According to surveys from the United States Department of Agriculture, organic acreage declined nationally by 10.8 percent from 2008 (4.1 million acres) to 2014 (3.7 million acres). Colorado saw larger declines of 34 percent during that same time, from 153,981 acres in 2008 to 115,116 acres in 2014. A number of reasons have been cited by different experts and farmers, including the recession and a change in USDA methodology that counts fewer growers as organic since many small operations do not pursue certification. The most commonly cited reason is cost: The resource-intense nature of production eats away at profit margins and makes organic less attractive during a time of high conventional profits. "The incentive to grow organically wasn't enough as conventional grown commodities were priced at very profitable levels" during that time, said Bill Meyer, director of the USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service mountain region.

but for some, it also may have accompanied a decline in health. Analysis of remains reveals that societies transitioning to agriculture often experienced weaker bones and teeth.3

One of the things that stuck with me the most in this video is the guy mentions something he heard from an Amish farmer (at 6:35), that labor was part of his profit — that he was able to provide labor for other people was part of his profit.Which is soooooo counter to basically every farm I’ve worked at, where I’ve often felt like I was doing my employers some kind of “disservice” by working for them, because they thought I was “costing them too much” or somehow cutting into their already low profits.