Farmers getting OLD

[Partners]

We all know Mega Farms mean Mega Debt..most of the time..

Banker nominated them because that means more $$$ for the bank..Go hard..borrow some more money..Interest rates will never go up..

[freewheat]

grass, I am "failing" cuz I was not set up like the others around me, along with the brutal weather! If dad was here, I am pretty sure I would be singing a totally different tune. But alas we are all dealt a hand. Some are dealt a full house, some a royal flush, and some got the jokers of many decks...

[sumdumguy]

A little luck and a lot of sweat sure helped a lot of guys around us and we never forget to give thanx to the lowly lentil.

[Braveheart]

Desiderata line, "if you compare yourself to others, you will either become vain or bitter", is especially true for farming. We can seldom really know other people's business. What is sustainable for one farming operation may not be for another. There are a lot of well run farms these days that don't stack enterprises, diversify little but just crank out dollars. There are no doubt some that appear to have the world by the tail but are sinking in debt. The different styles, management, etc, make this business interesting.

I'm 59 years old and certainly have plans to advance farm succession faster than the farmer at the top of the post. IMO he's holding his sons back too long. But that's just my opinion. I don't know him or his sons. I hope their communication and planning has mutual agreement though.

[ajl]

Would be nice to get 50 basis point rise interest rates to see how good the OYF's really are. Don't all of these guys go broke? 50 basis point rise would open a lot of opportunity up for others and eliminate farm labor problems all at once. In the 80's there was all sorts of opportunities for those who did not bury themselves in debt. Today there are zero opportunities.

[seabass]

Personally I would decline any nomination to be OYF. Seems to be bad luck for a lot of them. Farmers shud nominate there own and determine the winner. After all who knows best how to be successful in this business.

[farmaholic]

".....stacking enterprises on a relatively small rented landbase."

Here is where I wish these guys could have their own landbase. I would hate to be at the mercy of a landlord. grassfarmer, you should know the perils of this with your ancestry.

By the way my balance sheet has net worth increasing, without the increase in owned land prices. We are "growing"!

[farmaholic]

Braveheart, your desiderata quote hits the nail right on the head. From time to time I still suffer from that.

[grassfarmer]

I was talking sustainability from a societal point of view, not individual financial perspective.

I think needing 25 quarters to sustain a family where the previous generation were sustained on 5 quarters is regression, not progress.

Imagine if we could get back to one or two quarters being enough to sustain a family. Look how it would transform rural Canada and the small towns that are dying out at the moment.

[freewheat]

grass, there are ways to do just that. Most guys though think farming means lots of land and lots of machinery. Most think this is the only way to use the land.

I know a guy who has 70 acres, and makes his living off of that alone.

Heck, there are honey producers who own NO land, and set their hives out and make nothing but money.

But the general consensus is that there is really only one way to farm. And that is unfortunate from a community standpoint.

[wakopa]

Easy solution for me if I had 1500 acres and ready to retire, son would give enough rent for me to have some fun, he would have to live within his means , like a 2388 combine , 45 foot used drill and heated shop to fix his own machinery in winter, machinery is cheap to buy if u live within ur means, and when I die he gets everything . But then I try to run my life simple ,

[Richard5]

Freewheat your last post nailed it, Wakopa is not far off either.

It seems there is this belief among many producers today that you "need to be a certain size to justify something". Whether she it's just plain ego or show the bigger some of these guys get the bigger the chance FCC is going to go down with them. The next issue is the false feeling of ownership or cost management with lease debt. You just end up running a higher cost machine for the job it really needs to do. Not referring to combines, more tractors and especially new tractors that are leased to pull harrows, rock pickers and augers. Real cost effective.

Sometimes I wonder if I'm thinking about it wrong by trying to manage my farm within safe benchmarks, equipment costs and family draw. Maybe I should be borrowing as much as I could and if it doesn't work, who cares.

The comment about the outstanding young farmer makes me giggle a bit. It is a curse as many who have been awarded this are no longer operating today or have sold out to another venture.

Taking a line from the Trudeau campaign for Sask's candidate, "he's got a nice smile though"