Grew up and are friends with farmers. Can confirm that most of them are at least upper, upper middle class.
But they act like they are poor. We hike down at the river every morning with our dog’s and in the way pass a lot of farms. They have RVs, boats, brand new quads or side-by-sides. But they will be the first to tell you how poor they are.
They’re probably up to their eyeballs in debt, though.
They are definitely up to their eyeballs in debt. Farm equipment isn’t cheap. Several of my uncles own a farm, it’s a middle class existence but it’s not a comfortable one.
(The 4x4s and trucks are farm equipment and the RV was from the 70s and used for my uncle’s RAGBRAI team. No boats though.
4x4s and trucks are farm equipment
Yeah the '79 dodge pick up with a missing fender is farm equipment, the 2024 ford 350 plastered in maga stickers that has never touched dirt, is not.
You know, m…
some years are better than others. on the good years, you can afford to buy things. when a few bad years hit, you can make nothing and end up paying what the average person makes in a year just to keep the farm running. could you afford to pay your job $50k a year just in the hope that next year it pays you something? could you do that for a couple years straight?
growing food is not very profitable, which is why subsidies exist in the first place. and since you depend on farmers to keep growing food instead of doing what’s in their own self interest and growing cash crops, just so you don’t starve to death , you better hope the government keeps farmers in business.
Farming is subsidized because of pork-barrel politics. They’re paid to grow corn that’s mostly thrown away. Sometimes they’re paid to not grow food.
And much of it is exported. How does feeding China help me? Why should “successful” businessmen get my tax dollars?
They aren’t your tax dollars, they’re our tax dollars. And seeing as those Chinese people you don’t like feeding are making everything else you consume, that’s how it fucking helps you.
Given that I’m in a maker state (not a taker state) and I don’t get any tax credits (not married, no kids, not deducting mortgage interest, etc.) — I mean, it is my money. And great, we exported all our union manufacturing jobs to an authoritarian sweat shop.
Well, stop doing me favors. I don’t want to subsidize soybeans for export to other countries to prop up authoritarian regimes.
Ok but taking China out of the equation here, I think their point is that it’s part of the international trade system, which does benefit you. The US can’t make everything, so being able to trade with other countries is a good thing. The tariffs putting a squeeze on that is an example of how interconnected and dependant we are on it.
I’m generally against nationalization. Farming should 100% be nationalized.
“Farmers” is very broad…
Most farmland is owned by incredibly wealthy “farmers” who never step off pavement. They’re just land hoarders and “investors”.
However, most farmers (by number of individuals) are poor as fuck and usually have massive amounts of debt. When they go under or the kids move to a city, they sell to a “farmer”.
It’s a consolidation of a vital resource and we should all be concerned about the logical result when most of our food is grown by a handful of massive corporations.
Most of your everything is owned by large corporations and your populace keeps voting for more.
You’re very right to be concerned.
Most of your
Not sure where you’re from. But I bet things aren’t as great as you think
Canada. And yeah, basically the same boat. A dingy attached to yours.
