farming is cheap if you live in preindustrial times. modern farming requires fertilizer. that fertilizer has to be produced by using an industrial machine to suck nitrogen out of the atmosphere and then split the strong bond it has with itself. then you have to ship that shit to farmers. who also have to buy land and equipment. no cheap labor from entire farming communities built around working a farm with their bare hands now they need tractors and combines which are giant and expensive to produce. you also need buildings like silos, barns and composers which all cost money to build. long story short it ain't cheap.
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