> It's a sad state of affairs, really. The only people who have enough money to play the game are either corporations or are in their 90's and bought the ground when it was $30/acre.

I don't think it's sad, more efficient users of resources are bidding them up which is exactly what they should be doing. The idea of a small farmer is great and has a lot of American nostalgia, but in general a giant company that produces much more food on the same land is way better for the country as a whole. It gets messy with subsidies, but the idea of more efficient players replacing small timers is how we keep upping productivity year after year and get richer as a country.