The median was still $61,000, which is higher than the median yearly wage in the US.

Owlie seems to be handling it okay...

Subsidies are set up to break even. Setting up an eternal cycle of credit, debt, government handout. Anecdotally, all the family owned farms I worked on (~12 in the Midwest) were under 200 acres, run-down, and constantly on the verge of bankruptcy.

Probably because people fucking hate living in eastern Colorado?

(This is a point of agreement) It also ignores the fact that many “farms” lost money on paper because they aren’t really farms at all, but rather rural land that people employed in other areas want to live on and continue to pay ag taxes on. So the “farm” side of their life is set up to lose money for tax purposes.

So participating in a hobby isn’t likely to be profitable? Who knew?

Ria, you have to stop. You don’t even read the USDA reports that you link to, and you appear have no understanding AT ALL of the subject matter. This isn’t a trend that started 10 years ago, it’s a trend that started in the 1850s. In 1870 the average size of a farm in the US was 153 acres, in 1940 it was 175, in 1970…

“One million acres of farmland basically vanished from the United States last year alone.”

“I think there is a misunderstanding of what the RRA means from the author.”

We’re losing farmland—and gaining big farms at the same time—not because of quirks of the environment or the farm itself, but simply because of the economics of farming.

Nah, that actual footprint of a wellsite is pretty small, maybe 1 acre per well. Condo development I would think would be taking it out in much bigger chunks.

Too pig to mail.

Too big to bale