US certified organic farmland

As organic farmland has grown, flat Earth belief has grown, a correlation of 0.978 that connects agricultural certification to epistemological catastrophe with the distressing confidence of a chart observing a nation that is simultaneously farming more scientifically and believing less scientifically. The soil is organic, the Earth is flat, and both trends measure a culture that cherry-picks which scientific conclusions to accept based on vibes rather than evidence.

Organic farmland grew from about 4.1 million to over 5.5 million certified acres between 2011 and 2021. Flat Earth belief grew from about 2 percent to over 11 percent. Both are upward curves: organic because of consumer demand, flat Earth because of social media algorithm amplification. The uncomfortable connection is that both trends are driven by the internet: organic farming benefits from online consumer awareness, and flat Earth benefits from online conspiracy amplification. The same digital infrastructure serves both the informed and the misinformed.

Eleven years of more organic farms and more flat Earthers is a correlation that captures the internet's dual nature: the same digital tools that spread agricultural science also spread geographical nonsense, and both find their audiences through the same recommendation algorithms. The farm is certified by the USDA. The Earth is certified flat by YouTube. The internet serves both without judgment.