Sarah TaberDec 18, 2022

RT @[email protected]

@[email protected] @[email protected] We need to protect farmland from development, this may not be the best way. Lots of farmers are using the profit from selling their land as their retirement. The retention of farmland as farmland can take many different forms. None of them should penalize the retiring farmers.

🐦🔗: https://twitter.com/BetsyGarrold/status/1604241411934748673

Betsy Garrold on Twitter

“@SarahTaber_bww @axman643 We need to protect farmland from development, this may not be the best way. Lots of farmers are using the profit from selling their land as their retirement. The retention of farmland as farmland can take many different forms. None of them should penalize the retiring farmers.”

Twitter
Show threadSarah TaberDec 18, 2022

It surprises most people to find US farmers actually make more take-home income than most Americans! Because most of them have above-average-wage day jobs!

If we're all supposed to retire without selling off acreage, so can they!

Show threadkatfeeteDec 18, 2022

@sarahtaber As someone working on an actual family farm that we actually farm and that we all actually live off of (no “day jobs”)… yeah.

Farming — as in ACTUALLY PRODUCING FOOD FROM LAND — is hard to make pay, not least because of the many to whom the *farming* is an optional bit of extra income keeping farm costs high and food costs artificially low.

(And no, we don’t get subsidies. We tried in 2020 when we were desperate, but that money isn’t meant for FARMERS. 😂)

Show threadSarah Taber

@katfeete Yeah I think it'd really help the convo on food systems if we admitted that most US farmers are basically scabs. Happy to farm at or below cost of production for the tax breaks.

Saying it out loud is a great way to start a fistfight at any Farm Bureau meeting or other ag get-together LOL

Dec 18, 2022 at 4:22pmWeb