[toast0]

When was farming not on razor thin margins at the whims of the weather? At least US history is full of sharecropping where the farmers barely making ends meet and those with enough capital to own their own small farms not doing much better. Some of those who owned a lot of land with sharecroppers managed to do ok though. It's similar today, except sharecropping has gone out of style, I think. Big farms and little farms are on very thin margins, but thin margins on a small farm mean Clarkson made like a hundred pounds or something after a year (probably ignoring his capital costs).

[philjohn]

He makes bank on the Diddly Squat Farm Shop though - great produce, but not cheap. His hot sausage is AMAZING if you're a heat fan.