[thelastgallon]

No, it feels like its game over for most people. No more lives left to play. Most people whose parents went from farming --> jobs now feel their parents made a fatal mistake. There is nothing for them to fall back on. It is hard to go back to farming. Which is made worse because there is no land, the lands for sold for a pittance, which now costs a substantial amount of money.

[senordevnyc]

I’ve never met a single person who wishes they were a farmer, but I’ve met a lot of farmer’s kids who left for other careers and have no desire to return.

[larrry]

Hi! A few years back I quit the industry and moved out of NYC. My goal is to live a humble life of subsistence. I’ve been told repeatedly by pretty much everyone in my life that I don’t actually want this, but the more active steps I take toward living alone in the woods, the happier I feel. I don’t deny extreme tradeoffs are required, but I grow more convinced that those tradeoffs are personally correct for me.

Perhaps not a common perspective (especially among NYC residents, city life offers a very different tradeoff), but just wanted to share that a real person does wish to be a “farmer” of sorts.

[senordevnyc]

Good for you! That’s awesome, I hope it ends up being as fulfilling as you anticipate!

Also for the record, the vast majority of my social circle is outside NYC, mainly in the western part of the US.

[justonceokay]

Where are you that the average person wants to go back to farming?

[ilovecake1984]

Anyone who has every done any horticulture knows that being a smallholder is a terrible idea.

[benoau]

There is a tier of farming below that, subsistence farming, where you're keeping a few small animals and growing food for your own consumption. It's still very common outside of developed countries and cities. Although it's really a "shit hit the fan" outcome for people in developed countries and cities.

[badpun]

You don't need a lot of land to do that. Just 0.25 acres is enough to feed a single person. You can do it basically in a city.

[AnimalMuppet]

If you're one person who can afford 1/4 acre in a city. If you're married, you need to afford 1/2 acre. Have a kid? 3/4 acre. That's rapidly out of reach of most people.

Then there's zoning laws...