SUPPLY MAGEGEMENT

[grassfarmer]

HT what makes the US the "greatest agriculture producer in the world" - speed thay have been able to degrade their soils? highest yields? highest overall volumes?

Good points Cameron, succession is not as big a problem in the dairy because there is money to be made and that attracts the kids to stay.

Good point also on the Hutterites and Mennonites - their success through group co-operation is inspiring. Seems anyone trying to promote that type of thing in Alberta is deemed a communist though.

[kato]

Randy, I remember spending my summer holidays washing one of those kitchen cream separators. Arghh... one million stainless steel cones all piled up, and all needing to be washed separately.

At least it seemed like a million.. LOL

[littledoggie]

Average age for beef producers - 58
Average age for dairy producers - 47
It won't be long now before the big guns get total control. Sorry Randy, I don't buy into your "niche market" as being the answer, because all it will take is a few more regulations that limit your upside and the little guy has gone the way of the dodo. Big corporations can handle excessive regulation, while the little guy can't.
cpallett - "Now if we could only get everybody else to pull together, there are no limits to what could be accomplished." I couldn't agree more, but alas, there are too many big ego's and too much greed for these types to see past the end of their noses. There is strength in numbers, but the multi-nationals are very clever in creating dissension in the ranks so we don't get together and gather some power.
The Hutterites have some things right, but they are also willing to work for very little. They are really self-sufficient and don't buy into modern society's "gotta have this and gotta have that". And many hands make light work. The modern family farm has none of these attributes.

[Happytrails]

To GF regarding our southern neighbors being the greatest agriculture producer in the world. Please check out "nationmaster.com" and see for yourself. Actually China is ahead in wheat and meat production but only the US has corn to burn. HT

[smcgrath76]

Interesting, but the US doesn't rank
first in cereal production and is well
down the list in value added. It is
also highest in obesity and some other
factors that are directly influenced by
the food supply. It ranks nearly 3
years behind Canada in life expectancy.
But it does grow a lot of corn.
It appears many of the fastest rates of
growth are in the middle east (although
they certainly are starting smaller in
many cases). I think this relates to
whether we view things through a
production lens or not.

[grassfarmer]

Little Doggie, I think the modern family farm can have the attributes you mention of the Hutterites. The only one that is difficult is the "many hands make light work"
Most family farms do work for very little, many are as self-sufficient as hutterite colonies - maybe not in what we grow in the garden or make in the way of furniture but I know I'm a way less dependent on purchased fertiliser, spray and machinery than the colonies are and these are bigger ticket items. We can choose whether we want to partake in modern consumer "gotta haves" - I generally don't.

Yep, HT that's impressive - the US is the #1 importer of bananas and #1 exporter of cotton. But on the important stuff - have three times as much arable land as Canada but use 91 times as much fertiliser. Greatest Ag producer in the world indeed!

[Happytrails]

Littledoggie, I'm with you on the regulatory burden falling harder on cow-calf producers. The big players who number their cattle in the thousands have to get replacements from somewhere. They are not going to raise their own so they should have an interest in keeping us in business.

We have had a near miss with the traceability nonsense and no doubt it has already caused some to exit the industry. Feedlots don't share our fear of getting strangled by the red tape so we are in that fight alone. We have to keep reminding them that without us they are gone.

PS Was at a calf auction today and saw lots of cattlepeople that couldn't stop grinning. Good to see.

[burnt]

kato - a million s.s. cones? You must have had one of the small ones!