I’m worried about herbicide resistant weeds.
We killed off all the non resistant strains, and the stuff that remains is hard to kill. We have automated so much that there are few who remember the old ways, and the equipment doesn’t support it.
When one man on a farm is no longer able to feed thousands, you will see some very interesting times.
We have been living in a Diamond age, and have squandered it.
>>We have been living in a Diamond age, and have squandered it.
I agree. I know what I would have done differently (in hindsight and if I had been the policymaker of the US for the past 50 years). What would you have done differently?
On a somewhat optimistic note, I think machinery/automation is making a lot of human labor unnecessary. I definitely see a future US where about 250 million Americans sit at home waiting for a government check because they are unable to contribute to society. Not good. They will just cause trouble.
Or
We could have a “back to the land” movement and have a whole lot of people have 5 acre farms. It gives them meaningful work. It helps support their families. If “modern farming” is no longer operative and older, more labor-intensive methods need to be deployed, then we have lots of people with time on their hands.
I would not recommend enormous plantations with a thousand people picking cotton. I imagine there would be pushback to that idea. But a thousand 5 acre farms where people live life on their own terms doesn’t seem so bad. I’d go for it.
Regardless of the path that will be taken, I think the future will be different and probably troubled, and I am not at all sure that it will look the “The Jetsons”.