Don’t suppose the author has been to Michigan, Ohio or Wisconsin. LOTS of farms around here - all east of the Mississippi.
He has not said there are no farms, but, rather, cotton, row crops are overly dependent on irrigation in the West.
Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee all have lots and lots of basically fallow land. It hasn’t been farmed in years and is now over grown or in pasture.
If there were a profitable crop...... it could be brought to production.
I was scared a couple years ago when a farmer up the street sold some land off to a developer but only 4 houses popped up ..so far ..guess people don't want to live with crickets and pigs yet that make at least me happy !
True. You can add Indiana and Illinois as well. All largely agricultural states.
My guess is that this is a solution in search of a problem--which will evolve by itself through market forces.