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Since ag twitter is a racist hot mess, this seems like a great time to remind everyone:
1) The median farmer is nearly a millionaire! They clock in at $800K net worth- AFTER subtracting debts.
BTW the median American has only $80K net worth. https://www.heritage.org/agriculture/report/addressing-risk-agriculture
1) The median farmer is nearly a millionaire! They clock in at $800K net worth- AFTER subtracting debts.
BTW the median American has only $80K net worth. https://www.heritage.org/agriculture/report/addressing-risk-agriculture
2) Yes, most of that wealth is in land so it's illiquid. This leads to lots of bitching from farmers about how they're "land rich and cash poor."
Here's a great article from @sarah_k_mock on how that's a pretentious fallacy: it hides very real wealth. https://link.medium.com/i6ckgm6bR6
Here's a great article from @sarah_k_mock on how that's a pretentious fallacy: it hides very real wealth. https://link.medium.com/i6ckgm6bR6
3) But it's not just total wealth! The median farmer makes more in take-home pay every year than median Americans.
They're straight-up richer than the rest of us in every possible measure.
They're straight-up richer than the rest of us in every possible measure.
4) Why are they so wealthy? Well, again, land. Mostly stolen land. Also, slavery.
US farmland alone is worth about $2.7 TRILLION dollars total.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/196392/total-value-of-farmland-and-buildings-in-the-us-since-2004/
US farmland alone is worth about $2.7 TRILLION dollars total.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/196392/total-value-of-farmland-and-buildings-in-the-us-since-2004/
5) Finally, today's American farmers are the whitest they've ever been.
Recent stats showing growth in Black & other POC farms are finagled to make it look like there's been progress. But in reality land keeps concentrating into wealthy white dynasties. https://thecounter.org/usda-black-farmers-discrimination-tom-vilsack-reparations-civil-rights/
Recent stats showing growth in Black & other POC farms are finagled to make it look like there's been progress. But in reality land keeps concentrating into wealthy white dynasties. https://thecounter.org/usda-black-farmers-discrimination-tom-vilsack-reparations-civil-rights/
Nearly all of the US's farmland was stolen, effectively at gunpoint, from Native people.
Then, since that wasn't good enough, much of it was stolen AGAIN from Black farmers. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/20/opinion/sunday/reparations-hearing.html
Then, since that wasn't good enough, much of it was stolen AGAIN from Black farmers. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/20/opinion/sunday/reparations-hearing.html
"But most of that land is owned by corporations!"
LOL no. Most is owned by private family estates.
Like I told you: the median farm family is millionaires, or close to it.
The whining about "corporations" is largely to cover farmers' own role in creating rural poverty.
LOL no. Most is owned by private family estates.
Like I told you: the median farm family is millionaires, or close to it.
The whining about "corporations" is largely to cover farmers' own role in creating rural poverty.
"Family farming" has a great nostalgic image.
But in reality, it's more or less organized crime.
Steal land. Stock it with slaves (yep, most plantations were family-owned local businesses- deal with it). Or, if that's not legal, use tenant farmers. Also very profitable!
But in reality, it's more or less organized crime.
Steal land. Stock it with slaves (yep, most plantations were family-owned local businesses- deal with it). Or, if that's not legal, use tenant farmers. Also very profitable!
Nearly half the farmers in Iowa in 1920 were tenant farmers.
Source: USDA census.
Guess who today's Iowa family farmers are? Not the descendants of those tenant farmers- mostly the descendants of their masters.
Source: USDA census.
Guess who today's Iowa family farmers are? Not the descendants of those tenant farmers- mostly the descendants of their masters.
Here's a 1936 Iowa tenant farmer moving his trailer home from one master's farm to another. Midwest tenant farmers were the OG trailer home dwellers, bc masters kept them moving so they couldn't organize.
Source: http://photogrammar.yale.edu/records/index.php?record=fsa1997021314/PP
Source: http://photogrammar.yale.edu/records/index.php?record=fsa1997021314/PP
Ain't it funny how "traditional family farm" nostalgia never mentions THIS part? 
if they covered this picture at all they'd just be like "OOH LOOK AT THE HORSEY, never mind the poverty" lmaooooo
if they covered this picture at all they'd just be like "OOH LOOK AT THE HORSEY, never mind the poverty" lmaooooo
Speaking of the corn belt- giant corn monocultures there are nothing new.
The Midwest made BILLIONS in today's money, every year, selling cheap corn down the river to slave plantations.
Midwestern farms were every bit as much of the slave system as their customers.
The Midwest made BILLIONS in today's money, every year, selling cheap corn down the river to slave plantations.
Midwestern farms were every bit as much of the slave system as their customers.
This corn-for-cotton trade continued throughout Jim Crow.
In fact, this nutrient-deficient diet of processed Midwestern corn is why the South had a pellagra outbreak that lasted FORTY YEARS.
https://www.nber.org/papers/w23730.pdf
In fact, this nutrient-deficient diet of processed Midwestern corn is why the South had a pellagra outbreak that lasted FORTY YEARS.
https://www.nber.org/papers/w23730.pdf
This is pellagra.
It eats your skin, fills your mouth with sores, & causes dementia- aka it makes you go straight-up crazy.
If you're a 3rd+ generation Midwestern corn farmer, this is what your farm is built on.
You owe your "proud American family farmer" status … to this.
It eats your skin, fills your mouth with sores, & causes dementia- aka it makes you go straight-up crazy.
If you're a 3rd+ generation Midwestern corn farmer, this is what your farm is built on.
You owe your "proud American family farmer" status … to this.
In the Jim Crow era, South Carolina alone imported $70-100M worth of Midwestern corn each year.
This was an absolute cash cow for Midwestern farming families.
Who, remember, relied on tenant farmers held in extreme poverty to actually grow the corn.
This was an absolute cash cow for Midwestern farming families.
Who, remember, relied on tenant farmers held in extreme poverty to actually grow the corn.
Earlier pellagra outbreaks in Italy were caused by failure to nixtamalize corn.
But, poor folks in the US South had learned enough about how to cook from Native neighbors that they *did* nixtamalize.
That's what hominy is- nixtamalized corn.
But, poor folks in the US South had learned enough about how to cook from Native neighbors that they *did* nixtamalize.
That's what hominy is- nixtamalized corn.
That's why pellagra didn't take hold in the US until ~1900.
That's when the Midwest started milling the germ out of their corn prior to export. After that, it doesn't matter if you nixtamalize it or not- ain't no niacin in it.
That's when the Midwest started milling the germ out of their corn prior to export. After that, it doesn't matter if you nixtamalize it or not- ain't no niacin in it.
This is why the federal gov't allowed Jim Crow to go on nearly a century.
It was incredibly popular w white folks THROUGHOUT the US. Northern landowners teamed up with Southern ones to lock it in place.
Because the North made so much fucking money off the corn-for-cotton trade.
It was incredibly popular w white folks THROUGHOUT the US. Northern landowners teamed up with Southern ones to lock it in place.
Because the North made so much fucking money off the corn-for-cotton trade.
American farmers- even ones in lily-white areas- are filled with spite against Black folks for a reason.
Deep down, they know that 1) they're fucking loaded and 2) racism is why.
Deep down, they know that 1) they're fucking loaded and 2) racism is why.
Again, today's "traditional" family farmers are largely descended from landlords, not their tenants.
They learned how to drive tractors & evicted all their tenants to save money.
That's what's *really* happening in these charts of "decline of American farms."
They learned how to drive tractors & evicted all their tenants to save money.
That's what's *really* happening in these charts of "decline of American farms."
This is the reality of farming before automation.
Small family farms had given way to "land barons & tenants" LONG before machines ever got involved. Jim Crow was a heyday of screwing tenants & sharecroppers across the ENTIRE US.
A whole continent of misery. Mmm-mmm-mmmm.
Small family farms had given way to "land barons & tenants" LONG before machines ever got involved. Jim Crow was a heyday of screwing tenants & sharecroppers across the ENTIRE US.
A whole continent of misery. Mmm-mmm-mmmm.
Before automation, "owning a farm" was mostly about policing your workers & fraternizing with lawmakers so they kept your bullshit legal.
Not so much the actual growing & making food part.
Even after they evicted their workers & took on tractor-driving, they kept the attitude.
Not so much the actual growing & making food part.
Even after they evicted their workers & took on tractor-driving, they kept the attitude.
That's the ugly truth about "corporate agribusiness."
The whole reason it exists? Traditionally, most farm families were too busy land pirating & trafficking labor to do the real work of building a food system. Most never got the hang of actually making food for a living.
The whole reason it exists? Traditionally, most farm families were too busy land pirating & trafficking labor to do the real work of building a food system. Most never got the hang of actually making food for a living.
You know what really sucks?
When I've had the chance to work w some of the relatively few Native, Black, & other POC-run farms in the US- they tend to be really technically solid, & a lot more tuned into the whole idea of "making what people want."
They're good at raising food.
When I've had the chance to work w some of the relatively few Native, Black, & other POC-run farms in the US- they tend to be really technically solid, & a lot more tuned into the whole idea of "making what people want."
They're good at raising food.
But they're hamstrung in how much they can grow bc there's too damn many white land barons hogging land to grow more fuckin corn nobody wants & bitching about how the price is low.
tl;dr white farmers are just organized crime with great PR.
That's why they love guns, folks.
tl;dr white farmers are just organized crime with great PR.
That's why they love guns, folks.
Before y'all try to "hashtag not all farmers!" me
If you've ever wondered why the Farm Bureau seems to really not give a shit about farmers of any race who are actually trying to grow food & do a good job?
This is it.
Mystery solved.
If you've ever wondered why the Farm Bureau seems to really not give a shit about farmers of any race who are actually trying to grow food & do a good job?
This is it.
Mystery solved.
Land barons were throwing their tenants out on the street for 50+ years and nobody batted an eye.
Then they finally ran out of sharecroppers to pick on & had to start competing with each other in the '80s and didn't wike it
and got a fucking Bruce Springsteen concert out of it
Then they finally ran out of sharecroppers to pick on & had to start competing with each other in the '80s and didn't wike it
and got a fucking Bruce Springsteen concert out of it
