While all of these advances helped improve overall production of rice in Thailand, many low-income farmers in Thailand were left worse off. Many peasants were unable to hold onto to their land and became tenants.[5] The government demanded tax revenues, even during bad years, and this pushed many low-income farmers even closer to the margin. New technologies also pushed up the entry cost of rice farming and made it harder for farmers to own their land and produce rice.[5]
Farmers who already had large scale operations or could afford all the new chemicals, rice strains, and tractors benefited greatly while the average peasant was turned from a land-owning rice producer to a manual laborer on the farms of others.[5]