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There are 2 things to know about US agriculture. 1. It’s very hard to make a living as a new farmer. 2. About half our farmland is owned by wealthy families, investment funds, & others who buy it up as an asset- but don’t farm themselves. There IS a fix to both problems! 33 comments
@jehb introduce them to the exciting possibilities that open up when you "pay" people for "work" It's called "landowners can pay people to farm their land." It’s incredibly successful where it’s used. And it’s a big part of my own family story. My great-grandpa lost his farm in the Great Depression. The bank took his land & cows- but not his hay baler! So he hit the road and cut+baled other farmers' hay for hire. His "Uber but for hay baling" hustle put my grandma and great-uncle through college! “Pay people to work” might sound obvious! But in most of US ag, it’s not. Instead, people who want to farm but don’t have land usually rent it. That’s called tenant farming. It tends to bake in wealth inequality- and abuse land, bc nobody's incentivized to take good are of it. And here’s the thing: more of the US’s farmland is farmed by tenants now (40%) than in a previous peak during Jim Crow (28% in 1920). We sure do love to talk about how agriculture's changed over the last century. But somehow, we missed that very significant detail! There’s a better way. In parts of the US, farmers started selling services to landowners instead of paying them rent. My great-grandfather was one of these people. Some of his peers grew into full-service "farmer for hire" outfits. They hired & trained more people to run farms. Having locals who got paid to farm? The impact was dramatic. Paying farmers forced landowners to either invest in their land, or sell to someone who would. Landowners actually started making MORE money from farming. They were more likely to keep land in farms than develop it. My grandpa's neighborhood started growing high-revenue crops like fruits, vegetables, and nuts instead of low-ticket industrial crops. The food system became more responsive to consumer needs. And, most importantly, young people could get a job farming & get paid real money for it. They saved up for land & started their own farms. Big landowners stopped forcing small farms out. Instead, they became incubators for the next generation of innovative local farmers. Three generations later, my great-grandpa’s old neighborhood is filled with young farmers. They’re ambitious. They’re ready to tackle the challenges the future brings. And they’re incredibly good at their jobs. That’s the power of bringing in new people. We could have this everywhere in the US- including North Carolina. So why don’t we? It’s largely not laws or policy. It’s habit. Suggesting to landowners who are used to getting paid by farmers, that they pay farmers instead? That's a big shift. We need leadership that knows what our options are in agriculture. We need leadership that knows that agriculture isn't doomed. That there's so much rural areas can do to help themselves. That there's real wealth and livelihoods to be had, if we just know how to build them. And we DO have innovative farmers here. I'm meeting them all over North Carolina. They're young, ready to work hard, and know how to make a living by growing things people want to eat! And we need to bring more of them in. That's how we'll turn this state around. That's why I’m running. Once people hear what good leadership can do for rural areas, they get pumped. Polls show I win by nine points! A Democrat! Running for an agriculture seat in the South! Nine points. When I talk with people, they start thinking about their future in a different way. It's a way that includes Democrats. That's HUGE. Have you ever despaired about how Democrats "can't message in rural areas"? I'm doing it! In real life, in real time, right in front of you. And not to be a broken record, but I can't do it alone. Having a good message only counts if you can get it out in front of people. My opponent has big commercial interests on speed dial. If I can't fundraise, it doesn't matter how good my message is. Nobody'll ever hear it. If you're a US citizen who wants Dems to come out swinging & kick Republicans off their little tin pedestal where they pretend they're the only people who "get real America"? It's a great time to put your money where your mouth is. NC is a battleground state that Trump has to win to get the White House. #ncpol And a strong state-level candidate with a NINE-POINT MESSAGE helps Dems here up & down the ballot. I'm ready to rip out & win this fall, LET'S GOOOOOOO  I wish you would address the food industry's choke hold on the food supply chain. They add fillers, salt fat and sugar to nearly everything. Highly processed foods are killing us. I can only assume the pharmaceutical makers and the ad guys are also invested in the food supply chain, somewhere along the line. Why can't we stop huge mega foods and farms from being subsidized and instead subsidize the smaller independent growers, so the public has more access to better, cleaner food? @sarahtaber  @sarahtaber Thanks for sharing this! Do you happen to know if well-known farmland investors like Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, and Michael Burry are following this model? @sarahtaber I'd like to add that Sara Taber is such a strong candidate that I she will attract more Dems to vote and thus help get votes for other NC Democratic candidates.  @sarahtaber How does that end up working out? Is the idea that landowners get the products of the labor by paying people to farm the land, but are otherwise uninvolved in the farming? Or are you talking about landowners who farm a tiny bit but would do more if they paid for more work to be done?  This is reminiscent of the dynamics of feudalism succumbing to market economies and then capitalism. @sarahtaber I don't know the first thing about agriculture, and so I appreciate your threads. Also, you'll have my vote in November.  @sarahtaber Ah, I was thinking land value tax and inheritance tax. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_reform @Lyle Some US states do have very simple policies that incentivize landowners to pay farmers. (E.g., if you own land and claim it's a farm to get a property tax break, the land gets audited sometimes to make sure it's actually being farmed. That makes it more expensive to hold land idle & incentivizes paying someone to manage it.) That said, tax policies alone can't lead to change. Good luck getting them passed if landowners don't know how to deal with them, etc. Hence threads like this. I'm sorry this sounds like nonsense to me eg, do you have any idea how $ a modern haybaler is ? but good luck to you @sarahtaber So very true. They're only going to make it worse on the average farmer and on the average person. Plus the climate Nazis want to abolish farming and backyard gardening, both of which contribute to making the world a better place, making food more affordable, reducing CO2, as well as keeping people healthier. |
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@sarahtaber Eat the rich? ;)