Economies Grow By Adapting. Not Sticking To Old Ideas.
Economies Grow By Adapting. Not Sticking To Old Ideas.
𝘍𝘢𝘳𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨'𝘴 '𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘣𝘰𝘯𝘦' 𝘮𝘺𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘴 𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘨𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯: 𝘛𝘳𝘶𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘵𝘩 𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘢𝘥𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘴, 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘭𝘰𝘸-𝘺𝘪𝘦𝘭𝘥 𝘧𝘪𝘦𝘭𝘥𝘴.
𝗢𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗼𝗻: Bruce Alpine
It comes from times when most people grew food to survive.
But today, in the 21st Century, with cities full and computers everywhere, this myth stops countries from moving forward.
Real growth happens when we shift workers and money to new areas like tech and services, where they make much more.
Hanging on to farming as the "big boss" wastes chances and keeps people poor.
The facts show it's not true anymore.
Farming makes up just 4% of the world's total economy in 2024, maybe 5% in 2026 with some new tools.
Services, like shops and offices, do 65% or more.
Factories add 30%. Farming helps with food, but it's small.
In rich places, it's tiny: about 1% in the US (farming adds around $196 billion to a $28 trillion economy), and 1.3-1.6% in Europe.
In India, it's 17.7%, but most workers there (44%) get stuck in low-pay jobs.
This old story hurts in simple ways.
Rich countries spend over $600 billion a year helping farmers, but that money could go to schools or new tech instead.
Farming grows slowly (1.5% a year), while clean energy jumps 10%.
Young people stay in villages with no good jobs, making city-rural pay gaps twice as big.
Weather changes could cut food by 10-25% by 2050, but we keep old plans instead of smart fixes.
Countries that change win big. South Korea cut farming from 25.5% in 1970 to 1.6% in 2023, and grew 7% a year by making cars and phones.
China did the same, dropping to 7% and becoming huge.
But Zimbabwe held on after 2000 changes and fell apart.
Let's change the story: Make farming better with robots and seed technology.
Use help money for job training—teach farmers to code or move to cities.
By 2030, countries that let go could grow 1-2% more each year.
Change or stagnate—it's that easy.
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