Kids In The Business

[jazz]

I have debt but I have lots of equity too, and FCC said no more land. Scotia said maybe, but not likely. So cant even expand if I wanted to. I looked into possible investing in a rental apt, bank said you are going to have to invest a million plus to get a few thousand a month in free cashflow. Probably more farmland is just as good a return as that most yrs.

I asked about other business ventures. Anything that's not farmland or a rental property would have a much higher threshold for financing because once a business income is determined by how many people walk through your door everyday to buy something, the bank gets real nervous.

[the big wheel]

Banks didn’t lose on broad Ass

Nit so by the numbers I saw. But anyway the point is many family farms trying to survive or have kids go on won’t get funding but why did these trump like business people even get the chance at such a venture?
And why is it that someone that was practically teaching fcc how a farm should be run and then it goes bankrupt and his group collects millions in salary to handle the bankruptcy? Number one if he’s an expert he must have known it would never work so wasn’t it just a scam for the millions? How come never investigated? How come no one else was asked to ha for the bankruptcy I sure as hell could have sat there and said gee we can’t pay this where’s my cheque. If s smaller farmer would have tried that would be in jail.

[bucket]

Banks didn’t lose on broad Ass

True but when they figured out they couldn't farm the run up in land prices worked in their favour...

Now if land prices start dropping it won't make sense for a lot of farms .....that have been paying big money for land ...

[farmaholic]

Some people probably saw the wave coming and in some cases, for tax purposes, farmed the land to realize more profit from its sale.

Some of this shit might be orchestrated. "Business" failure versus "personal" gain. Some people are very good at seperating themselves from their business venture.

[grassfarmer]

Cut back a little this year. Getting too old for some of it..
Sure seems to be a lot people my age going for the big
Sleep.

Have a grandson, 15 says he is interested.
But that is far away . A lot to learn in a short time.
Life is too good for him right now . Girls lake etc..
He could do anything. Too early to lock him in.

Time is the enemy.
Maybe I need an interim operator.
Where I would be a seasonal helper.
Or have a sale and rent it out.
The real estate agents are coming around gathering for the
Hutterites.
Would hate to see it go that way.
But maybe the smallish farm is a thing of the past.
Decision time is here .
Just not sure what it will be.

Have you thought of a non-family interim operator? Some of the young people trying desperately to get into agriculture? It could act as a kind of incubator for them - maybe sharing your machinery and land base while they develop their own business but assisting you to get your work done in the process. There are lots of these folks wanting to get a foot in the door, direct market stuff etc so it would be producing extra off the same land base versus sharing the existing production between 2 families instead of 1. After a period they would hopefully outgrow the situation and move onto their own land base (or offer to take over yours if you finish up with no family member succeeding you). It's a way to buy some time.