Comment by asdff
7 hours ago
The machinery replaced a lot of low skill labor. But in its wake modern agriculture is now dependent on high skill labor. There are probably more engineers, geologists, climatologists, biologists, chemists, veterinarians, lawyers, and statisticians working in the agriculture sector today than there ever were previously.
Yes: farmers.
Indeed.
And overall fewer farmers with more technological skill sets than back in the dustbowl days.
Here (Western Australia) the increase in average farm size by product can be plotted over time along with the fall in numbers working that land.