Fertizer prices???

[hobbyfrmr]

Primary producers of anything will always be at the bottom of the ladder. Everybody who touches your grain with inputs or crop sales has to profit or they will go out of business. Farms (farmland) will always be in business,one producer retires, another takes over. The successful industry company will still be there to work with the new producer. And so it goes, and so it goes.

[ado089]

Did you really just play the everybody needs to make money card?

Of course they do and I expect they make enough money to keep making new and better products to help make my farm be more profitable too. But as Monsanto has learnt, the other chem companies are in the process of learning and what the fert and seed companies seem oblivious to, is that free enterprise is a great thing and the cure to high prices, is high prices.

You can keep drinking that kool-aid and beleive that you're the bottom of the totom pole or you can look at yourself as the most important part of the value-ad chain and tell these guys you can live without them longer than they can live without you. Fertilizer, chemical and dirt is balanced diet for canola but not me.

There will be a day when they study the last 5 years, and likely the next 5, in buisness school and revaluate who a company should focus on. Share-holders don't pay the bills and if you look after your customers in the good year they will look after you in the bad.

Did you say you worked for Bayer?

[hobbyfrmr]

ado, I dont work for any ag companies, I am just trying to get a feel for whats really happening. Most things that I am aware of in the industry, I really dont like it. I seem to be getting more jaded as each crop year passes by. I dont think the industry has changed for the better. Judging from theAV posts, its the same upside down rules every year and its slowly eating away at me. Instead of staying on the kool aid, I try to learn what the real sentiment is. I appreciate the input.

[ado089]

I think there are changes on the horizon. There is alot of restructuring on the retail front. NAFTA labling on chemicals are breaking down the premiums we pay in canada for chemical. I think the world is starting to wise up to the value of food. I also beleive the farm community is losing their appetite to finance/bankrole the big corps by pre-buying/early paying products 10 months ahead. Most inputs have corrected, with the exception of seed, mind you I'm not sure how long the memory of the fert buisness is. My biggest fear is the availability of good farm land to expand, intrest rates and this bullshit weather. Mind you years like this with reduced production, I beleive, puts farmers back in the drivers seat. Hopefully those with the ability make sure to groom the behavior of our suppliers and grain handlers in way that makes buisness relationships better in the future. To use your Invigour seed example, they don't need our money now to know how much seed to process, a booking will suffice. We have to stop letting them con us into thinking that if we don't hand over all our money we'll never get the "best" products or the "best" deals. Even look at the information they request on most credit applications these days, there is no way anyone should have full access to your financials.

[Hopperbin]

Ado no one should sign a personal guarantee on a farm corporation. I don't and am doing just fine credit wise with whomever I deal with, I even went so far as to refuse to give the information of who owns my farm corp to Ford finance, I decided to buy the truck, everything was a go until I came to the questions of who owns my farm corp. I said completely none of your business, I have signing authority and that is all that is needed.
I left without truck and the Ford credit deal, next day the dealership owner phoned me up and apologized. I got the Ford finance and my truck without answering every question. We need to stand up more is all I am saying.

[furrowtickler]

Ado, Don't blame the Invigour marketing system, farmers themselves are to blame for continualy agreeing to give in the sales b/s in sept/oct over the past 8 years. Only then to find out that the same variety is available in spring for the same price.
No diff than any input, fert will be no different this year. Tell them all to piss off until harvest is done no matter the "sweet" deal they offer. If they want your business the same offer will be there in Dec or possibly spring.

[ado089]

I agree with both of those statements and they reinforce my statement that we as farmers need to stop having the attitude that we are fortunate to have someone buy our grain, sell us inputs, sell us machinery and so on. All of there companies are here for one reason, that is to make money for their share holders. They can't do that if they are not conducting the buisness they set forth to operate. We should be demanding a certain level service and honesty and refusing to provide them with any more information about our buisness than they need or would share with their suppliers. Look at what many of the independant dealers are doing now with their new marketing group GROW. That was put in place primarily to put an end to the manufacturers bullying. We need to stop being affraid to call bullshit on these guys and get them to respect our businesses more.