I would dispute that some of the counties listed in Indiana are "economically distressed", but aside from that I think there is much less of a correlation between distressed areas and republican voting than other posters seem to be gathering from this data. It may line up pretty well with Trump trend though. Also to PBrower farming is a very high tech industry which is why there are few jobs in it, technology has taken away most of the manual labor.
Farmers may use high technology, but that no more makes farming a high-tech industry than is metal processing.
I disagree with this. Farming can be a volatile business depending on what the market is doing, but many farmers nowadays are using top notch technology and are well versed in extremely complex financial products to hedge their risks. The old stereotype of farmers being uneducated country bumpkins is pretty far from the truth.
Absolutely. Ag is a pretty sophisticated business now. Much of the livestock industry is now an oligopoly run by big businesses, and even farming is getting quite consolidated. Small family farms have to be run well if they want to survive as a business with so many powerful players in the market. 20 years ago, a DeKalb rep could just sell on personal relationships, or farmer-dealers could just sell to their neighbors who they went to church with and sent their kids to the same school as, but that's not even close to the case anymore. Farmers know what they're doing these days and they do their homework and run their farms professionally.
Even if they're not involved in the development of technologies like GM seeds/CP chemicals or modern farm equipment, they still need knowledge of things like traits, soil science, how to prepare for all sorts of risks, including climate change.
