Not following what the ADA or anti union laws have to do with this discussion. Not aware of MA being a 'right to work' state either.

If the lunch break helps you be an effective employee then it's arguably already baked into your paycheck. But for the lunch break you'd be less effective, and so paid less.

You'd have to ask your employer why they need to know. Sometimes it's just a courtesy so people aren't confused why you're leaving or when you'll be back.

Why do you need to be able to leave? What opportunity cost?

Are you working during the lunch break? If not then you're not generating anything for the business so why should you be paid more?

So, you'd be fine with a lower payrate but paid for the lunch hour (net same)? Or allow employers to not offer a lunch break?

What problem are you trying to solve here? You are off the clock so you aren't being paid to work so there's no ambiguity that you aren't intended to work during that time. Keeps timekeeping clean.

Alternatively you can be salary exempt and work during lunch more than not.

I did mine at a AAA location years back.

What would you prefer? Corn or wheat yields as a proxy?

It's as good as any other shorthand. Weight, volume and calories are all insufficient, as different crops output different values. $ value of an agricultural commodity index hasn't changed radically over the decades.

Did humanity suffer a mass starvation over the past two decades and no one told me?

Different crops, different calorie by area too.

You're feeding people with less land. You could drop the $ line, but it's nice to have some output benchmark.

Visually the truncated Y axis allows the changes to be highlighted, which is the point of the chart. It doesn't change the "story" it just allows you to focus to focus on the changes.

And yields have been increasing per hectare, so that's a non complaint.

The chart doesn't show profit.

And yeah less land use and feeding a bigger population is more efficient.

What's misleading about it? I don't think anyone would assume land use was zero a couple decades ago.

Sure, but that's probably not an easy index to compile. Different crops will yield different volume or weight per acre.