The future of farming

[SASKFARMER3]

This one got me, But that being said we as farmers have gotten efficient way more than any generation before us Yet experts say we need to get more efficient, I think the more closer we get to what he is talking about the closer to a total collapse of the system we get.
Simply flooded market now and no prices yet the pirates keep trying to get that last nickle out of us.
I like were we are at now (Expand by 5% a year) and wouldn't change it at all. Lots have expanded way more than us this year way more their are now lots of 8-20 thousand acre farmers in our area, Good luck have fun.

[skhadenuf]

Right on hlg and burnt, we are seeing this "efficiency" in spades in the financial and the off shore drilling in the golf, many other areas etc. The efficient ones are turning out to be the biggest crooks in history and all this time they were telling the rest of us they were just that much smarter. If you live next to one of these "efficient" people make sure if you have a dog, that you strap a plywood to the back end because these "efficient" worldly people will screw anything into the ground to be the only one left standing.
the gulf oil platform was so efficient that it cost too much to have the proper safety equipment maintained and now look. Also so efficient that instead of worrying about the mess and the lives lost, within minutes they were running around with forms for employees to sign so the company could not be sued by the employees, I got a say that must be a new "efficient" record to try and save your ass. That is what our world has come to. Those are our efficient worldly leaders.

[hlg]

SKF3.....Just curious, how much is enough? Not a cheap shot. When does it become unmanagable. Reliable farm help is almost impossible to find now and todays machinery isn`t getting simpler.

[cottonpicken]

An industry thats been through decades of pain,has
hardly any young people involved,and mass
migration out and somebody thinks we need to be
more "efficient".

Maybe we are at max efficiency already.

Economy of scale theory works up to a point,but
should not blind everyones thought process.

One thing i know from following the market is that
the biggest companies are never the most
profitable.

-which is a thought many here have already
touched on

[wmoebis]

It is funny how the big farmers get the lower prices from suppliers. Even the local co-op gives a better deal on fuel to the guys who buy more. The more chem, fuel fert and seed you buy the lower the price.

Talk to elevator agents they say over all, it is the smaller farmer who delivers the better more consistant quality crops. But they give the larger guys breaks to get thier bussness.

I was once told there is two ways to get top grades for your grain.

1 Grow good quality.

2 Owe the company enough money they will give it to you. So they will get paid.

So the bigger you are the lower your inputs and the more you get for lower quality products. Sometimes at the smaller guys expense. So the moral is go big or go home. If you can't run with the big dogs, go play on the porch with the puppies.

Just think what is going to happen when thier is no small guys to cover the cost of fuel or to blend the lower quality product. There will be no more breaks for those of us that are left. We better enjoy now cause we will lose when the big guns come after big dogs.

I'm not against anyone wanting to be as big as they need to be. I am against it being on others back. My question for all big efficient farmers is. How would we be making out if we had to pay the same price for inputs as the smaller guy?

Next time just for S&#ts and giggles, when you are doing your spread sheet senerios put in the numbers that say a 1000 acre farm would use. It might make you think I know it did me.

[burnt]

wmoebis - you make a vital point. One of my neighbours, to help offset his equipment costs, plants corn for quite a few farmers around here, big and small.

He compared his seed costs (for the same varieties) with one of his customers who grew about 5x as much corn.

The difference was between $30 and $40 a bag FOR THE SAME CORN. If the dealer margin on the big order was $10 -$15 a bag, then the dealer was making almost as many total dollars of profit on the small guy as he was making on the bigger acreage farmer.

So, who is really supporting the R&D in the seed business?

[LWeber]

The most profitable, with the best balance sheet, envious retained earnings and tightly held grain company in western Canada would not even be on the radar screen of most people, CP.

They know they make more money being in the bottom of the top ten than being #1 - and they are quite happy living under the radar.

They let everyone become more efficient chasing synergies and whatever else is in vogue this week, while their profit has been used to diversify over the past 100 years; the company is not orange.

[cottonpicken]

Lol..would love to know the answer because my two
guess's seem yellowish/orangish/redish,but
companies like that deserve to remain nameless.

They are like easter eggs for others to find.

[Hopperbin]

I suppose a lot of farmers don't know how to hand the farm to the next generation so they don't or in other words put it off.

[Fransisco]

All of this reminds me of a story about Milton Friedman traveling to Asia in the 1960s and visiting a worksite where a new canal was being built. Friedman was shocked to see that instead of modern tractors and earth-mover equipment the workers instead were using small shovels. Milton asked a government bureaucrat why there were so few machines, and the bureaucrate replied: 'You don't understand. This is a jobs program.' To which Milton Friedman replied: 'Oh, I thought you were trying to build a canal. If it's jobs you want, then you should give these workers spoons, not shovels.'