It boggles my mind how little people are aware of this kind of practice. The Who even wrote a “joke” song about it in the 70s:

https://youtu.be/_VkVn0A7E6o

Well, I farmed for a year and grew a crop of corn 
That stretched as far as the eye can see 
That’s a whole lot of cornflakes 
Near enough to feed New York till 1973

Cultivation is my station and the nation 
Buys my corn from me immediately 
And holding sixty thousand bucks, I watch as dumper trucks 
Tip New York’s corn flakes in the sea

~~

Well, my pick and spade are rusty
Because I’m paid on trust 
To leave my square of cornfield bare