An acre of farmland costs $2000 in North Dakota. You need 5000 of them to make a living growing wheat, but an acre should be enough to feed a family, maybe a few more if you want meat.
Being a subsistence farmer is terrible though. There's a reason 99% of Americans stopped doing it just as soon as they were able to. It's certainly not a comfortable retirement!
Whenever somebody claims it would be easy to feed a family from some small farmland, it’s very clear that they’ve never had to live anywhere near that lifestyle. It’s terribly difficult and unpredictable.
I think growing a single crop is risky, makes it harder to be self-reliant. My girlfriend grows many different fruits and vegetables, so we’re less bothered by the price changes each season or year. And we can be sure our own food includes a lot of organic produce.
