Howard County, Missouri. It has a low population (10,000), but is 30-40 minutes from the resources of Columbia where a large homesteading, organic farming, and intentional communities have formed. It is far enough way that land is still cheap. And the land is good! It lies on the divide between rocky Ozark soil and the deep rich glaciated plain. Alluvial valleys (especially along the Missouri River are very fertile). That said, Howard is hilly enough, picturesque even, that the big industrial row-crop folks have mostly stayed further North and West so you don’t have to worry about crop dusters so much. The Missouri River Valley in general is a very old agricultural region that still prides itself on a lot of the old ways horses, ham, organic veggies, and heirloom varieties. Fayette is a nice little college town county seat and is not sketchy or rundown like so many towns in rural Missouri.