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That was kind of Sarah's point :-). People who 'farm' because they want free money, not because they actually want to feed people, compose a large fraction of t

That was kind of Sarah's point :-). People who 'farm' because they want free money, not because they actually want to feed people, compose a large fraction of the entities holding arable land in the US. As a result, they won't switch to crops for food, crops take a while to switch over, therefore when the subsidies go away and they all start losing money Americans are going to pay extortionate sums for "imported" food. Those who can't pay will be in a world of hurt.

brudgers 2y ago
The US was built on tobacco, sugar, and cotton because agriculture has been conducted in the interests of the wealthy and powerful for as long as there has been civilization…6000 years more or less since humans started irrigating deserts for profit. People who accumulate vast land holdings do so for rents. That’s the juice needed to keep holding it comes from. If the world seems to be changing, it is most likely reversion to the mean.
- ChuckMcM 2y ago
  Heh, your more cynical than my former college roommate and that is a high bar :-). I choose to believe that both things can be true, if the rents evaporate then so will the 'juice' and they will offload those holdings. Also, the demand for produce, and the externalities of tariffs, will create opportunities for produce produced domestically.
  - brudgers 2y ago
    I’m not cynical. There are many many good people in the world. Historically they are not in power kind of by definition because power != strength IE the disenfranchised can be strong but cannot be powerful. And folk wisdom does not apply to significant wealth. Significant wealth doesn’t operate paycheck to paycheck. Charles Windsor is not going to liquidate his real-estate because rents went down because the Windsors are not leveraged. Extrapolation from personal American home ownership experience (or SMB experience) to big girl real-estate is a category error. Events in the Crimea and currently in Ukraine are the cheapest way to acquire that real estate…in terms of money. Land reform doesn’t happen by thinking.

brudgers 2y ago

The US was built on tobacco, sugar, and cotton because agriculture has been conducted in the interests of the wealthy and powerful for as long as there has been civilization…6000 years more or less since humans started irrigating deserts for profit. People who accumulate vast land holdings do so for rents. That’s the juice needed to keep holding it comes from. If the world seems to be changing, it is most likely reversion to the mean.

ChuckMcM 2y ago
Heh, your more cynical than my former college roommate and that is a high bar :-). I choose to believe that both things can be true, if the rents evaporate then so will the 'juice' and they will offload those holdings. Also, the demand for produce, and the externalities of tariffs, will create opportunities for produce produced domestically.
- brudgers 2y ago
  I’m not cynical. There are many many good people in the world. Historically they are not in power kind of by definition because power != strength IE the disenfranchised can be strong but cannot be powerful. And folk wisdom does not apply to significant wealth. Significant wealth doesn’t operate paycheck to paycheck. Charles Windsor is not going to liquidate his real-estate because rents went down because the Windsors are not leveraged. Extrapolation from personal American home ownership experience (or SMB experience) to big girl real-estate is a category error. Events in the Crimea and currently in Ukraine are the cheapest way to acquire that real estate…in terms of money. Land reform doesn’t happen by thinking.