"Land is increasingly swallowed by corporate operators." THIS right here is the most important point. When small farms fail, they can be gobbled up by massive agri-corpos for pennies on the dollar. This is an extremely profitable business exploit that benefits CEOs and private equity investors. In other words, it's just more of the same cronyism that is on full, unabashed display in everything Trump touches since he took office again. It's blatant, it's disgusting and eugenics continue to underlie the agenda. Survival of the fittest... means eenie meenie miney moe, you are NOT the one.
Angie..you’re absolutely right that the land issue...is the pressure point nobody with real power wants to touch. NOBODY.
When a small farm goes under...it doesn’t sit on the market waiting for another family to pick it up. I live smack dab in the middle of agriculture and farming. The number of times I've seen it happen...yeah...nauseating.
It gets vacuumed up by corporate buyers...private equity...and water-rights speculators who’ve been waiting for the price to drop.
And...yes...it’s profitable. BRUTALLY so.
Failure at the family level...becomes opportunity...at the institutional level.
That’s not conspiracy...that’s just how the system is built.
Capital wins by patience.
Farmers lose by one bad year.
And the part that stings is this:
Every time a crisis hits...drought...tariff shockwaves...labor shortages...input spikes...the scale tips a little further toward the people...who treat land like an asset class...instead of a livelihood.
Call it cronyism...call it structural bias...call it “the game as designed.”
Whatever the label...the outcome is the same:
More consolidation...fewer independent producers...and a landscape shaped by whoever has the deepest pockets.
The Darwin talk? That’s exactly how these firms see it...not as “survival of the fittest,” but survival of the best-capitalized.
And in that race...family farms are forced to play a game that was never built for them.
You nailed the core point:
the land isn’t disappearing...the ownership model is.
I see this agricultural disaster every day working with AZ farmers as they await the cuts in Colorado River water allotments because due to global climate change (the Orange Idiot will not acknowledge its existence) is drying up the Colorado River!!!
Thank you for this, "M." You’re absolutely right. Anyone working with Arizona farmers right now doesn’t need a think-tank report...or a Senate hearing to understand what’s happening.
You just have to step outside and look at the ditches...the canals...the fallow ground that never used to be fallow.
The Colorado River isn’t “trending”...it’s shrinking.
And farmers are living with the math in real time.
Every season they’re told to plan for less:
less allotment..
less snowpack feeding the system..
less certainty from the Bureau of Reclamation...
and less margin for error.
Meanwhile...the temperature keeps creeping up...the soil dries faster...and crops that survived heat waves ten years ago...can’t handle the new normal.
This isn’t theory.
This is Tuesday for anyone in Western agriculture.
You’re dead on about the denial problem too.
When leadership waves away the reality farmers are standing in...it doesn’t make the problem disappear...it just dumps the entire burden onto the growers who already operate on razor-thin margins.
Farmers aren’t asking for speeches.
They’re asking for a plan...that acknowledges the river they depend on is evaporating faster than the politics can keep up.
And...until that gap closes...they’re the ones holding the bag.
Appreciate you raising it...this is exactly the kind of on-the-ground truth...that gets drowned out by the noise.
It’s a fair concern...and you’re not the only one asking it.
But here’s the hard truth...that I hate: you don’t need a mastermind twirling his mustache to set up a land-grab. The system does that all by itself.
While I am not personally a farmer, I have family that is in the farming biz...and I grew up in the thick of it.
When farms fail...the land doesn’t just vanish. It slides...almost automatically...toward:
investment firms...corporate ag giants...water rights consolidators...and
anyone with enough capital...to buy distressed acreage on the cheap.
And those players are always circling...drought or no drought...politics or no politics.
So is someone “wanting them to fail”?
You don’t even need intention.
Failure is profitable for the people who can afford to wait it out.
That’s the real danger.
Farmers...operate on pretty thin margins. Corporations...operate on spreadsheets. One bad season can wipe a family out.
I've seen it dozens of times...and attended the funerals of those who committed suicide...out of the shame...of losing a multi-generational family farm.
Ten bad seasons barely dent a conglomerate.
You don’t have to believe in a plan.
You just have to understand the gravity:
land flows uphill...toward capital...not the people working it.
That’s the engine behind the consolidation… and the reason so many farmers...feel like the game is rigged...even when no one says it out loud.
Rebecca... I hear the frustration...and it’s the same exhaustion a hell of a lot of people feel... when they watch a community get pummeled...by policies that never seem to change.
Here’s the real core of it: this isn’t...ultimately...about telling anyone how to vote. It’s about demanding that the folks who hold power...deliver policies that don’t leave farmers stuck cleaning up yesterday’s damage...while tomorrow’s rolls in behind it.
The larger point stands:
Farmers deserve a future shaped by stability and strategy...not by recycled disasters dressed up as strength.
And...the only way that happens...is when people stop giving any leader...ANY leader...a free pass...and start demanding results instead of reruns.
A better path forward...I believe...at the very least, for winning the upcoming elections in 26/28...is like the idea of "if the product keeps breaking...stop blaming the customer...and start demanding a better product."
That’s the heart of the matter.
Accountability...not allegiance.
Performance...not personality.
Farmers don’t need to be told what box to check. (That will backfire, and..besides...many of them are coming to a conclusion more beneficial for democracy on there own)
They need leaders...who quit treating their livelihoods...like poker chips.
Thanks for those two points...as it opened up the exploring further on both of them!
And...yes...he is an ASSHOLE...and I sure as HELL hope the signals I am seeing...that indicate meaningful numbers of Republicans...will vote differently...continue showing up.
Plus add in his vice president JD Vance, who is heavily vested in purchasing bankrupt farms in order to create a mega verse owned by wealthy white Christian nationalists and some Chinese financiers!
"Land is increasingly swallowed by corporate operators." THIS right here is the most important point. When small farms fail, they can be gobbled up by massive agri-corpos for pennies on the dollar. This is an extremely profitable business exploit that benefits CEOs and private equity investors. In other words, it's just more of the same cronyism that is on full, unabashed display in everything Trump touches since he took office again. It's blatant, it's disgusting and eugenics continue to underlie the agenda. Survival of the fittest... means eenie meenie miney moe, you are NOT the one.
Angie..you’re absolutely right that the land issue...is the pressure point nobody with real power wants to touch. NOBODY.
When a small farm goes under...it doesn’t sit on the market waiting for another family to pick it up. I live smack dab in the middle of agriculture and farming. The number of times I've seen it happen...yeah...nauseating.
It gets vacuumed up by corporate buyers...private equity...and water-rights speculators who’ve been waiting for the price to drop.
And...yes...it’s profitable. BRUTALLY so.
Failure at the family level...becomes opportunity...at the institutional level.
That’s not conspiracy...that’s just how the system is built.
Capital wins by patience.
Farmers lose by one bad year.
And the part that stings is this:
Every time a crisis hits...drought...tariff shockwaves...labor shortages...input spikes...the scale tips a little further toward the people...who treat land like an asset class...instead of a livelihood.
Call it cronyism...call it structural bias...call it “the game as designed.”
Whatever the label...the outcome is the same:
More consolidation...fewer independent producers...and a landscape shaped by whoever has the deepest pockets.
The Darwin talk? That’s exactly how these firms see it...not as “survival of the fittest,” but survival of the best-capitalized.
And in that race...family farms are forced to play a game that was never built for them.
You nailed the core point:
the land isn’t disappearing...the ownership model is.
-Jack
I see this agricultural disaster every day working with AZ farmers as they await the cuts in Colorado River water allotments because due to global climate change (the Orange Idiot will not acknowledge its existence) is drying up the Colorado River!!!
Thank you for this, "M." You’re absolutely right. Anyone working with Arizona farmers right now doesn’t need a think-tank report...or a Senate hearing to understand what’s happening.
You just have to step outside and look at the ditches...the canals...the fallow ground that never used to be fallow.
The Colorado River isn’t “trending”...it’s shrinking.
And farmers are living with the math in real time.
Every season they’re told to plan for less:
less allotment..
less snowpack feeding the system..
less certainty from the Bureau of Reclamation...
and less margin for error.
Meanwhile...the temperature keeps creeping up...the soil dries faster...and crops that survived heat waves ten years ago...can’t handle the new normal.
This isn’t theory.
This is Tuesday for anyone in Western agriculture.
You’re dead on about the denial problem too.
When leadership waves away the reality farmers are standing in...it doesn’t make the problem disappear...it just dumps the entire burden onto the growers who already operate on razor-thin margins.
Farmers aren’t asking for speeches.
They’re asking for a plan...that acknowledges the river they depend on is evaporating faster than the politics can keep up.
And...until that gap closes...they’re the ones holding the bag.
Appreciate you raising it...this is exactly the kind of on-the-ground truth...that gets drowned out by the noise.
-Jack
Thanks Jack!!!
I believe he wants them to fail so they can swoop in and buy the land for a fraction of what its worth. Thoughts?
Shelly Kurtz...you're speaking my language.
It’s a fair concern...and you’re not the only one asking it.
But here’s the hard truth...that I hate: you don’t need a mastermind twirling his mustache to set up a land-grab. The system does that all by itself.
While I am not personally a farmer, I have family that is in the farming biz...and I grew up in the thick of it.
When farms fail...the land doesn’t just vanish. It slides...almost automatically...toward:
investment firms...corporate ag giants...water rights consolidators...and
anyone with enough capital...to buy distressed acreage on the cheap.
And those players are always circling...drought or no drought...politics or no politics.
So is someone “wanting them to fail”?
You don’t even need intention.
Failure is profitable for the people who can afford to wait it out.
That’s the real danger.
Farmers...operate on pretty thin margins. Corporations...operate on spreadsheets. One bad season can wipe a family out.
I've seen it dozens of times...and attended the funerals of those who committed suicide...out of the shame...of losing a multi-generational family farm.
Ten bad seasons barely dent a conglomerate.
You don’t have to believe in a plan.
You just have to understand the gravity:
land flows uphill...toward capital...not the people working it.
That’s the engine behind the consolidation… and the reason so many farmers...feel like the game is rigged...even when no one says it out loud.
-Jack
---> And they deserve policies…that strengthen the future…instead of trapping them in the consequences of the past.
And they need to *stop voting for this asshole.* (To state the obvious!!)
Rebecca... I hear the frustration...and it’s the same exhaustion a hell of a lot of people feel... when they watch a community get pummeled...by policies that never seem to change.
Here’s the real core of it: this isn’t...ultimately...about telling anyone how to vote. It’s about demanding that the folks who hold power...deliver policies that don’t leave farmers stuck cleaning up yesterday’s damage...while tomorrow’s rolls in behind it.
The larger point stands:
Farmers deserve a future shaped by stability and strategy...not by recycled disasters dressed up as strength.
And...the only way that happens...is when people stop giving any leader...ANY leader...a free pass...and start demanding results instead of reruns.
A better path forward...I believe...at the very least, for winning the upcoming elections in 26/28...is like the idea of "if the product keeps breaking...stop blaming the customer...and start demanding a better product."
That’s the heart of the matter.
Accountability...not allegiance.
Performance...not personality.
Farmers don’t need to be told what box to check. (That will backfire, and..besides...many of them are coming to a conclusion more beneficial for democracy on there own)
They need leaders...who quit treating their livelihoods...like poker chips.
Thanks for those two points...as it opened up the exploring further on both of them!
And...yes...he is an ASSHOLE...and I sure as HELL hope the signals I am seeing...that indicate meaningful numbers of Republicans...will vote differently...continue showing up.
-Jack
Plus add in his vice president JD Vance, who is heavily vested in purchasing bankrupt farms in order to create a mega verse owned by wealthy white Christian nationalists and some Chinese financiers!
Thanks for taking the time to write about US farming, Jack. I read a lot about it but there are so many details I don’t know.
Is this bailout made up of loans only?
This is a somewhat related article from several months ago regarding farming and quotes RFK Jr and Dept of Agriculture Secretary Rollins:
https://farmpolicynews.illinois.edu/2025/07/trump-admin-touts-farm-conservation-says-no-pesticide-crackdown/