Follow-up to my piece on the Monsanto playbook.

Most common response in the comments: "Nobody forced farmers to use the products. Farmer's choice."

Yes, the contract was signed freely. In the same way, nobody forced anyone to sign a subprime mortgage in 2006. The system that made the alternative impossible was built deliberately.

New piece covers:

The agricultural treadmill (Cochrane, 1958): early adopters gain a temporary cost advantage; commodity prices fall as adoption spreads; the advantage disappears; and survivors consolidate. Rinse, repeat. The consistent winner in this dynamic is the technology vendor.

The risk transfer: when the system fails, the input companies still profit. The banks still collect. The downside concentrates where the power doesn't.

And the third squeeze: the precision ag platform that owns your field data when you leave.

https://gaggl.com/blogs/2026-06-28-the-treadmill-nobody-chose/

#RegenerativeAgriculture #AgTech #FarmDebt #FoodSovereignty #RuralAustralia #CorporatePower #Tech4Good