QUESTION: In 2018, In Acres, What is a Small, Medium, Large and Mega Farm

[Rareearth]

Above all good comments.

Another half cup full way to look at things,
- good health and wellness
- good family
- wouldn’t change anything, but a lot of woulda, coulda, shoulda

- only 3 harvests left
-etc

[highwayman]

Biggest question facing a lot of large farms including our own is how to effectivfly transition to the next generation. My son at 22 is yet to determine what he is comfortable with in his role on the farm and I realize how unfair it is to place my expectations upon him. I firmly believe that any success we've achieved is a result of being a good team with most importantly my wife. It seems to me that his generation isn't as enthusiastic or driven to take on the challenges that my wife and I did at that age and I can understand and respect that position. At 55 my wife and I are considering our exit plan from the ag life and believe that it is vitally important that our children initiate their own opportunities to build something for themselves which gives them there best chance of success. We recognize the mistakes that we have made in perhaps being over generous to our children at times which can be difficult not to do when your in that position. Our hopes are that we can contribute to what may be a more balanced life in agriculture then maybe what we've had.

[furrowtickler]

Just by the numbers nowadays... less than 5000 , small
5000 -10,000 medium
10,000 to 50,000 large
Over 50,000 get a Trumps Mega Hat

[fjlip]

Just by the numbers nowadays... less than 5000 , small
5000 -10,000 medium
10,000 to 50,000 large
Over 50,000 get a Trumps Mega Hat

Guess we are infinitesimal... yesterdays farmers, going extinct...rarearth you must have an exit timetable, good for you count them down.

[AlbertaFarmer5]

Better still measure net returns - the rest is just fluff.

That is the only measure that matters to me and my operation, however none of my neighbors know that number, nor do I know theirs, so if trying to decide who is a mega farm and who is a hobby farm, it isn't hard to calculate acres, times yield times price to get gross income to classify an operation. By acres alone, a BTO here wouldn't even qualify as a fly spec in most of Sascratchandwin. But by gross sales might be closer together.

[Guest]

a follow who was involved in retail in southern alberta moved here to manage a chem/fert retail here. his comment was that a farmer farming 10000 ac in southern alberta would have trouble farming 1000 ac here(his comment , not mine) . 3000 ac is a lot of work here in the swamp . this is a really hard place to farm . we had a taste of the good life here last fall and this spring , no rain in the forecast as far as you could see . sure makes things easier . thats a luxury we don't usually have . usually always scrambling , behind the 8 ball.scared shitless somethings gonna break down and put us even farther behind . the sloughs are full again and back to normal , i guess?. so size really has a lot to do with location , geography and weather patterns

[AlbertaFarmer5]

a follow who was involved in retail in southern alberta moved here to manage a chem/fert retail here. his comment was that a farmer farming 10000 ac in southern alberta would have trouble farming 1000 ac here(his comment , not mine) . 3000 ac is a lot of work here in the swamp . this is a really hard place to farm . we had a taste of the good life here last fall and this spring , no rain in the forecast as far as you could see . sure makes things easier . thats a luxury we don't usually have . usually always scrambling , behind the 8 ball.scared shitless somethings gonna break down and put us even farther behind . the sloughs are full again and back to normal , i guess?. so size really has a lot to do with location , geography and weather patterns

Agreed, when your harvest and seeding window can be measured in hours some years, producers farming 1,000s of acres in the warmer dryer areas have no concept of what it takes to get even a fraction of the acres in and off around here.