It depends on some degree on the type of farmer, but most farmers are required to be generalists. Their “trade” involves being capable veterinarians, businesspeople, market analysts, engineers, researchers and more, who at the end of the day produce a reliable stream of consumable product and don’t get wiped out by unexpected circumstances.

The reason I made a call to intelligence was in response to the “dumb farmer” caricature — the idea that, because they don’t specialize, they aren’t very intelligent.

But you make some good points — critical thinking can be lacking in any field, even when problem solving and general reasoning are requirements for the job.

However, the original question wasn’t “why would farmers be more intelligent” but rather “why would farmers behave consistently in a more conservative manner AND be more prone to falling for populism?” It’s obviously not their intelligence, so what is it?

Then again, as we’ve seen recently, businesspeople in general appear to have fallen for populism, so maybe that’s where the connection lies?