Pro's and Con's of where you farm?

[farmaholic]

There's no pro's here in the Slum of the Ghetto, only con's. If you weren't born and raised here, you wouldn't live here!

None of us here are good at what we do and can't be trusted.

[fjlip]

There's no pro's here in the Slum of the Ghetto, only con's. If you weren't born and raised here, you wouldn't live here!

None of us here are good at what we do and can't be trusted.

"Drug/crime riddled rural communities", is that you farma?

Pro, close to city no...? What are roads/highways like? We are always complaining, thinking too far from civilization to matter.

[farmaholic]

"Drug/crime riddled rural communities", is that you farma?

Pro, close to city no...? What are roads/highways like? We are always complaining, thinking too far from civilization to matter.

I can't complain about crime. Never had a problem. Nice to be 30 minutes from a large center for business reasons. Urban creep can be a positive and negative....depending. Poorer land prices can be propped up by squatters. Good land prices propped up by farm and investor demand.

I always like joking around(Ghetto references)..I think we farm middle of the road dirt. With some bad patches. Some is well drained and wide open and some with potholes....we make a living on it. There are limitations, I know and respect them. I've seen both alot better and alot worse. Alot more bush just a couple of miles north of us and little natural bush south of us.

We have good neighbors.....not too much Hutterite pressure right beside us but have investors buying and a BTO(rumoured investor backed) that rivals Colonies now. Young farmers sadly shut out of the market.

Wind can be incessantly relentless some times....day and night, but they say Lethbridge is worse. Seasonal/yearly precipitation can go both ways....but dryness seemed to outweigh too wet. Farming operations can usually be performed within a reasonable time frame unless someone is a shitty manager or has way too much bit off and can't chew it.

I live in a decent RM but the highways are taking a beating with the grain and gravel being hauled on them. Highway 35 between the 48 & 33 is reduced to 8 tonnes max. 35 North of 48 to #1 is getting beaten by gravel trucks hauling gravel to the Bypass project. Highway 48 to WhiteCity used to be alot smoother when I drove to my part time job from 1983 to 1991....with the gravel hauling and grain elevator consolidation, the highway isn't what it used to be.

Lots of grain delivery options within reasonable driving distance. Lots of special crops processors. No canola crushers. Cattle numbers in decline....fewer guys but with larger herds. The area used to be a dairy hotspot....but now only two left in the immediate area but neither are huge operators(more family member operated).

Diverse cropping area....but success totally dependent on precipitation. .....lentils and canola thrive under different conditions and both are grown around here!

Someone once said the grass may be greener on the other side of the fence....but it's harder to mow. I was hoping grassfarmer was going to post and he did(thanks).

There is basically no oil activity right around us. A small oil field close by and a single well maybe 10-12 miles away. Potash is close too but doubt we will see any benefits...just outside the "testing zone".

[Horse]

I live nw of Edmonton con lots of rocks and the poorest county in Alberta,a large field is anything over 30 acres, as when the oldtimers cleared land in small pieces then threw rocks into bush so when they had money for some more clearing they left a strip of bush where they put the rocks. Pro still have over 300 acres of bush land,I enjoy hunting and trapping more than picking rocks and farming, con have ate more deer than you could imagine, and was good fishing but that has gotten a lot worse the last few yrs, con land is still cheap enough I can leave those trees there, I have made my living for 45 yr and I don't see me changing now.
I left some of the best dirt in Alberta around Red Deer because land was 200$/acre then, If I would have stayed I would still probably be gone as I don't have that killer instinct to survive with the BTOs one more con ,very few BTOs in this neck of the woods and I have close newborns.And haven't punched a time clock since 1971.

[AlbertaFarmer5]

Grassfarmer, thanks for your input. I really respect anyone who is willing and able to make a move like that, not once but twice. The learning curve must be steep.

Land price is the number one reason why I was looking elsewhere. Could have sold here, and bought back 5 or 10 times as much land in decent parts of Sask or Manitoba 15 to 20 years ago. The trouble was making the payments without an outside source of income, which are much harder to come by elsewhere.
Land is still prohibitively expensive here, but most other areas have since closed the gap, much too late to move now. A lot of my former neighbors did it though. Some have since sold out and came back. In hindsight though, I probably would have been just in time to enjoy the drought years of 01 02 and 03, then the flood years that followed, and concluded that the grass really was greener at home.

That is one more pro and con. Con, we are the last place to green up in the spring, cold wet heavy soil and cold climate, even a few miles in any direction warms up much sooner. I'm easily a week later getting into the feilds than most, leaves are delayed the same.

Pro, in the fall, we stay green longer than almost anywhere, except maybe Vancouver. Nearly always have green grass under snow in November. Tree leaves stay on longer. I find Calgary depressing, it is brown almost year around.

[AlbertaFarmer5]

I live nw of Edmonton con lots of rocks and the poorest county in Alberta,a large field is anything over 30 acres, as when the oldtimers cleared land in small pieces then threw rocks into bush so when they had money for some more clearing they left a strip of bush where they put the rocks. Pro still have over 300 acres of bush land,I enjoy hunting and trapping more than picking rocks and farming, con have ate more deer than you could imagine, and was good fishing but that has gotten a lot worse the last few yrs, con land is still cheap enough I can leave those trees there, I have made my living for 45 yr and I don't see me changing now.
I left some of the best dirt in Alberta around Red Deer because land was 200$/acre then, If I would have stayed I would still probably be gone as I don't have that killer instinct to survive with the BTOs one more con ,very few BTOs in this neck of the woods and I have close newborns.And haven't punched a time clock since 1971.

If I had 30 acre fields with trees all around, I'd have almost no productive land left. Lose 50+ feet of production each side of the tree line, and there's not much left.

[grassfarmer]

Grassfarmer, thanks for your input. I really respect anyone who is willing and able to make a move like that, not once but twice. The learning curve must be steep.

It is steep curve, but I enjoy this kind of challenge. The biggest advantage I've found is it forces you out of the "you can't do that here - we've always done it this way" paradigm. It's a move to make when you are young though - I found the second move harder both physically and mentally.

One comment you made that I'd challenge was around drought and 2002/3. Yes, it was greener in your area (as it was in ours) than many others but there was still a substantial drought effect. There were plenty herds sold off and hay went to stupid money in your area just as it did mine. People in greener areas like ours saw the worst areas like Hanna and Oyen and couldn't imagine being that brown or that dry. Proportionately though we likely suffered as big a reduction in yield in grass or hay crops as those places that are typically a lot drier. Our grasses were adapted to fairly high and consistent rainfall and being fairly shallow rooted as the water is usually there.

[Hamloc]

Roughly 1/2 east of Red deer.
Pros

Family has farmed in same area since 1906. I was fortunate my Great Grandfather picked an area with decent soil. Mostly black sandy loam. Some quarters with stones and gravel overall good soil. Mixed farming area with cows and grain. Except for 2002 feed hasn't been an issue. Relatively flat land with some rolling hills. CPS wheat avg yield 75 bus. Canola 50 bus. 40 mins to 4 different elevators. 25 mins to Stettler where I do a lot of my business. Fortunate to have a few oil leases on our land helps to pay the bills. Never to my knowledge had water contamination issues in 111 years. Always treated well by the oil companies and enjoy dealing with them.

Cons

Land 600K a quarter now and still rising. Land rent has went up 80% over the last 7 years. Competition very intense for land. I have a son trying to farm hard to get a toehold. Thought about moving in the past but never did, as AB5 said to late now. As for negative political issues I would say that is a Canada wide issue.

Overall enjoy farming where I do, my main focus now is improving efficiency. I don't aim for the highest yield I aim for the most profit per bushel.

[Horse]

If I had 30 acre fields with trees all around, I'd have almost no productive land left. Lose 50+ feet of production each side of the tree line, and there's not much left.

THe 39 acre fields aren't so bad for cattle as they lay up along edge of field and the grass grows well there because of the manure, only farmed enough to keep grass new but no problem growing 100 bu boy,140 oats for 2 yr then back into hay, some yrs had to farm 200 acres that sucked because bare bones equipment, it worked for me wouldn't say it would work for everyone. Not much land selling here but what has is in the 1400/2000$/acre range.

[AlbertaFarmer5]

Me thinks the farmaholic dost protesteth too much. Perhaps he is trying to keep the rest of us from moving into his utopia? Surely there must be some pros to farming in the slum of the ghetto?

[farmaholic]

Ghetto farming ain't for everyone.... or anyone who knows better! You have to be an eternal optimist who suffers from dementia, Alzheimer's, and amnesia. You need nerves of steel and huge balls. Inputs costs are the same as everywhere else but with half the crop which results in little to no hair and wrinkled scowling face that looks like an old weathered boot.

Misery loves company, so you can buy land here cheaper than some other places, dangle a big enough carrot and you too can be a Ghetto farmer. But I have dibs on the Slum area!

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