Comment by Isamu

3 months ago

>It bothers me that farmers rarely own the land too

You will be glad to learn that most farmland is farmer owned:

https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/farm-economy/land-use-land-v...

This depends a fair bit on how you define "farmer", of course.

  • If you raise crops or farm animals, you are a farmer.

    The USDA is not trying to pull a fast one with the definition of a farmer.

    We could have a discussion about farmers that have other jobs and so are part time farming and part time something else. That tends to correlate with less intensive farming like corn and soybeans.

    • Is a massive agribusiness conglomerate a farmer? Most farmland in the US is "owner operated". But really, that just means it's not rented out by a non-operator landlord, which is the distinction that USDA article makes.