Getting farmers to visit / utilize a farm is a difficult task for land owners without large followings.
Having regular users of plots / industries and benefitting from their surplus is generally accepted as the primary benefit of owning and developing a land as well.
Proposal:
Instead of chickens, queen bees, drills, etc having lifespans; require maintenance to those industries by the land owner that requires an equal or greater amount of resources.
Example:
(current) a chicken lays “x” eggs in lifespan and costs “y” to replace
(proposal) chicken lays “x” eggs and requires a resource input equal or greater than “y” to continue producing eggs
Benefits:
1) Small landowners can more easily retain their farmers and have a chance to grow over time without potentially having to start over continuously as farmers’ equipment expires.
2) Build additional sinks / loops around required upkeep materials.
3) No more unnecessary chicken, bee, or other lovable farm animal deaths