Can Canadian Ag Survive a Down Turn!

[grefer]

Have I ever regretted buying a piece of land. Yup. 1981. I think the interest rate was 16 3/4 %. I still own it though but like others are saying in 1999 I bought the quarter beside it that is a better quarter for ten grand less than the one I purchased 18 years earlier. To me the crazy part though is the cost of new iron. If that isnt BS I have never seen anything that is. Land IS cheap when compared to that. Everyone loves it except the poor SOB who needs it to farm and in many cases cant afford to buy and so rents. Year after year after year. Guess who that works for?

[GDR]

Maybe some people are not seeing that grain is the same price as it was years ago....the math isn't making sense.....if it was keeping pace we would be getting 20 bucks a bushel for wheat 30 for canola and 45 for lentils....

Agree but worst part is I don't see prices getting better, more likely to decline. Yield trends have been at least keeping up to population growth and could be huge explosion in yields in South America and FSU as they get their shit together. Our freight and weather disadvantages won't get better. It's been good this year and recent years but when the world finds food alternatives to conventional ag look out.

[GDR]

Can ag survive a downturn? Look what happened to cattle during BSE, look at the field pea problem with India this fall, canola China dockage and blacking resistance the last couple years. All are no big deal cause they were one sector at a time. What happens when 2 or 3 trade issues happen at the same time and aren't resolved quickly. We need profitability but often cash flow more. Equity don't mean much when you got loans to repay and crop inputs to buy almost a year in advance these days.

Things are good right now and may continue but you just never know.

[farmaholic]

At 64 k in 86 and 65 k in 2014 looks like you really do farm in the slums !

# cheap and dirt poor out there !

I'm glad someone takes the time to read my posts.....

[farmaholic]

You want the neighbor lady to sell you land cheap so you can make a million off it !

CONNIVERS, CHISELERS, and WHINERS !

The sasktaxchewan way !

I'm glad someone takes the time to read my posts

[farmaholic]

Two out of three isn't bad, eh wiseguy!

[SASKFARMER3]

Wise guy I have 40 quarters with three still having 3 years left and their all clear titles WTF do I need more work for.

Their is no old lady across the road it's our land.

The drill would save me $150000 a year on seed and one less four wheel drive plus one less big drill to pull around its called looking for ways to compete and win at this game we call farming.

Cut my costs has always been my goal.

[Guest]

I bought dirt in 1986 for 64K.....the last land I bought in 2014......wait for it......65K.....thats a 28 year spread for ****'s sake.....and there was a time in there I wouldn't have got what I paid in 86.....too long a spread I might add. But it was never for sale so it didn't matter to ME. To some people it did.

Oh yea ....in 1986(the private sale) the same songs were sung about the land being too expensive as in 2014 at the land "auction" of the local BTO at the time.......

I had no competition in 86 but 2014 was one of those huge Hodgin's land auction cluster****s......anyone attend one of those? I stuck to the package I originally went for and was never "on" for more land than I wanted after someone else's bidding changed who was on what without someone who was out(all together or on certain parcels) actually placing another bid. The problems arose if someone bid on a bunch of different land and got out bid....then with all the combinations and.possibilities could end up getting more than he wanted. The breaking up of bidders packages or blocks caused the trouble. It was a gongshow!

yea we bought one here about same time , biggest cluster**** I ever saw . caught the auctioneer lying and made him straighten it out and we got the quarter for $86k

[furrowtickler]

A $350,000 planter is still half price of an 80 ft drill .
A lot of the big drill guys are back to floating on fert now anyway. It’s all relative to how much shit you want to drag around , haul , store yadda yadda .
It’s all made to work and each farm is different.... it’s a good thing lol

[farmaholic]

Caseih....that auction program was designed that no matter what happened the seller would never get less than the highest bid for each quarter....as stupid as it sounds....even if that meant it reverted back to someone who lost it to another bidder who included it in their parcel/package and who's package was broke up buy another bidder.

If I remember correctly there was over 30 quarters/pieces and it was insane the parcels and packages and individual quarters that got bid on....then changing the out come of who had what every time.

At one point they actually stopped the auction because it crashed(?) or the program stalled and they had to figure shit out.

Oh well, I got the section I went for in the end but can't help think....did I pay more than I had to because of the "auction format"?