Gen Z farmers may meet lazy girls at the office

Disrupting the workplace, one TikTok trend at a time. [Bloomberg]( This is Bloomberg Opinion Today, an indispensable launching ground for the prestige pictures of Bloomberg Opinion’s opinions. [Sign up here](. Today’s Agenda - Many [Gen Z farmers]( will never touch dirt. - You could become a [#LazyGirlJob]( convert. - Hollywood is leaving [award season]( in the lurch. - [Bidenomics]( is making the budget hurt. Farmer Will, Is That You? The overlap between people who read Bloomberg and people who watch Love Island is undoubtedly infinitesimal, which is why I’m not going to assume that you know anything about [Farmer Will](, a contestant on Season 9 of the reality TV show. The 23-year-old is a sixth-generation farmer in Buckinghamshire, UK. He has the patience to reset a [cast ram](. He can get a [sheep]( unstuck from [the mud]( in no time. And he can even show you how to ring a [lamb’s tail](. He’s racked up 1.9 million [TikTok]( followers and has a book coming out in October, [For the Love of Farming](: But as with any onscreen production, the real-life world of farming is a wee bit different from what's depicted on TV. The average American farmer is [in their late 50s](, and if I had to take a gander, not many of them have lucrative book deals or reality-TV side-hustles. Only 9% of the farmers in the US are younger than 35, but Amanda Little [notes]( (free read!) the percentage is [growing](. And while Gen Z agriculturalists spend [plenty of time]( on [TikTok](, a lot of them don’t [roll around]( in the mud like Will does, nor do they work for a multi-generational farm. In fact, “most of the new entrants are becoming farmers of their own volition — not because they inherited a family legacy. They’re bringing a fresh mindset, unencumbered by old approaches,” Amanda writes. This is welcome news for an industry that’s having [a hard time]( feeding the world's 8 billion people. “Our global food systems have become incredibly dysfunctional, failing on multiple fronts including human health, carbon emissions and pollution,” Lara Williams [says](. But as younger farmers embrace novel technologies, there’s newfound hope that we “could eventually create a food system that acts as a carbon sink rather than a source,” she explains. Amanda envisions a world in which first-generation farmers harness the [power of technology](, disrupting the field (an inescapable pun) entirely. [Genetic modification]( will provide them with climate-resilient seeds, [satellite data]( will help them identify fertile land, [drones]( will sow their crops, and robots will tend and harvest them. Plus, indoor innovations — [cultivated meat]( labs, [vertical farms]( and “[agrivoltaics](” — will further strengthen the food supply. At the same time, Gen Zers will continue to disrupt [food culture](. The flexitarian lifestyle — consisting of a portion of dairy a day, two portions of fish a week and the equivalent of a hamburger’s worth of red meat once a week — is increasingly popular among the cohort. If more people were to adopt a [healthier diet](, the food system could [remove]( billions of metric tons of CO2 equivalent a year, Lara writes. Although it’s cute and endearing to see Farmer Will [sort his sheep]( and feed his [pet lambs](, his videos are valuable beyond pure entertainment. He’s inspiring a new generation to transform an industry in which change is long overdue. Plus, they might not even have to get their hands dirty to make a difference. Bonus Food Supply Reading: “Rice is the staple diet for half the world, including about 1 billion undernourished people living in Asia and Africa,” Javier Blas [writes](, but that’s not stopping major rice importers and exporters from carelessly risking a food crisis. Prices for the crop have exploded to a 12-year high, and the ensuing panic threatens to upend both global stability and food security: Who Run the World? Lazy Girls Farms aren’t the only field that Gen Z is disrupting. In the corporate world, Erin Lowry says #LazyGirlJobs [are on the rise](, which jab “at the heart of capitalism, pushing back against deeply entrenched beliefs about work and career.” At first glance, it sounds kitschy and overplayed. We already have #[GirlDinner](, #[GirlMath]( and #[GirlHammer](. Do we really need another “girl” trend? But the principles behind the “lazy girl job” are actually excellent, despite the suboptimal billing. The generations that came before them — Gen X and millennials — were taught that you could achieve a comfortable lifestyle if you simply worked hard after getting a college degree. “Perhaps Gen Z saw that millennials hustled and still couldn’t get a toehold to build a stable life. Even after following the rules, they were barely able to keep from drowning in financial obligations,” she writes. Instead, the TikTok generation is taking a different tack. By setting boundaries [around time]( and prioritizing mental health, they are demanding that companies evolve to meet their needs. It’s Gen Z’s answer to [FIRE](, and “as a woman who started my career during the era of #GirlBoss and #HustleHarder, this is a refreshing change of pace,” Erin argues. Not only are Gen Zers not working the same as their predecessors, they aren’t doing their [homework]( the same, either — although that might be more the result of the arrival of ChatGPT than an act of generational rebellion. Tyler Cowen says he’s [grading differently]( these days, now that “the AI ate my homework” is an excuse. As an experiment, he recently had some law students collaborate with AI on a research paper. “On average, students who learned how to work with the AI wrote better papers,” he writes, adding that “in this context, using an AI to ‘cheat’ is no longer an issue.” Over time, academia should evolve, and “grades” will come to mean something different. Instead of measuring how well a student understands the material, teachers will measure how well they can use AI to answer the questions at hand. Performance will greatly depend on whether an individual is able to stay organized and prepared, rather than rote memorization, he argues. In both cases — at school and at work — young people are increasingly living in a world where they’re opting out of mind-numbing, senseless tasks. Instead of chastising of them for it, maybe we should be taking notes instead. Oh, Drew Source: Evan Ross Katz on Instagram Over the weekend, Drew Barrymore [reversed]( her decision to [restart production]( of her daytime talk show amid the writers’ and actors’ strikes. Although it took the actress a [cringeworthy]( amount of time to come to her senses, she did get there eventually, and her decision to do the right thing should be applauded. Barrymore, who hails from a [famous]( Hollywood family, [appeared]( “to be weighing the short-term struggles of some employees against the longer-term demands of the unions,” Paul Hardart [writes](. “Since the strikes started, many workers have been collateral damage. Makeup artists, stylists, grips, gaffers and administrative staff suddenly found themselves without employment as the industry went dark,” he writes. In that light, it’s clear that she was just trying to do right by her crew. But the backlash she faced highlights how things are slowly becoming what Paul says is “a zero-sum game.” In May, Barrymore [stepped down]( as host of the MTV Movie and TV Awards just days before the ceremony. Since then, the strikes have continued to complicate the landscape of awards season, Jason Bailey [writes](. “In today’s cinematic ecosystem, the fall’s film festivals — Venice, Telluride, Toronto and New York — are an indispensable launching ground for the prestige pictures that hope to dominate the year-end best-of lists and award ceremonies, culminating in the big enchilada: the Academy Awards,” he explains. But without the normal slate of top-tier attendees, some movies won’t get the splashy press coverage they were hoping for — a fact that Jason says should strengthen SAG-AFTRA’s position. Whether it does is another story. Read the whole (free) [thing](. Telltale Charts “Having a president from one’s party in the White House increases optimism about current and future economic conditions. And if that party loses the next election, optimism flips to pessimism,” Claudia Sahm [writes](. You can see the flip-floppery clearly in this chart: Still, “the pandemic caused a sudden increase in pessimism that hasn’t gone away,” Claudia writes. Although she says this has more to do with the emotional hangover from Covid-19 than the Fed’s rate-hike rodeo, Matthew Yglesias [says]( “the public’s assessment of the economy will probably improve with time, especially if inflation continues to fall.” That should be good news for President Joe Biden, who is up for reelection next year. But there’s just one little wrinkle in his plan, Karl Smith [notes](: Bidenomics seems to be bloating the budget deficit in a dangerous way. Further Reading America’s [anti-poverty programs]( aren’t helping enough people. — Bloomberg’s editorial board Saudi Arabia’s record on LGBTQ+ rights should be a [humiliation]( for the PGA. — Bobby Ghosh Ray Dalio isn’t happy with Bridgewater’s performance. Should he be [getting back]( in the game? — Aaron Brown Is [China’s economy]( out of the woods yet? You might want to hold the champers. — Daniel Moss Mario Draghi’s back, baby! And there’s a lot of [paperwork]( on his desk. — Lionel Laurent [Corporate zombies]( are alive and well in India. — Andy Mukherjee We went overboard with all that hand-wringing about the [Great Maturity Wall](. — Jonathan Levin There’s a way we can still [justify affirmative action]( in the workplace. — Stephen L. Carter ICYMI Florida is America’s [bleeding edge](. Student loan repayments [collide]( with a potential [shutdown](. The US did a [prisoner swap]( with Iran in Qatar. Trudeau [accused]( India of being involved in a Sikh leader’s death. An F-35 went [missing]( somewhere over South Carolina. Kickers How to time your [concert ticket]( purchases. A herd of 2,000 [rhinoceroses]( found a new owner. A close encounter with Mexico’s “[alien bodies](.” Joe Burrow TikTok thirst traps, [explained](. A bear was [found]( inside Disney World. (h/t Scott Duke Kominers) Adam Minter visited [the country]( that imports a lot of America’s used clothes. Area man believes he grew the biggest [onion on record](. (h/t Andrea Felsted) Notes: Please send XL onions and feedback to Jessica Karl at jkarl9@bloomberg.net. [Sign up here]( and follow us on [Threads](, [TikTok](, [Twitter](, [Instagram]( and [Facebook](. Follow Us Like getting this newsletter? [Subscribe to Bloomberg.com]( for unlimited access to trusted, data-driven journalism and subscriber-only insights. 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