A generational farmer in the US started when? Early 1800's? Just as we were coming out of the little ice age? The climate has been warming since then. Since a couple decades BEFORE the industrial revolution. Sea levels have risen since that period and populations have boomed. Why? Because the climate is more conducive to growing food to sustain a larger population. Sea levels during the last full blown ice age (12000 ish years ago) were at the continental shelf of each continent, some 200-2000 feet farther out than they are now. Where was the population growth with all that 'tillable land'? It didn't exist because even though there was more land it was too cold for food species to thrive. How do you think a population can endeavor something as huge as the industrial revolution? How is it possible? It's because food was becoming more abundant. Some portion of the population can be dedicated to food while other subsets can do things like engineering and building because they aren't spending their time looking for food. Just like it was during the Renaissance. But then the temp dropped 4 degrees and things were thrown back and we end up with the plagues of the Medieval era. There was no food so populations were weak. It's astonishing to me how people can't think critically for themselves any more. They lap up 'expert' narratives that in and of themselves make sense only through the narrow view of their expertise. The big picture almost ALWAYS tells a much different story.