Small farms can be sustainable as a business model, and I know some (namely, the ones I buy from at farmers' markets), but it's rough going.
Then again, all the few homesteaders I know have a person employed in big tech or fintech who makes the investment possible, but that investment can yield a homestead farm that can eventually run with very low income once it's set up. I also know people in rural Texas who truly manage to live on small farm business income, but if you measure the quality of their lives by consumption, it's not very high, though to be fair they typically don't want to consume a lot.
Anyways, I'm also interested in how to nudge big ag to do better with less pesticide and herbicide use. It's hard to scale up good small farm practices to large farms.
Then again, all the few homesteaders I know have a person employed in big tech or fintech who makes the investment possible, but that investment can yield a homestead farm that can eventually run with very low income once it's set up. I also know people in rural Texas who truly manage to live on small farm business income, but if you measure the quality of their lives by consumption, it's not very high, though to be fair they typically don't want to consume a lot.
Anyways, I'm also interested in how to nudge big ag to do better with less pesticide and herbicide use. It's hard to scale up good small farm practices to large farms.