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by Spooky23 3305 days ago
Mexican agricultural workers have always been a thing. But the concentration of farm output to a few regions of California is a recent phenomenon, and the resulting industrialization of agriculture was a thing.

When I was a teen in the early 90s, I worked on a 500 acre farm in upstate ny. At that time it was possible to support a family and a few workers on land like that with a diversified crop of dairy, hay, something like oats and a few other things. The neighboring farm grew vegetables.

That is no longer possible. 90% of farms within 75 miles <250 acres are hobby farms, growing subsidized corn, or are legacy dairy farms that will be subdivisions when the farmer is too old to work or his equipment wears out.