Why did farmers lose their independence to shopkeepers and merchants?

Answer 1

Farms lost their independence to shopkeepers and merchants because most people like to go to one store to get all of their food. Most people are not going to go visit several farms to get various veggies.

Answer 2

Before wide-spread distribution of goods became possible, the general survival strategy of humanity was to be independent.

You ate what you grew and hunted, you used only items you could make for yourself.

But when wide-spread distribution became possible, people discovered that specialisation and trading was more efficient. A farmer would do only farming, a cattle breeder would do only that, etc etc.

But that meant that both the farmer and the breeder, and the weaver, and the lumberjack all were dependent on someone to buy their items, so that they would get money to buy the stuff they needed and didn't make for themselves.

However, the question isn't entirely fair, as the merchants and shopkeepers are entirely dependent on the farmers as well. W/o any produce to forward, there'd be nothing for the for the shopkeepers to sell.

And a farmer who'd be willing to reset to subsistence farming (have a vegetable land, some livestock etc) could get away with only a small amount of cash transactions.