A thought about farms

One of the criticisms of the early years of the former USSR that I hear every single time is “forced collectivization of farms”.

A thought about this came to me last night. First, consider the time – the 1920’s. That was when mechanization of farms was seriously beginning, with things like steam and ICE tractors. Russia, before the Revolution, was 90% agricultural, not an industrialized nation in any way.

This means that the collectivization including the mechanization of farms. And the farmers could remain in their ancestral homes, and had food, and employment.

In the US, on the other hand, what happened was larger farmers, and corporations, began buying out family farms. The farmer got a one-time payment (usually pennies on the dollar of the actual value of the land), and no food, no ancestral home, and no continuing employment.

The latter continued until, in the 1990 US census, “family farm” was “no longer a recognized occupation”, as it was *under* 1.5% of the population. ALL THE REST is agribusiness.

I’ll note that my SO mentioned that the two biggest farmers in California’s Central Valley, Boswell and another, could afford to drill deeper wells than the other farmers… and so shorted the less-well-off farmers’ water.  She also tells me that two massive farming companies bought huge amounts of farmland across the US*, and divided it into sections for members of their families… and then each member applied for federal aid to farmers’ grants.

In other words, had it not been badly done, the Soviet collectivization would have been a far better deal than the ones our farmers got.

* That’s the way that the largest owners of rental property across the US, since 2008 has been hedge funds… which is why rents are going up far beyond inflation.