Yes and it has been massively unpopular with his base every time. We could fully automate every farm in the country for the cost of illegals over just 5 years.
Farming is massively subsidized. Also 96% of farms are family owned, they lend lease from corporations for seeds and equipment, it would be zero difference to do so with automated farming.
Farming is massively subsidized because food insecurity is one of the fastest ways to collapse a nation. It's in the interest of the country to put a thumb on the scale of food prices to dampen out the boom-bust nature of agriculture.
In exchange farmers give up the ability to set prices. If farmers were allowed to set their own prices shit would get wild in drought or flood years.
I don't understand why food can't be subject to market forces like everything else. It's not like we will really run out. There are enough cans. You'd just have shortages of particular things. There is more to the policy than security for us.
The scale of farms you're imagining of all died in the S&L crisis in the 80's.
The mathematical average family farm today is pushing 450 acres, but I know from working for the USDA that figure is VERY bimodal. You've got a LOT of quote-unquote farms that are half-quarter sections (80 acres), and likewise a LOT of ACTUAL family farms that are plowing 2-3 full sections (1000+ acres).
The quote-unquote farms are your hobby ranch operations; horses, sheep, llamas & alpacas, etc. They are farms only insofar as taxes are concerned. Often they're just KHOMA projects. Hobby vineyards and orchards, the sort that make most of their money hosting weddings also fall into this area.
It's a euphemism in the banking industry for situations where a high earning husband subsidizes a wife's money losing enterprise. If you see a restaurant that deals primarily in cupcakes that doesn't go bankrupt in 6 months, 100% guaranteed it's a KHOMA operation.
Not true. Just FYI, new generation small, cheap robotics (think drones etc) are much more scalable than Very Large Machines.
You can, for example, have crop dusting done by a swarm of agricultural drones rather than a crop dusting plane. Or a robot the size of a car trailer that will weed a single row of potatoes or beats with spot spraying of herbicide and / or high voltage localized burning.
If you want I can discuss the changes that must happen to the US agribusiness landscape to allow such a robotics revolution.
The major hurdles to this kind of innovation are political and regulatory, rather than technical.
Yes and it has been massively unpopular with his base every time. We could fully automate every farm in the country for the cost of illegals over just 5 years.
Automation is only viable for large corporate farms. Small family farms are hit hardest.
Probably in short term I would make farm work untaxable to support American workers doing it.
Farming is massively subsidized. Also 96% of farms are family owned, they lend lease from corporations for seeds and equipment, it would be zero difference to do so with automated farming.
Farming is massively subsidized because food insecurity is one of the fastest ways to collapse a nation. It's in the interest of the country to put a thumb on the scale of food prices to dampen out the boom-bust nature of agriculture.
In exchange farmers give up the ability to set prices. If farmers were allowed to set their own prices shit would get wild in drought or flood years.
I don't understand why food can't be subject to market forces like everything else. It's not like we will really run out. There are enough cans. You'd just have shortages of particular things. There is more to the policy than security for us.
The scale of farms you're imagining of all died in the S&L crisis in the 80's.
The mathematical average family farm today is pushing 450 acres, but I know from working for the USDA that figure is VERY bimodal. You've got a LOT of quote-unquote farms that are half-quarter sections (80 acres), and likewise a LOT of ACTUAL family farms that are plowing 2-3 full sections (1000+ acres).
The quote-unquote farms are your hobby ranch operations; horses, sheep, llamas & alpacas, etc. They are farms only insofar as taxes are concerned. Often they're just KHOMA projects. Hobby vineyards and orchards, the sort that make most of their money hosting weddings also fall into this area.
What is KHOMA?
"KEEP HER OFF MY ASS" money.
It's a euphemism in the banking industry for situations where a high earning husband subsidizes a wife's money losing enterprise. If you see a restaurant that deals primarily in cupcakes that doesn't go bankrupt in 6 months, 100% guaranteed it's a KHOMA operation.
Khoma is a progressive and alternative metal musical group from Sweden. Founded by Jan Jämte, Johannes Persson and Fredrik Kihlberg in 2002
Then we can subsidize automation for smaller farmers. We can make it work. We have the resources.
Somehow, someway, small family farms operated in America before both automation AND illegal slave laborers.
Not true. Just FYI, new generation small, cheap robotics (think drones etc) are much more scalable than Very Large Machines.
You can, for example, have crop dusting done by a swarm of agricultural drones rather than a crop dusting plane. Or a robot the size of a car trailer that will weed a single row of potatoes or beats with spot spraying of herbicide and / or high voltage localized burning.
If you want I can discuss the changes that must happen to the US agribusiness landscape to allow such a robotics revolution.
The major hurdles to this kind of innovation are political and regulatory, rather than technical.