Farm guys
#6134860
01/22/18 11:09 PM
01/22/18 11:09 PM
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Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 169 Southern Illinois
bowman814
OP
trapper
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OP
trapper
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 169
Southern Illinois
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It looks like we're going to have another pretty tough year with low prices. I've been working tirelessly on our break-evens and it's not looking too promising. Anyone care to disclose what they're cutting back on/doing differently to save or add money? Also would be curious as to what you are charging the landowner for (on crop rents.) The last few years, it seems like we've taken a beating on the crop sharing rents.
Last edited by bowman814; 01/22/18 11:10 PM.
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Re: Farm guys
[Re: bowman814]
#6134923
01/23/18 12:17 AM
01/23/18 12:17 AM
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Joined: Dec 2011
Posts: 10,479 MT
snowy
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Dec 2011
Posts: 10,479
MT
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The thing is you really don't even know if a crop will come in. With the drought last year if we don't get normal rains starting right away this spring it will be a tough year again and really no way to even plan for that. I would say cut back where ever you can and need to be as efficient as you can be.
Give me a fish, I will eat for a day. Teach me to fish, I will eat for a lifetime
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Re: Farm guys
[Re: bowman814]
#6134939
01/23/18 12:31 AM
01/23/18 12:31 AM
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Joined: Dec 2017
Posts: 6,238 Kansas
Pawnee
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Dec 2017
Posts: 6,238
Kansas
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It has been tough. I manage a large farm. My main focus is on inputs (fert,herbicide) I’ve been trying to save a dollar wherever I can, but the money also starts with crop insurance and a pricing plan for next year. It’s been keeping me up at night!
Everything the left touches it destroys
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Re: Farm guys
[Re: bowman814]
#6134955
01/23/18 12:52 AM
01/23/18 12:52 AM
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Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 169 Southern Illinois
bowman814
OP
trapper
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OP
trapper
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 169
Southern Illinois
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I agree that we're gamblers for sure! I've been trying to chip away at all of the inputs... booking fertilize early for (hopefully) cheaper prices, trying to save on seed, etc. I just passed the chemical dealers test to try to buy our chemical at wholesale costs. Anyone ever do that?
Last edited by bowman814; 01/23/18 12:53 AM.
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Re: Farm guys
[Re: bowman814]
#6135003
01/23/18 06:19 AM
01/23/18 06:19 AM
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Joined: May 2010
Posts: 276 IA
Nick C
trapper
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trapper
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 276
IA
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Are there contract livestock opportunities where you live? Hogs? Poultry?
As farmers we can’t always control what we make, but we can control what we spend.
As far as rents, 35% of gross income per acre is plenty for rent.
Considering many cropshare agreements used to be 50/50. As you split the inputs, the landowner provides the land, the farmer provided machinery and labor, and you split the crop. Anymore, land rental rates are near the 50% of gross, and yet the farmer is taking all the risk with inputs, machinery, labor etc. The landowner has zero risk, regardless of rainfall, weather, etc.
In Iowa, owning land is King. For farming it or leasing it.
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Re: Farm guys
[Re: Diggerman]
#6135102
01/23/18 09:31 AM
01/23/18 09:31 AM
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Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 4,460 havelock, NC
Rye
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 4,460
havelock, NC
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Since the advent of Round up, everyone is an expert crop farmer and it isn't gonna change soon. You will have to "value add" if you want to make money. Think out side the box, organics, new crops etc. Or you can just keep doing the same cause its easy. This is basically what I was thinking. Disclaimer, I'm not a large scale farmer. However it might pay out better to change what you are growing. You can produce 10x the amount of product with a hydroponic greenhouse than you can on soil based growing. Just one example. Start working towards organic farming, those crops come at a premium. But it means learning to farm an entirely different way than just spraying more chemicals.
"Don't go around saying the world owes you a living; the world owes you nothing; it was here first. " --Mark Twain.
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Re: Farm guys
[Re: bowman814]
#6135946
01/23/18 10:24 PM
01/23/18 10:24 PM
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Joined: Dec 2015
Posts: 6,372 se South Dakota
NonPCfed
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Dec 2015
Posts: 6,372
se South Dakota
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Any of your land decent wildlife habitat that you can lease for hunting? Maybe not a lot of money butif you're already paying for liability insurance for your existing operation, perhaps there's little additional input costs. Do you have any land in CRP or is there any CRP eligibility left in your county (I don't know if a landowner has to wait for USDA to announce a sign up or can you bid a parcel against other people's land at a certain time of year?). I know during the first couple decades of CRP, there were a lot of guys in the pheasant belt of SD that made some noticeable cash from pay-hunting bird hunters on their mix of CRP and their normal crop ground in the fall.
"And God said, Let us make man in our image �and let them have dominion �and all the creatures that move along the ground". Genesis 1:26
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Re: Farm guys
[Re: bowman814]
#6135971
01/23/18 10:34 PM
01/23/18 10:34 PM
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Joined: Sep 2016
Posts: 6,648 MB
Jurassic Park
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Sep 2016
Posts: 6,648
MB
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Im slowly becoming a farmer. Farmers are some of the richest people in the world! Makes sense to wanna be one.
Cold as ice!
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