Kids In The Business

[fjlip]

Kids are too young to know yet if they will be farmers. But I certainly hope the farm continues and I will be giving them the opportunity to take over a viable farm. Just like my parents did for me and my grandparents did for them.

Grandparents came over on the boat with NOTHING, to bush, no roads, no services, no social programs. Much of the time parents wondered why they stayed, the WET 50's, 70's DRY 80's. Crazy interest rates did most neighbors in in the 80's. Lots left for AB, jobs etc, 70% of farms quit. Old neighbor said "farmers will NEVER be paid fairly for work/investment/efforts". Still true, society in Canada could give a shit! So how is this what my kids should do? Viable? Every publication I read holds up 10-40,000 acres as ideal/viable? Sure as hell not us, kids said NOWAY. Neighbor trying hard at 6000 says way to stressful, always busy no free time. We are simply at a DUMB LUCK time when land prices increased, real price for inflation is robbery. Best prices were in 70's when I started. With out land values farmers worth SFA. Don't hope for a crash, all need equity even to BORROW.

Good luck to young/aggressive fellows, go for it, volume will be the only way. We only need a few HUGE farms anyway. Banks/FCC just love 50 million dollar farms. They will never foreclose.

[the big wheel]

Grandparents came over on the boat with NOTHING, to bush, no roads, no services, no social programs. Much of the time parents wondered why they stayed, the WET 50's, 70's DRY 80's. Crazy interest rates did most neighbors in in the 80's. Lots left for AB, jobs etc, 70% of farms quit. Old neighbor said "farmers will NEVER be paid fairly for work/investment/efforts". Still true, society in Canada could give a shit! So how is this what my kids should do? Viable? Every publication I read holds up 10-40,000 acres as ideal/viable? Sure as hell not us, kids said NOWAY. Neighbor trying hard at 6000 says way to stressful, always busy no free time. We are simply at a DUMB LUCK time when land prices increased, real price for inflation is robbery. Best prices were in 70's when I started. With out land values farmers worth SFA. Don't hope for a crash, all need equity even to BORROW.

Good luck to young/aggressive fellows, go for it, volume will be the only way. We only need a few HUGE farms anyway. Banks/FCC just love 50 million dollar farms. They will never foreclose.

Very true post. Banks and fcc are a problem for smaller farms and when I say smaller I don’t mean half section farmer. I mean less than 3 or 4 thousand acres. They will pull the plug on smaller farms right away. It he bigger ones that many times are beyond stupid and reckless they support.

[bucket]

Very true post. Banks and fcc are a problem for smaller farms and when I say smaller I don’t mean half section farmer. I mean less than 3c or 4 thousand acres. They will pull the plug on smaller farms right away. It he bigger ones that many times are beyond stupid and reckless they support.

Equity is the only thing that will make the financial industry look good....they will force a lot of farm sales....to make their wreckless lending look good. ...

[Partners]

Smaller farms are usually paid for. NO DEBT..so if you pass it on your kid will do fine..
Mega farms here have mega debt..
Here you go kid..your tooth brush has payments.lol..

[chuckChuck]

Very true post. Banks and fcc are a problem for smaller farms and when I say smaller I don’t mean half section farmer. I mean less than 3 or 4 thousand acres. They will pull the plug on smaller farms right away. It he bigger ones that many times are beyond stupid and reckless they support.

FCC has helped shape agriculture policy in this country by favoring larger farms and has sped up the loss of smaller farms. Access to credit for smaller enterprises to build something is difficult to find. Instead FCC takes on enormous risk with large enterprises that gobble up the neighbors making it impossible for smaller enterprises to compete.

I am not sure why there isn't more support for medium and small farms and less for large corporate farms in this country? Why are we subsidizing and supporting large enterprises that don't need much help and letting small farms struggle?

[SASKFARMER]

Wow chuck that was inspirational. Takes you back to your All for one CWB.

Favours large farms is bullshit.

If you have a good financial sheet you can borrow take risks. Real simple.

It’s how much debt you want.

As I get older the answer is none or very little.

I couldn’t give a rats ass what the BTO is doing and how much shit he has or try to be like him.

It’s all about timing and opportunity and how each farm grasps it.

Three people I know sold out the last year and you want to see a smile it’s a mile wide and not one regrets the decisions.

What I have a problem with is good land that’s productive still doesnt sell as high as non productive shit in other provinces.

Black soil zone usually means rain and big yields over the long run and should be Saskatchewan’s highest priced dirt.

I have two boys and both will leave the farm on graduation day. Go take a trade or university but need to explore the world first. Sow your wild oats for a simple example. Make mistakes that’s how you learn. Get shit from a boss or asshole at work, see what a dog f$$ker is and what a hard worker is. Basically get some life experiences then if they want to farm it’s available for them.


I maybe am in a different mind set than most when it comes to farming. I don’t believe every generation should sell out to the kids and let the parents move to town and here it’s your problem now.

Yes there has always been a plan and that plan sometimes changes for unknown reasons. Hell a guy I know had the perfect setup and perfect plan and one day it ended do to a illness his son had. It’s called life.


But have a plan from the start, discuss it with wife and partners and family. Change it or revisit it often as things change.


Try not to burden them with debt you should worry about your retirement not think they are your retirement.

Farming to big is useless your just shuffling money and papers.

[the big wheel]

Wow chuck that was inspirational. Takes you back to your All for one CWB.

Favours large farms is bullshit.

If you have a good financial sheet you can borrow take risks. Real simple.

It’s how much debt you want.

As I get older the answer is none or very little.

I couldn’t give a rats ass what the BTO is doing and how much shit he has or try to be like him.

It’s all about timing and opportunity and how each farm grasps it.

Three people I know sold out the last year and you want to see a smile it’s a mile wide and not one regrets the decisions.

What I have a problem with is good land that’s productive still doesnt sell as high as non productive shit in other provinces.

Black soil zone usually means rain and big yields over the long run and should be Saskatchewan’s highest priced dirt.

I have two boys and both will leave the farm on graduation day. Go take a trade or university but need to explore the world first. Sow your wild oats for a simple example. Make mistakes that’s how you learn. Get shit from a boss or asshole at work, see what a dog f$$ker is and what a hard worker is. Basically get some life experiences then if they want to farm it’s available for them.


I maybe am in a different mind set than most when it comes to farming. I don’t believe every generation should sell out to the kids and let the parents move to town and here it’s your problem now.

Yes there has always been a plan and that plan sometimes changes for unknown reasons. Hell a guy I know had the perfect setup and perfect plan and one day it ended do to a illness his son had. It’s called life.


But have a plan from the start, discuss it with wife and partners and family. Change it or revisit it often as things change.


Try not to burden them with debt you should worry about your retirement not think they are your retirement.

Farming to big is useless your just shuffling money and papers.

Chuck is right about fcc in this one. At least in our area anyone smaller one year and your on to special credit even when they have more than enough equity but the broadass guys had a third of the equity needed and they were writing books about how it should be done.

[SASKFARMER]

Banks didn’t lose on broad Ass

[sawfly1]

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.

[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.