Yes, but mines ruin villages and their water supply; and if the villagers protest, then the company may kill them

I was just talking about an alternative to those farmers. The whole thread was about those farmers, not the vote. If they want to restore the damaged landscapes, they could leave that to us as well, because we could cover the damaged landscapes with humanure compost that will break down most toxins. (Kitchen scraps also go into humanure compost.)

Also, besides mulch and native plants, we could grow drought-tolerant crops instead of irrigating, and to the degree that we can make gardener communities, we can scale up our gardens to farms.

Yeah, but from an anthropologist view, cities (and specialization) have basically been the downfall of our species. I don't know; I guess bolo'bolo mentioned some city-like places supported by farms. (and Çatalhöyük)

Try this search engine for native plants in your zip code.