The modern farmer is now mostly a land manager. Most of the farms have been bought up by big companies, or have the land leased out to companies that primarily use migrant labour to do all the actual work.
My dad’s side of the family has a couple thousand acres in North West Ohio that I used to go up in the summer to work on in the 90s. It was hard work, I mostly moved bales of hay to feed livestock. However, once my great uncle got too old to actually run the operation he just started leasing out the land and that side of the family basically became landlords.
Now all my cousins have menial jobs in town and are just waiting around to inherit plots of land they can sell as soon as humanly possible.
There’s not really a lot of money in it. The rent basically covers the cost of owning the land, its upkeep, and family expenses. By selling it they’d each get several million dollars.
Eh, my great uncle wasn’t much of a parasite. He basically farmed until retirement and started to rent out his land to his neighbors who wanted to expand their operations. He only really charged enough to pay for the taxes and upkeep, but his son in law was the one who put it up for bid because he is a drunk.
Initially the son in law was supposed to take over the farm, but ended up losing his leg to a combine harvester. Word to the wise…don’t operate heavy machinery while severely sauced.
The modern farmer is now mostly a land manager. Most of the farms have been bought up by big companies, or have the land leased out to companies that primarily use migrant labour to do all the actual work.
My dad’s side of the family has a couple thousand acres in North West Ohio that I used to go up in the summer to work on in the 90s. It was hard work, I mostly moved bales of hay to feed livestock. However, once my great uncle got too old to actually run the operation he just started leasing out the land and that side of the family basically became landlords.
Now all my cousins have menial jobs in town and are just waiting around to inherit plots of land they can sell as soon as humanly possible.
Why wouldn’t they continue to lease out the plot and receive perpetual income?
There’s not really a lot of money in it. The rent basically covers the cost of owning the land, its upkeep, and family expenses. By selling it they’d each get several million dollars.
Your great uncle used to be a farmer. Now he’s a parasite on other farmers as a landlord.
Eh, my great uncle wasn’t much of a parasite. He basically farmed until retirement and started to rent out his land to his neighbors who wanted to expand their operations. He only really charged enough to pay for the taxes and upkeep, but his son in law was the one who put it up for bid because he is a drunk.
Initially the son in law was supposed to take over the farm, but ended up losing his leg to a combine harvester. Word to the wise…don’t operate heavy machinery while severely sauced.