Poor atitude on Agriville

[blackpowder]

A brave post I thought, JamesB.
Funny, I get asked all the time how I keep sane. Not going to say why lol. My life a sack of snakes.
I have an ability to shut shit right out. Usually by shutting down or boxing it real tight.
One forced habit is, after it's boxed, to look at the bright side. Another is to not surround myself with people who cannot.
Some people I care for cannot do this and it causes sadness for all of us.
Now, I know that Wienerville is an anonymous coffee shop. A venting place with no accountability.
Luckily I can shut the phone off and sleep at night. I skim over many posts not just the usual suspects.
Merry Christmas and Good luck to all.
Cause it's all buffalo chips when we're dead.

[farmaholic]

It's not all negative, there is lots of positive.

But sometimes there isn't alot to cheer about.

Seed tax getting shoved down our throats.
Fuel prices stoopid high in comparison to a barrel of oil.
Fertilizer prices 25% higher than last year.
Are grain prices 25% higher than last year?
An unbelievable amount of risk, that the average person would NEVER take.
Machinery prices and parts prices.
Poor harvest conditions in some areas.
Poor yields in some areas.
Stress stress stress.
Wide basis.
Politics affecting grain prices more than S/D.

Please don't think people who point out glaring issues are negative.

And please don't confuse reality as negativity.

Maybe if it felt like the Industry was giving a little back instead of always on the take or wanting to take more we could cheer a little louder.

Gets a little old being mined!

And people wonder why Farmers "CAN" be a cynical bunch!

[chuckChuck]

There is an old saying that is somehow is still relevant. "The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence!"

Farming is a tough business. Lots than can go wrong. Trying to stay positive when it doesn't, is a great challenge. Every season is full of ups and down. In the end if we enjoy it enough and can pay the bills we find a way to keep going.

Stay healthy in mind and body and the days are a whole lot more fun.

[bucket]

It is too bad that it appears that the posters left on Agriville are so negative about just about everything. In the years I have been farming we have had a lot of crappy years but we got through it and farming life is a great life. This past week I was at the Farmer2Farmer conference in Omaha. This was put on by the Farmers business network that I joined this year. There was around 2000 farmers there , probably 90 % US, the rest Canadian. What struck me was the attitude. Our low dollar in Canada has kept us from seeing red ink more so than US farmers in most cases. Many of the US attendees are sitting on a lot of product and the trade war is making things tough. That being said the attitude was not doom and gloom. Are we going to turn the land back to the buffalo? If we are not going to be selling out and do have kids coming up that want to farm, what are we to do? Be the best managers we can be, controlling costs,top third marketers, and so on. The thinking at the meetings was realistic to what we face in today’s agriculture but still very exited and positive about the future. In terms of wealth farmers in the US and Canada literally are in the top percentile among the worlds people.
As I said its sad that it seems that of the couple dozen main posters here most are extremely negative. When I look down the list of topics almost all are of a negative nature. I would hope that many of you can find something that gives you hope and a better feeling about the industry we are in.

I would wish all of you a merry Christmas and a happy new year and have good times with family and friends.

Can you name people so we know who doesn't have a positive attitude,,,, so they can change to meet your new standards??????

[SASKFARMER3]

Yea chuck we give you a hard time and like the energizer bunny you keep going maybe the solar panels work.

All who are on here continue to post please but also show and point out things in Ag that really effect farmers bottom line.

There is a big beautiful world out side of 🇨🇦

[jamesb]

I like to think of myself as positive....My kid wants to farm even with all the challenges....But if you want to do the sunshine and lollipop crap its a disservice to those that want to farm...

No, not sunshine and lollipop.
We can prepare our kids to be better managers than we were at their age. If I knew half of what I do now back in the early 80's about being a better marketer, knowing cost of production, etc, etc I would be way further ahead today. I want to make sure the boys have that training. If they are going to farm with the kind of dollars we have to deal with now they to be better prepared.
One thing that always sticks in my mind is a guy that I know that was always negative about farming, always bitching and complaining. When his boys got finished high school the last thing they wanted to do was farm. The guy was very sad about this but couldn't see that attitude was all the kids ever saw. I realize that today farming has been pretty good for the last 10 years and most kids have never seen bad. We need to prepare them for this. I do think there is going to be some real wrecks show up soon. Things seem to happen in the US before we see it and its starting down there.
My take away is that when things look the poorest , that's when the best opportunity's come around.

[grassfarmer]

Where I find the most negativity on Agriville aren't the direct farm issues - it's the "Canada is finished", "agriculture in Canada is finished" posts just because a party other than the posters has the majority in Parliament. I've said before that as far as my life and farm business is concerned there has been no noticeable difference since the PCs were replaced with Liberals. Trade issues are nothing new in an exporting country - they come and go. Farmers trying to sc**** a living is about as old as time - certainly wasn't all roses under the PCs and it isn't now either. Equally I don't see the melt down of the country some talk about.

[Guest]

Check out this post and entire thread in the Crop Production section.

RedLentil
DEC 7, 2018 | 00:46 1 We have been putting some serious thought into this, along with a few other neighbor, that maby saying piss on the current model and trying something different might be the way to go.

The organic industry seems to be chugging along just fine with no signs of slowing down.
With input cost rising with no signs of slowing down, conventional commodity prices not so great along with everything else that help make margins razor thin it seems silly to keep the status quo when their may be something better.
The numbers seem to work.

All the organic farmers I know seem happy, not that stressed and excited about the future.

[jamesb]

James, it sounds like it was an interesting conference.

I wouldn’t have been anxious to dish out big greenbacks just to get the warm and fuzzy feeling. I know full well what agriculture is up against and sticking my head in the sand won’t fix anything.

Do you think something was accomplished at the conference? If so - what changes/ advances were on the table?

Please enlighten us.

Right now I think the FBN will help me with Chem price discovery. I haven't bought from them but its a good place to see what prices are out there to compare. I uploaded a bunch of my invoices the other day and saw some products that others paid way less on. I will be better prepared next year.
The other thing I saw great value is that the yield data. We all uploaded yield monitor numbers and now see area canola yields on different soil types . So I am not looking at yields for one area but down to the soil types. I don't feel that I can trust individual company seed plot data so this should be unbias.
We did get pretty good imagery emailed during the crop year. At this point for me its the same as one guy at our table said at the conference " Its nice to look at but we are not making any decisions off of imagery yet, still have to get into the field and look"

[jazz]

I am half expecting james to break out and start singing high hopes or something.

It pays to be realistic and to run a business, any business, you need a proper business friendly regime. Your positive attitude wont over come those kids of obstacles. When the govt turns against your business, or ignores it or puts in hostile policies, sunny ways wont cut it. You can prepare all you want, wont make a difference.