More work to be done in talking this stuff through. Yes, Adam, what you call small scale farming, I might call gardening. Probably a difference of locality. Most 640 acre farms have colapsed and been sucked up, even contrary to federal water subsidy rules. The number of truck crops and such where we are the number one producer in the nation is too long to list, but includes garlic, almonds, figs, raisin grapes, table oranges, and dairy.
Similar conditions exist south of here in Imperial Valley.
The few small towns such as San Joaquin or Mendota are little more than stabilized impoverished labor camps. Most have a family dynasty thing going. But I'm also told the largest land owners are the insurance companies. A great many disagreements come from two things, local assumptions, and the concept of time. It seems this is the case here.