You have to have some farmers on the payroll, locals if possible, and a civilian workforce to engage in the numerous time-consuming steps needed to grow large amount of crops.
I always liked the Stout Yeomanry concept from the sample encounters section of the book. It is an example of a farm that can be found anywhere except an area that is devastated. It says an average farm consists of 20-40 hectares of land, centered on the pre-war buildings with added fortifications surrounded by an earthwork. The example in the book has 22 civilians including 13 adults. The barn, grain bins, cattle enclosure, and other animal shelters are all inside the perimeter.
Added military patrols, small contingents of soldiers, and beefed up perimeter security forces should secure most areas in non-harvest seasons, but none of that is crucial to long term sustainability.
The Greek city-states marched to war almost exclusively during Harvest Season so they could seize or destroy each others grain reserves. Their three staples were wine, wheat, and olive oil, and it turns out that grape vines and olive trees are hardy enough to survive a quick burn, and also resist being harvested quickly. Wheat on the other hand, is easily harvested by anyone with basic tools, can be trampled by horses or be burned down with ease.
Post-apoc crops are going to consist of wheat/corn/soy, potatoes/yams, and vegetables/fruits. Similar to modern America, there will be a Harvest Season, and that is when every marauder scum from 3 counties will be menacing the farmland. It is going to take a concentrated military force and a large civilian workforce to get in a significant amount of those crops.
A smart military commander would make/get a detailed survey of all the farmland in question. There are going to be numerous creeks, irrigation ditches, rivers, lakes, marshes, etc, that will make great natural barriers. Any farmland out side this broad natural perimeter gets scrapped, and the farm families in those areas are given support to move inside the secured area.
Next, enhance those natural barriers, build new barriers where they are needed, set up check-points on all roads (or better yet just blow the bridges), add listening post on your most vulnerable approaches and train up some CIDG. Now, some strong outposts are needed. Convert a handful of small towns/villages into fortifications if available (much easier), otherwise some type of fortifications should be built. These need earthworks that are high and wide, and several reinforced strongholds inside (potentially huge project).
Come harvest time, you are going to need troops to guard your civilian workers, and several rapid reaction forces. Use the CIDG to free up your least vulnerable garrison troops. The Rapid Reaction Groups (RRGs) will the key to defeating a determined attack by an either an organized marauder group, or a huge mass of starving humanity. The RRG’s need to be fast enough to get around your defended farmland and well armed and trained so they can meet multiple threats. Did you A-team some busses and boats? You did secure those old junkyards right?
Ok, there are two credible threats, the Marauders and the Starving masses. Expect marauders to be very clever; maybe they have a train, or an old steam tugboat, or some Mad Max semi’s, or a howitzer, that they use to project force. Marauders in T2K usually have some means of carrying away their booty, and a large-scale raid must be supported. Your RRG’s need some kind of hammers, like anti-tank weapons to pound those toys into fiery masses of negative morale modifiers on the evil invaders. You also need some snipers to pick off the leadership elements. They hate when you do that. Clever Marauders will also try everything to infiltrate your workforce. Better get some Secret Police.
If the Starving Mass of Humanity were clever, it wouldn’t exist. Human wave attacks are not unheard of in T2K, so you might as well knock together some quad 50’s, and keep those M214 6-pac’s greased up and very well supplied with ammo. No one wants to mow down thousands of pitiful civilians, but if they are coming right at you like that, what are you going to do?
Worst case scenario in either attack is that all the crops are burned/destroyed in the fighting or out of spite, so you need multiple RRG’s that can hit very hard individually, or be used as a group as needed. Enemies large enough to attack your agricultural base will usually back down after suffering serious losses in a concentrated counter-attack.
So, do you have the resources to secure, establish, maintain, and defend a fortified agricultural base that is large enough to sustain itself?
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