Expectation #2

[parsley]

" The need for substantial new investment in agriculture is clear. However, on the other hand, it is obvious that the number of donor-supported agricultural credit programmes is in decline and the extent to which governments or commercial financial intermediaries are compensating for the reduction in supply of loanable funds to agricultural production, processing, and marketing is limited."

One way to interpret the above is this:

Canada can just as easily import cheap grain from Russia in a couple of years...cheaper than we can produce it.

Hardly a proposition that will convinice your banker to give you money to plant a crop in 2012.

But old relationships last the test of time. Trust. Integrity. Reliability.

Guard them. Not even a banker will kick a decent farmer when he's down. Pars

[cottonpicken]

**** russia

and **** all those eastern *****s.

We will bring them to their knees.

[rockpile]

Cott - Hyde is out Ha! Ha! Pars, your metaphor with
the kid doesn't stick. One, a 9 year old kid should
already be doing that kind of stuff around the farm
- responsibility at an early age. Two, what kind of
parent hasn't bought his kid a bike by age nine,
geeez? Fast forward - every industry and business
has its' abusive element - not unique to farming.
What is missing in all of these discussions is the
unexplainable spread between what consumers pay
at the till for food and other products, and what the
primary producer receives out of the basket. That
includes export product as well. And, the more
efficient the farmer becomes, the less he is
rewarded. There is something wrong with that
picture! Hey Cott, don't piss in the Russian's corn
flakes, at one time they were our biggest buyer of
wheat and helped run up prices, particularly in the
70's. Never burn your bridges.

[mbratrud]

Have Already Heard Credit tightening up? Rumors from retail outlets that to their surpise refusals of 3rd party financing are common.... This is really starting to smell bad. Also heard a few days ago a land deal was finalized fairly close by where a rental agreement was put in place for $62 per acre! ON THE 1st OF JUNE, The land has standing water on it! WTF? Is it greed? what drives people to make these decisions. By the way if anyone knows of someone that will pay that I have a half section for rent available immediately, prime land for rice production the flood irrigation process has already begun. You might even be able to raise some shrimp or lake trout.

[parsley]

Rocky, I didn't say it was his FIRST bike. Don't presume.

My real point is that smart, hardworkers deserve a chance.

But they also need to be trustworthy. And their word has to be good. Or why would anyone instruct a banker to loan them money?

Are the smart-kid farmers of 2010 in the DA up to it? Will people with realtime cash give a nod to lenders, saying, "I think we can trust the farming set. Give them loans."

This red festering monetary boil is coming to a head. Pars

[parsley]

mbratrud,

"surpise refusals of 3rd party financing"

Are you really surprised, though?

Don't grain companies know exactly which farmers will try to weasel out of a contract?

Would you be selective in who you deal with when times are tough and you really need every penny on the books?

You mostly know who you can depend on, don't you?

The paper is only as good as the guy who signs it. Pars

[mbratrud]

Oh exactly Pars, but thats where 3rd Party financing has always come in. This has been the way retailers have been able to avoid problem debt themselves. The surprise is that some of these retailers have seen an extreem tightning of credit to Farmers. I guess its a little shocking to me that on the last couple of years in farming producers have not been able to improove there balance sheets to the point that at the first sign of rough waters creditors are cutting them loose.

[ado089]

I have the opposite problem, retails will back me but FCC won't look at me because I don't have three years under my belt yet. Funny how that good name works locally but as soon as someone in an office 200miles away gets involved things go to hell.

[parsley]

Someone who works for a Federal institution told me today that farm debt is up 250%.

The problem is not only that farmers owe more and more money, but "Are they good for it?"

Too many are not. And default tendency reflects on all farmers.