"For Inquiring Minds"

My Microeconomics textbook has little boxes every so often called "For Inquiring Minds". Generally my mind is not too inquiring when it comes to Microeconomics, so I tend to skip over them and onto things I really need to know. But yesterday this one caught my attention: "Where Have All The Farmers Gone?".

"What percentage of Americans live on farms? Sad to say, the U.S. government no longer publishes that number. In 1991 the official percentage was 1.9, but in that year the government decided it was no longer a meaningful indicator of the sixe of the agricultural sector because a large proportion of those who live on farms actually make their living doing something else. But in the days of the Founding Fathers, the great majority of Americans lived on farms. As recently as the 1940's, one American in six-or approximately 17%- still did."

It then goes on to talk about elasticities, and about how "the share of total U.S. income earned by farmers has fallen". The second reason it gives is that technology causes food prices to fall- "progress in farming is good for consumers but bad for farmers."

"In short, the U.S. farm sector has been a victim of success- the U.S. economy's success as a whole (which reduces the importance of spending on food) and its own success in increasing yields."

(Microeconomics, 2nd Edition, Krugman and Wells, page 157)

So basically farming is a crap profession if you want to get rich. Good thing I'm not in it for the money.