Canola crusher Renting thousands of acres north. Of valley in Saskatchewan!

[farmaholic]

Lots of good points made here.

If LD can afford to pay rent(and I
wonder what it is) and have the crop
"custom" farmed so they can supply
themselves with product good for them.
To me it shows how profitable farming is
now, but when margins get razor thin
again, and they will, LD will get out as
fast as they got in. Would it be fair
to say that producing the crop will be
the riskiest part of this vertical
integration approach they are taking?
When it gets too risky they will pass it
on to someone else and guess who that
will be!!!

I wouldn't be as concerned about LD
farming the land as who owns it!

[wd9]

Isn't the whole point of vertical
integration absorbing the less profitable
steps with the profitable but ensuring a
consistent supply chain?

It would seem it does not matter if
production of canola isn't profitable and
technically they could put you out of
business (farmers) as the rest of the
chain makes up the profits.

[farmaholic]

wd9: to me it would be capturing all
the profitable steps and leaving the
high risk low margin to others. BTO
made a good point, how many acres would
LD have to farm to "secure" a supply of
canola for their crush. I don't know
how many they have now but am assuming
it would be equivalent to a piss in the
ocean compared to what they need.

Are they going to follow an sound
agronomic rotation?

I am not threatened by them farming a
few acres, as I said I am more
concerned about who owns the land.
Serfdom to some.

And I don't begrudge those who custom
farm, they are only providing a service.

[SASKFARMER3]

Farmholic its one of the reservations and also a group of east Indians (New Canadians) from Vancouver.
Their was a large land rental by the same group south of melville.
Wondering if they are moving that operation West to get to way better land.

[farmaholic]

Sask3: Can you estimate how many acres
they're farming. Maybe I shouldn't have
said I am not threatened by them since
they aren't on my doorstep. But I guess
it all depends what mode your in:
expanding, holding or downsizing!!

[SASKFARMER3]

not sure of the exact acreage! But it is funny how New purchasers want to not use the locals who grew up and farmed in the area.
Some land that I had rented with a agreement for sale but didnt buy has just been rented by a guy 50 miles away. I wasnt even given a chance to rent what I use to farm. The other renter wasnt offered rental arrangemet either.
What they got from the guy 50 miles away is less than they would have got locally.
One note the guy 50 miles away has been here before and left a million plus debt.
They will learn. oh well thats farming

[freewheat]

Good for them. I mean who cares? Farming
is so far gone anyway. If my dad were
here, he would hardly recognize it
anymore. The mad land rush by almost
every farmer these days is consuming
their very souls.

It is all about the land, the "stuff".
Everyone is after more "stuff". What a
pathetic society we have become.

It is all consuming. It never used to be
this way. All everyone talks about is
getting more land, more land.

Is anyone content to simply do better
with what they have? I guess that is why
I simply don't care if a grain company
is farming some land. I am not greedily
trying to get more, more, more.

Contentedness is an elusive animal. Now,
I am not saying if land close by came up
for sale, and I could swing it, I would
not bid on it, not at all, but this
panic is telling.

It seems as time goes on, year after
year, the greed gets worse, more
intense. I have yet to meet one of these
farmers who are of the more mindset,
take a deep breath, relax, and say I
have enough. Why is it so hard to say I
have enough? What is it all for? Our
casket, our urn? To show that more acres
constitutes some kind of importance,
status, or what?

If more guys would buck the trend, be
content, we wouldn't be in this mess,
because we would still have a rural
population worthwhile preserving. As it
is, everyone wants to have 10 000 acres
or at least 5, under the fake idea you
need that much to make a living. It is
the only way they can justify it. And
then these same land hungry guys get all
twisted up when someone moves into their
area and rents some land.

See, their plans are disturbed, the land
they had eyes for is now in jeopardy.
That is why they are so upset.

It is because all that matters to them
is MORE LAND.

End rant. Just so sick of the drama in
the countryside. The lack of content
souls. The greedy nature of farming
today...

[wd9]

freewheat, 1

[farmaholic]

Freewheat: Maybe if more kids would
have stayed on the farm and not been
discouraged by negativity and two
decades of tough times where there
seemed to be no hope of making a decent
living comparable to everyone else and
government policy of ownership rules
which kept land prices artificially low,
there wouldn't be this feeding frenzy we
are experiencing now. There was money
to be made speculating on comparatively
cheap Sask farmland. And money to be
made farming the land.

[fjlip]

Well said Freewheat, I AM CONTENT, I have enough.
Quote in the Furrow "He has the most who is content with the least"

Some need to tame their inner greed, the desire to leave a legacy.

Once read that the more stuff/land you have the more important you are, therefore more likely to live longer.

Another take on too big to fail or too big to die. Good Luck guys.