Thank you Rick19744 for your reply - I agree with all you said.
Btw - As you may (or may not) agree, trying to get a clear answer to seemingly simple questions by reading related articles from various sources, results in opening one can of worms after another (one reference/source begets another, and so on ... and they sometimes circle back to the starting point).
For my question, it seems to ultimately boil down to finding an answer to the question: Does such an arrangement qualify as a "Trade or Business" with consideration of Internal Revenue Code Section 162? Unfortunately, it appears that Section 162 provides no clear definition of Trade or Business (at least when it regards non-employees).
But another question for you, please. You said "So, while we don't have all the facts involved...". Can you give me an example of a fact or two that wasn't provided in my original post, that would be relevant to answering my original question? (FYI - this is not a high-income situation that might disqualify the farm income from the QBID).
