Maybe they thought all you had to do was dig a hole and put a seed in it.
Water, you forgot the water... maybe they did too...
They were most likely competent farmers at subsistence level, digging sticks and all that. Suh agriculturalists are able to produce enough for their families in most years. Giving them charge of big farms with machinery and they are at a loss and have not the capital to make use of what they have taken. Replacing factory farming with the digging stick does nothing for the urban population.