I don’t agree with the round up part of this personality. I rotate herbicides every year so we don’t get lazy. I’ve tried to do my part against herbicide resistance, but vertical and horizontal integration have been a big part of my family’s success. It’s like the thread on selling fur a couple days ago. Sometimes you have find different markets that other people aren’t about and go after them even if they’re outside your comfort zone. Never be afraid of going BROKE if you give it 110%

I can only speak for the area I live in. But I can tell you this the farmers around myself are not struggling. There building fancy houses every year and literally buying a new pickup every year along with a combine and buying more land.

My dads family owned a rock pit and made redi mix and asphalt. Dad always said the only people who came in and haggled with the prices were farmers and they were driving brand new trucks.

My best friends family owns a 1500 acre grass seed farm. It is in the process of being handed down to him. ( his dad is of retirement age). I do not know that financial situation and it's none of my business. But he has told me many times that if a grass seed farmer in this area is struggling financially within the last 20 years they have some serious spending issues.

Farming is one of the most government subsidized occupations in the United States.

Yes there are probably a couple hundred thousand farmers who are millionaires and most of those are 2-4 generation operations which means it could have taken 30-100 years to become that wealthy. Also in reality you would need to be a millionaire or have the leverage to get a 500k loan to buy the inputs to plant even a thousand acres. Not many even very large farms have a couple million laying around in a check book to buy a million or so in crop inputs.

As I keep in the loop I was talking with some lenders and one institution which has a very large farm portfolio has 60% of their clients on interest only so all is not sunny in Paris. I worked with farmers all my life and yes they will haggle with you on everything, many times it is about the only discussion some of the more interverted ones carry on.

Bryce

What!! I don’t think you are very informed. My property taxes out do any thing I get from the government 3 to 1. Ask the windmill, solar panel, pro sports, & oil guys (and by the way I love the oil guys) what tax breaks and subsidies they get. If it was up to me my farm would get ZERO. I need crop insurance so I have to sign up for the farm program by law. And yes crop insurance is subsidized also, but government has got involved in every aspect of trade from embargo’s, trade deals, and tariffs so it’s fine by me. Free trade and fair trade is how it’s supposed to work. Not government intrusion. Capitalism works every time if its left alone.

Thanks. When I go to bed every night I’ve got millions & I mean millions of dollars of cattle, land and my house on the line. It can all be gone tomorrow. It started with my GGgpa and I’ll work myself to death so my boys can have it. We work 7 days a week 300+ hours a month all year long to make a living for us and 20 employees and there families. We stop on Wednesday night for bible study and Sunday morning for church. I Love it and feel blessed to live in this country

Just gotta work 10 hour days and you make millions and millions? Man, farming is the easiest thing to do to get rich! I’m on the right path! Freedom 35!

As long as they have the crop insurance its a no loose situation. A tobacco farmer told me one time they clear around 3500 dollars a acre. Some of the smaller farmers here have about 100 acres more of the bigger outfits 600 to 1000 acres. You do the math thats where all the new trucks tractors combines etc come from around here.Not counting the beans corn cotton cows chicken houses and all else the have If you listen to them talk they all are broke but it sure dosent look that way.Only occupation i know of that you can put insurance on to see if it fails and the goverment checks come straight to the mail box. Im not against it i grew up on a farm and appreciate the labor that goes along with it. But all farmers i know are not living check to check.

Typical tman posts. Bunch of I talked to guy hearsay, well my neighbor says, and I caught a coyote or two now I'm qualified to tell others how it's done nonsense. To the boots in manure farm boys and girls out there keep your heads up, your belt tight, and your powder dry.

All the richest people around here are farmers. Every single decent sized farmer has brand new pickups, houses at the lake, and go on a couple of trips to the beach somewhere a couple times a year. You see a mansion or a the newest diesel pickup driving around, there will be a John Deere license plate.

That millions is unpaid loans Jurassic not profit. If all the bills are paid for the year and we break even we are blessed.

X1000

So why doesn't everyone take out a massive load buy some equipment rent some ground to farm and become millionaires? It's that simple right????????

Most farmers around here, myself included, have a side job. May or may not be full time, but something for a more steady pay check. Commonly around here you see will farmers who also work construction, do tractor/dirt work, or are Ag mechanics. Now, we are seeing farming as the side job-like in my case. Its easier to think of it as a side gig than worry about it full time. Just my opinion.

It's a been a tough road farming here for a LONG time. When we did have the high prices, several years back, we produced very little due to preventative planting, drought, flooding and early frost. It was a 3 years in a row gut punch. Prices crashed and thankfully my production has come back to at least normal to my best ever. But those 3 years have left their mark. Combined with the current market state and it's been devastating. I've cut just about everywhere I can. My goal has been to break even on the farm during this low price period. I've been fairly close overall. The problem has been the cost of living. That isn't figured into farming expenses. I have a big family and that cost isn't something that you can make disappear. But we've done what we can to mitigate it as much as possible. My wife and I created a good online business that helps a great deal. We are driving new vehicles, but it's because the OL business pays us to do so. We go on trips all over the place, but they are paid for from the other business. Does it make up for all the losses? No. But I have an 8 person family I've even went a year with no fertilizer. I had fertility built up were I could get away with it once. I'll have to pay the piper sooner or later, but you gotta do what you gotta do to make the bank happy. In this location we have limited options available. We could grow something else, but we have no delivery point that makes any of them viable. I do as much work as I can, equipment isn't getting the inspections like they normally would, I'm selling equipment that I rarely use, I'm selling off assets that I don't absolutely need, I've worked closely with the bank to make them as happy as I can. (They know times are tough, so no point in hiding it or shying away from the conversations) It will get better! All we can do is hold our breath and know that when it does, it is going to take years to unbury ourselves. I'm the 5th generation to work our farm and I'm not so sure I want there to be a 6th. I don't want my son to ever have to go through this!

Your right blindsniper, things are tough and they will get better. It could be A LOT worse we could have had bad weather low prices AND Nurse Ratched (Hillary) as president.

You got that right. The sad thing is the kids do not want to take on the hard work of owing a farm. 7 days a week 365 days a year is hard for most people to stomach. Throw in all of the regulations and the hard time finding help, I don't blame them.
The reward is the land and working outside and the strong mind and body. I would not trade it for anything.

Its all marketing. The organic dairy coops brought on too many dairies too fast, it will work out. " natural" is good, but only organic is "certified" and can be sold or advertised as such. Also it is not just "organic", it is organic AND sustainable.

I understand and know that as i have worked with over 20 organic dairy farmers here in eastern WI. However what we are seeing is a rapid interest in natural or "biological" even if not certified and the difference in price from conventional to organic is more than 50% without a lot of the other aspects.
When neighbors know you are not using chemicals on animals, crops or gardens and you feed more forage and graze one gets a good bump. Several do go on to become certified and some also debate the value and also some of the criteria.

Bryce