Lecture 36: The Past as Prologue?
Farming, where it survives, will
provide the heirloom vegetables and
fruits; perhaps organic, grass-fed
beef; farmstead cheeses; wine and
handcrafted beer; and all the other
luxury items that we like to source
locally and seasonally. Strangely,
small-scale farming will probably see
a revival. It will no longer involve
cheap, bulk food because that will
probably be produced elsewhere. The farmers who remain in the United
States will increasingly be college-
educated, upwardly mobile people
who fi nd they can’t fi nd good-paying
jobs and don’t want to deal with long commutes. We are already
seeing a burgeoning back to the land movement, but it will probably
grow apace as more and more people turn away from the service-
oriented economy. The farmers’ market trend will assumedly continue to increase, but
we will still need to buy other foods beyond produce. In general,
supermarkets have replaced small grocers and butchers. More
recently, there are large stores that sell in bulk or other stores that
carry food so that you can do all of your shopping in one place—
not only Walmart, but Target also carries food. Despite this, supermarkets, especially in crowded areas, will
someday probably become obsolete. When it takes hours to get
through traffi c, fi ght crowds, or you have to take a bus because
there is no supermarket nearby, it will become too much of a hassle
if you live in certain cities. Just as bookstores have been largely
replaced by Amazon and other online retailers, most of our regular
food shopping will probably also happen online.Although it might change,
agriculture is not likely to
disappear in the future.© George Doyle/Stockbyte/Thinkstock.