce profits to nothing and eliminate an industry/role entirely in some cases.
RajT88 4y ago
I assume you're getting at the major corporate farms exerting a downward pressure on prices, which is thus lowering the profit per acre?
- comfypotato 4y ago
  The biggest factor is technology. The same capital can produce more food. I think that’s what you’re talking about but not really sure. It’s a good thing for everyone but the farmers. The cost of food is one of the few things that has significantly gone down relative to minimum wage in the US. Supply has gone up more than demand. Profit margins have gone down.
- antisthenes 4y ago
  No need to reinvent the wheel: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economies_of_scale https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economies_of_scale
temporarara 4y ago
Note that the profit and profit margins are highly dependent on crop.

moomoo11 4y ago

I believe he is saying the COGS doesn’t work out in favor of small farms against bigger ag-corps. Those bigger operations can afford to reinvest in technology and evolve to do more with less (people).