People "in poverty" do much better when they can grow their own food using more natural methods such as polycultures. But having individuals, or small groups (

People "in poverty" do much better when they can grow their own food using more natural methods such as polycultures. But having individuals, or small groups (ie. families) grow their own food is massively expensive compared to modern industrial techniques. The cost per whatever you want to measure it in (if you're that poor, the question is "will I stay alive or will I starve?" so calories is a pretty good measure) of a small group growing their own food is huge. I actually calculated it myself the last time I came back from a country with an enormous proportion of agricultural labourers using broadly manual and outdated techniques, in which famine is a recent event. They were spending an enormous amount on trying to make enough food to stay alive. It takes me literally between five and ten minutes to earn enough to buy food that will keep me alive for a day. If I were to decide to create that food myself, it would not be five or ten minutes of my time each day.