The biggest issues facing farmers ?

[blackpowder]

It is easy to worry about moisture as looking around reminds us of the past.
But for right now, I'll take dry grain and time for falls work.
Honestly for me, what I do each day has become a blur. I can determine risks to the business well enough, but the farm?
Kinda numb and dont care.
Bigger things have me staring at the floor every night.

[countryguy]

SUSTAINABLE is going to kill us

[Partners]

Farmers are their own worst enemies.

Because we always try to do the best we can.
Do better than the previous yr.
Weather dictates. But we get only so many yrs to get max yield ..something to think about when old and retired..

[chuckChuck]

Depends on the farmer I guess. Plenty wet here. Thankful for that. Not even close to dry.

To answer the question... a bit of a rant follows...

For many it seems to be the neighbors, and the perception that growing more at all costs is somehow the answer to what ails agriculture. Gotta keep up at all costs. That gun pointing at most farmers heads, forcing them to farm the way most do now a days is a pretty real thing.

Anyone I talk to cares less about govt policy, and mostly care about Jim down the road who looks to be retiring, and how can I ensure I get the land, so that John doesn’t. Stupid gun.

How many acres an hour will the 800 000 dollar combine, wait, make that three of them, harvest, and extrapolating, how much land can I handle, so that I ensure John doesn’t get Jim’s land. That bloody gun pointing at my head.

What newest varieties and snake oil can I put on my crops to ensure I grow more bushels, to sell at the whim of the buyers, with no control, so that I can say my canola went 70, so I can make payments on those three 800 000 dollar machines. Never mind a shrinking net return. Then I must complain about the price of inputs, rent, and grain... you know the gun held at my head and all.

What is the highest rent I can pay Tom for his land to whisk it away from Mike, the thousand acre farmer who seems to struggle? He only has a 9500 combine, a 30 foot Morris 1; it’s obvious he can’t handle it! Here Tom, how about 90 bucks an acre? That flipping gun is a big one. We don’t need thousand acres farms no more, I need the land more than mike you see. The combines you see. They need to look good on more acres.

That little bush where George used to live, raised his family on, at the corner of that field is useless. Useless I say! I own the land now. I NEED that land! I’m buying a cat and a hoe. I’m flattening George’s little piece of history. His house? That little thing? Hahaha, the hoe will take care of that, no problem! Those six acres will make my farm more efficient. In ten years, no one will even remember George! I mean, I need the land to produce more high value grain, right? Same goes for when I buy out Mike, the thousand acre guy who couldn’t make it because I ripped him off of a third of his land base for 90 bucks an acre, (the lazy nut never even counter offered, heh heh heh), his yard is even bigger at eight acres! And the 30 acre pasture with his new fences? Lots to gain there. It’s so great I bought the cat and hoe. I’m just so great. What planning, what efficiency!

Truly, farmers are more worried about getting more more more. The gun is forcing them.

By and large, this is how it seems to me. Few exceptions anymore.

More land, best machinery, highest inputs to out do the neighbor. Smash down all the Bush, all the old yards. Make full quarters. When I die, I want to be known as the guy who worked so hard, and attained so much. It helps me so much now in my death. It matters most to gain more stuff. Lotsa room in this 8 by 3 plot I’m in now!

It’s really quite stupid actually.

Who suffers? The thousand acre farmer just trying to make a proper living. The garlic farmer who wants 20 acres, but no one will give him a chance.

So to answer your question, I truly believe that the biggest issue that worries 90% of the farmers that are left, is doing all they can to get more. More land, more stuff to farm it, highest yields they can so they can afford it.

Great post sheep. Just because one family can farm 20-40 thousand acres doesn’t mean they should. It’s great to have lots of new equipment and land but in the end what farmers need more than anything is peace of mind and some financial security. The mental toll that farming stresses puts on Some families is not good. Quality of life in the end is the most important thing. A reasonable size farm that can make a family a good living and help the next generation going is all that you really need.

[Herc]

Not trying to derail either but by far the biggest issue here in the NW is rural crime against farm families . It’s out of control here

Agreed. A crop is nothing compared to your safety. Ya its just material things but its the chance of confrontation. Sitting ducks is all we are. The wild west returning to a town near you....Time to dig out the covered wagon....

[the big wheel]

Rising land prices good if retire not if starting out, rent, inputs machinery parts.
Greater risk shifted to the producer and ag programs not covering that risk.

[AlbertaFarmer5]

I figured, what better way to gauge the biggest issues facing farmers, than to read through the most popular posts on an ag marketing forum.
Here is what I have concluded are the most important issues, in no specific order.
Systemic racism
Donald Trump
Renewable energy
Donald Trump
Cures for Covid
Donald Trump
Global Warming
Donald Trump
Irrigation
WHO
Donald Trump
Sea level rise (that is a big one here on the prairies)
Donald Trump
BLM
Donald Trump
Finding a husband for Blaithin
Donald Trump
UN (I get this one being on the list
Donald Trump's taxes
Demise of the CWB
Did I miss anything?

[furrowtickler]

Great post sheep. Just because one family can farm 20-40 thousand acres doesn’t mean they should. It’s great to have lots of new equipment and land but in the end what farmers need more than anything is peace of mind and some financial security. The mental toll that farming stresses puts on Some families is not good. Quality of life in the end is the most important thing. A reasonable size farm that can make a family a good living and help the next generation going is all that you really need.

Totally depends on how many are involved on that farm in most cases .

What’s reasonable??? Per person , per farm ?
Some farms have a lot of family to support
And quite frankly some farms are simply much more ambitious than others.
There is no one size fits all in Ag

[newguy]

Mother nature is by far the biggest wild card in farming.Always has been always will be.

[Sheepwheat]

Mother nature is by far the biggest wild card in farming.Always has been always will be.

That and the genetic lottery plays a pretty darn enormous role as well. In fact, it for many, completely allows an overcoming of weather!

Just the way it is. No, I ain’t jealous, I simply see things as they are.

[Dr Tone]

Since we farm extremely unforgiving wet land, I’m fine with no more rain. It hasn’t rained a significant amount in over a month and we are still working around wet holes. That’s the definition of “swamp”.

[Austrian Economics]

The biggest issue facing farmers is the serial collapse in interest rates and the rapidly escalating land prices that this brings. You will need higher and higher crop yields just to keep your profit margins from falling faster than they otherwise would.

[furrowtickler]

The biggest issue facing farmers is the serial collapse in interest rates and the rapidly escalating land prices that this brings. You will need higher and higher crop yields just to keep your profit margins from falling faster than they otherwise would.

True , but yields are 90% a function of weather ... Ag industry for some reason can’t grasp that simple concept. Adding more inputs does not automatically translate into higher yields
Ask half the farmers in Sask this year after that hot dry 3 weeks .
All the inputs in the world don’t help when Mother Nature caps yields .
I hear what your saying , but the majority of us farm in a limited environment... moisture , frost , hail and many other factors limit production every year .
1 year out of 8 Give growing conditions to remotely max yields in most of the prairies.
Swinging for home runs yearly will put you out faster than any other factor . Seen it first hand for 30 years here .
There are pockets that are very consistent, but I doubt it would represent more than 20% of western Canada.
It is a slippery slope ... and not disagreeing with you at all .

[Blaithin]

Biggest issue I see facing farmers; Old age.

Majority are aging out and through a variety of circumstances, younger aren’t coming in/staying in.

At the risk of derailing the thread - I see it as not the weather, not the prices, but punitive government policy.

The weather and prices change constantly - they have since the beginning of agriculture. So we roll with it - might get badly bruised and battered but we know what we're dealing with...

But when government creates policy that puts us at a disadvantage to producers of other countries, and create regulations that prevent us from producing to our capacity, and put barriers up to further development, then we are ALL totally screwed.

And that's what we've got in Ottawa today.

Sorry bucket, but it's becoming increasingly difficult to separate politics from food production.

You sound like the Brits I know, upset with their post Brexit government possibly allowing in “inferior” products raised with methods illegal for them to use. Coincidentally it’s our products under discussion.

[Blaithin]

I figured, what better way to gauge the biggest issues facing farmers, than to read through the most popular posts on an ag marketing forum.
Here is what I have concluded are the most important...
....
Donald Trump
Finding a husband for Blaithin
Donald Trump
UN
....

Really? That’s so popular it makes the list?!