[chordalkeyboard]

> In rich countries, less than 1% of the population work on agriculture. We could have a society without starvation even if 99% of the population did not work.

Modern agriculture depends on the technology that is created by the other 40-70% of the population that works. Additionally you have to compensate the people in agriculture with something for their labor.

> The fact that starvation is possible in a rich country is by design. It is not a necessary fact of the economy.

It's also a consequence of human rights. We have decided that forcing people to work in the field so that other people can enjoy the benefit of their labor without due consideration is wrong.

[zeckalpha]

40-70% is a wide range. How did you get that number?

[chordalkeyboard]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Employment-to-population_ratio

Iceland is 81.8% and South Africa is 41.7%, according to the table on the page.

[zeckalpha]

That’s the total working population, not those who work on technology to support agriculture.

[chordalkeyboard]

its all connected through markets. The farmers eat lunch at a deli, they don't eat lunch at a special "farmers only" deli. The gps they use to track the location of machinery in a field is made by a gps company that makes gps boards for hikers, boaters, etc., not a special farmers only gps. All of these things are interconnected through the market and that's what makes it so much less expensive. The 1% of agricultural workers rely on the contributions of the other 40-80% of workers because those other workers are all relying on each other to support their efforts in a complex emergent web of dependencies that are managed through (mostly) voluntary market relations.