After a week of haying (by the way, always threatened by the possibility of thunderstorms which is nerve-racking) I finally had time today to watch the RH show about Dris's new home.
Among other things I found the conversation with the two older gentlemen intriguing: The population loss in rural areas, the difficulties for young people to get into farming, the outlook for the future, these are all things we have been discussing here on the Front Porch in recent years. One doesn't have to be pessimistic though when it comes to small scale farming in areas close to population centers, when real food, not commodities, can be produced and sold directly.
Dris, do you also use tractors on your new operation? I think I saw a couple of those in the shed.

NO. I use an old 1940 H for belt work a 1968 706 for feed grinder/mixer. We have from time to time tractors in for repair. We trade alot of work here in barter system.

Here's this week's show:

Dris Abraham, Melissa Brown and John Day have moved their equipment manufacturing company and Belgian horse breeding, teamster training and horsepower farming operation from Indiana to southwest Oklahoma. We catch up with them at their new home and learn about their expansion plans, meet their new neighbors, and learn about the history and natural beauty of the area.

What I found most intriguing was that Dris and co. left an apparently heavily regulated state for a state that's more hands off. Sounds very, very familiar.

As much as I know, Bill, Indiana is solidly conservative, so wouldn't one expect it not to be so "heavily regulated"? Or at least, that's the general perception.

Maybe instead of referring to the political make-up of Indiana( which is pretty similar to that of Oklahoma) I should have better brought up the following stats in response to Bill's post: With 6.5 mill inhabitants on 38,185 square miles [population density of 182 per sq. mile) Indiana is a lot more heavily populated than Oklahoma with 3.8 mill people on 69,965 sq. miles( pop. density 54.7 per sq. mile). Usually regions with higher population density require more regulations.
Usually in regions with higher population density land prices are higher, too.

Oklahoma and Indiana are not in any way similar. Oklahoma truly makes a huge effort to assist farmers and ranchers no matter what their size. SW Oklahoma is truly an area that is Ag first. Golden rule is law of the land. Running livestock here is not for the faint of heart. I wish all of you could watch these mares in these pastures. We will be done with our last round of construction in 3 weeks. You are all welcome to visit.

Dris, I was referring to the fact that both states are so-called "red states", which in today's language means Republican.

Politics: the most effective conversation to make us forget we're all Americans.

Do not confuse "Republican" with "conservative" Klaus. The two are not the same anymore. In fact, one has nothing to do with the other these days. Just because a state tends to vote one way in a national election does not mean that at the local level they aren't regulation and tax heavy. For instance, my area is as red as it comes if you don't count a couple of college towns, yet we're heavily taxed and regulated simply because the State mandates an urban mindset tax structure and the County passes the costs and regulation onto the people. Happens lots of places.