He raises organic crops. His crops are the sickest looking crops, with yield level conventional farmers consider disaster levels. His crops are chaffy and light. Yet, because people who buy organic are willing to pay outrageous prices in spite of poor quality, he consistently gets profits multiple times what conventional farmers do.
I'll give two examples: He supplies several large dairys with organic feedstuffs for the cows. When he gets a call for wheat or lentils, he and his son load up the semi truck that gets less than 5 MPG of $3 diesel fuel and start out. They drive back roads, the truck loaded to the gills, switching off drivers, drive 1000 to 1500 miles just to deliver 800 to 1000 bushels to a dairy that's located right next door to a 100,000 bushel pile of conventional wheat. There has been so much conventional wheat they've had to pile it on the ground. But the cows can't eat it. That's OK. Mr Family gets paid for his extra fuel costs, a bonus for emergency deliveries, plus an obscene amount for the organic wheat or lentils.
The dairy has no choice if it wants to keep selling organic, and they know they can just pass all those costs on the people with your viewpoint.
Mr Family puts up with dope smoking 'certifiers' who drop in from time to time to make sure he's actually not producing too good a crop. It's worth it.
Mr. family has his eye on a half million dollar tractor he's always want. His wife is thinking of her second new house in 6 years. All they're hoping for is some widespread wheat infestation, lentil fungus, or something that will cause regular farmers to spray their fields, and organic crops to suffer in yield.
Is he laughing at folks like you? Yap, all the way to the bank.
With your money. Look out, he essentially has your PIN number!
No he doesn't. I don't have to buy anything from him at all, a point that is obviously lost on you. The persons who have my PIN number are the "conventional" farmers who pump their cows full of hormones until they almost explode from overproduction, and then stick me with the bill for price support subsidies. And how about the owner of the 100,000 bushel pile of wheat? How long before he cries for subsidies because the price is too low to pay for the next load of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, and genetically modified seed he has to license? I also love his government payment for not growing things.
I'll stick with organic milk for now. That way I won't have to worry about my sons growing saggy man breasts.