cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/364760

How are those people “left behind”? I think they’re farmers.

Redditors make no sense…

  • PolandIsAStateOfMind@lemmygrad.ml
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    2 years ago

    Hahaha look at this little gem in comments:

    Farmers in China are generally poor, I doubt it. It’s the opposite of the US where farmers are always rich.

      • The_Monocle_Debacle@lemmygrad.ml
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        2 years ago

        Ah but Farmer Joe the lily white cracker who owns the land and the tractor and gets millions in subsidies from the government is rich. Nobody look behind the curtain at how all the work on the farm actually gets done.

        • bleepingblorp@lemmygrad.ml
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          2 years ago

          Not even they are rich. Most “”“family”“” farms in the US are actually owned by one of five companies, like Monsanto, Tyson, etc., and in many cases the families that manage those farms owe somewhere in the ballpark of $1m to their employer company with high interest rates and contractual obligations. Farmer Joe almost never truly owns their equipment, but rather the company or a bank owns it. The typical Farmer Joe takes home somewhere around $20k/year for their family.

          Those Farmer Joes that aren’t trapped in contracts with the predatory corporations that buy everyone out get stuck in lawsuit after lawsuit, since those companies hold exclusive patents on countless seed varieties. If even one seed is found on your land as an independent farmer, you’ll get sued. So if your neighbor is planting those seeds, and the wind blows, and rainwater washes a seed over, and yes, those companies inspect hard, you’ll possibly be forced off your farm from lawsuits and bankruptcy, so then that company can come in and buy your land and property at foreclosure rates, or force you into a predatory contract with them if you don’t want to move off the property with nothing to your name.

          I am not trying to downplay the plight migrant workers face, but a grand majority of Farmers Joes don’t actually own their means of production. For that you need to look at companies like Monsanto, Tyson, Del monte, Dole, etc.

  • DankZedong @lemmygrad.ml
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    2 years ago

    I live in a city with a population of around 1.2 million people. We’ve got maybe three or four parks that are somewhat larger, most of which are at the edges of the city. Two of them consist of a lot of grass and few trees. The city center has no big parks at all despite having a population of ±150k. It’s the definition of a concrete jungle.

    When it gets warm outside you can actually feel yourself melting. There’s no place to cool down. You can cut through the smog on the worst days. There’s concrete and density everywhere around you. Sure, the buildings look nice but they’re still buildings.

    That’s urban hell if you ask me. Not this city with greenery and some tall buildings.

  • xxcvzvcxx@lemmygrad.ml
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    2 years ago

    In my experience, r/UrbanHell considers the existence of any buildings to be “hell”. The only thing that they don’t consider hell is like a pristine place with zero humans.

  • Ratette (she/her)@lemmygrad.ml
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    2 years ago

    So because china doesn’t have hectares of arable farmland carved out of its local environment to satisfy supermarket supply chains it’s therefore urban hell?

    Apparently it’s better to not build around the environment and just destroy it for farmland 🤷