For those of you who think US farmers are not in trouble

[Rareearth]

The other problem China has is demographics or ageing population.

They(China) are old like farmers in Canada. Wonder what China manufacturing or consumerism and Canadian agriculture will look like in 10 or 15 year, well it will be a lot different. Not sure if Canadian ag will be better, more profitable, etc., but it will be different.

[jazz]

The other problem China has is demographics or ageing population.

China has several demographic time bombs ticking away. It will get old before it every gets to the US level of wealth, and the US will keep going because it has a self sustaining demographic for the next couple generations.

In addition to an aging population, china has a male skewed population. Turns out aborting or killing female babies on a mass scale has consequences. 60M more males than females in the country. That schism will send their birth rates plummeting even further.

[Hamloc]

Dml not a Trump fan but admittedly less of a fan of Trudeau. In the U.S. at least government is compensating the farmers for the mess they created. In our last election virtually nothing was said about agriculture. I see no policy planks on either side of the border that will help farmers prosper in the future.

[dmlfarmer]

The other problem China has is demographics or ageing population.

They(China) are old like farmers in Canada. Wonder what China manufacturing or consumerism and Canadian agriculture will look like in 10 or 15 year, well it will be a lot different. Not sure if Canadian ag will be better, more profitable, etc., but it will be different.

Those of you who believe this about China are looking at it through rose colored western glasses. The old people in China were not consumers in the sense our old people are. They were frugal, spending only what was needed to sustain life, and are living the same way now. So as demographics age for at least another generation we will not see a slow down in consumer spending because the older generation were not spending on throw away goods.

Second, the state does not care for old people in China, families do and always; have unlike recent western culture. So again, demographics do not play as big a role in China.

Third, Chinese are much more self sufficient than westerners. They do not have the social safety nets we do. Chinese farmers do not have crop insurance subsidized by the government, They do not have AgriInvest. etc etc.

How many of you have actually been on a Chinese farm in China? Or been a a real Chinese house and not some display home on some guided tour? Until you have been and have compared practices and programs and have been told face to face by a Chinese farmer that Canadian farmers are way more socialistic than Chinese farmers don't try to BS this forumn with your western biases China is losing the war. China does not look from crop year to crop year. They look at the future througg generations not years.

[dmlfarmer]

Dml not a Trump fan but admittedly less of a fan of Trudeau. In the U.S. at least government is compensating the farmers for the mess they created. In our last election virtually nothing was said about agriculture. I see no policy planks on either side of the border that will help farmers prosper in the future.

Hamlock, you are right. There are no long term plans in either Canada or US addressing farmers. And I believe that much of the pricing mess we have in ag commodities is directly the result of the US trade war because all our grains are priced on US commodity exchanges ie wheat or based off US commodity trade ie canola and soy. So we lose because of US policy.

I am frequently called a socialist on this list, but the real socialists on this site are those continually calling for government bailouts and compensation for; ag yet continue to max production of commodities while ignoring price signals and demand.

If you do not support globalization, agriculture is dead in Canada. We produce way too much for our own consumption needs and other countries can and are producing more at a lower cost and will supply all the markets we are so intent on giving the finger too.