[regpertom]

Here’s one I remember from the permaculture or market garden ‘scene’ couple years back: There was a relationship where some would teach and provide food and accom and others would learn and work for no or little pay. Assume no one was forced into such arrangement. Then they’d go off later with skills and start their own farm. Yeah?

Later, govt got involved and enforced minimum wage standards. That previous relationship was no longer viable. The students could not return enough income for minimum wage. So, instead, those positions changed and the students had to pay instead, and not a small amount either because now there govt involvement in your training institution etc.

So did the situation get better? I feel as though no, because now, to ‘get into it’, you need a thousand dollars or whatever, where as before you just had to be keen and show up.

[hughesjj]

Wat?

Are you arguing for unpaid/reverse paid internships here?

Look, people need to eat. There will always be a need for farmers. We're literally suffering from success. As far back as the 30s we were paying farmers to dump or destroy their produce to prevent racing to the bottom. The supreme court declared that was unconstitutional so they ended up just doing a ton of subsidies instead. We don't want farming to be maximally price efficient. A surplus of food is a good thing, since crops sometimes fail or disaster strikes.

Farming mega Corp domination is a fairly new thing and thanks to this guy

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earl_Butz

[badpun]

> Look, people need to eat.

Usually, on those permaculture "internships", you get a roof over your head and food to eat. You don't get any money on top of that, the assumption is that you're being paid in skill acquisition. It's a fair deal for many people.