Farm crisis around the corner?

[jazz]

In the 80s when interest rates went from 20 to 10 I thought it was a bargin.Now it goes from 4.5 to 6 and you think it is hard times.

Those that got crops and farmed with money and not for money never knew what the tough 80s were about.Your area never had grasshoppers eating evergreens and paint on the houses.

How much debt was in the system in 1980. Do you know any farmers with 150M in debt. I farm beside 2 of them.

Do some critical thinking.

In the mid 80s there was no crop for multiple yrs at our place. The highways were wet with grasshopper juice. We moved cattle around weekly and even to pastures 30 miles away. Hauled water every day. What we didnt have was a large debt. Now compare that to today where the ag system has more debt than some countries.

[foragefarmer]

How much debt was in the system in 1980. Do you know any farmers with 150M in debt. I farm beside 2 of them.

Do some critical thinking.

Who held the gun to their heads?

If farmers want to farm beyond their means who's fault is that.

Everybody knew interest rates would go up one day, how many posters on here were predicting that for years now.

As for good used farm equipment skyrocketing, it's a no brainer, very few farmers can afford new.

We just had record commodity prices didn't anybody take advantage of them?

[jazz]

If farmers want to farm beyond their means who's fault is that.

These overleveraged operations dont just farm in isolation. They have creditors, and suppliers and contracts to fulfill as we saw many of them booking crop they hadnt even grown yet and then crying at the terminal in the fall.

When they start tumbling, their excesses get passed on to the system and we all pay.

Financing speculation instead of production always ends the same way.

[foragefarmer]

These overleveraged operations dont just farm in isolation. They have creditors, and suppliers and contracts to fulfill as we saw many of them booking crop they hadnt even grown yet and then crying at the terminal in the fall.

When they start tumbling, their excesses get passed on to the system and we all pay.

Financing speculation instead of production always ends the same way.

What's changed from any other past crisis, those that over extend get swallowed up. That's what happens in every industry and capitalism.

I do feel very SORRY for those that have suffered crop failures to no fault of their own, this is very unfortunate for family farms as we do need more of them not less.

[newguy]

How much debt was in the system in 1980. Do you know any farmers with 150M in debt. I farm beside 2 of them.

Do some critical thinking.

In the mid 80s there was no crop for multiple yrs at our place. The highways were wet with grasshopper juice. We moved cattle around weekly and even to pastures 30 miles away. Hauled water every day. What we didnt have was a large debt. Now compare that to today where the ag system has more debt than some countries.

Less debt but high interest rates and limited cash flow made it tough to servic debt.Buying equipment and more land was for the select few.Rental land was rare to come by to help subsidize buying land.Young farmers had to expand slowly .Not like the young guns today think they must start with all the bells and whistles.

[Happytrails]

Those that got crops and farmed with money and not for money never knew what the tough 80s were about.Your area never had grasshoppers eating evergreens and paint on the houses.

The lost decade in our country. I can even remember the day the drought broke. April 27, 1991. The only good thing was that input costs were fairly reasonable after inflation and interest rates subsided.

[makar]

Bought a bush 1/4 in 1989 for 18,000, banker told me its not worth it. I agreed but said i got the cat hooked to the brushcutter idling across the fenceline. Had it mostly seeded 2 years later and he never questioned me again.

[makar]

[QUOTE= I can even remember the day the drought broke. April 27, 1991. Remember 1991 quite well. Couldnt combine or seed 2 years previous due to monsoons.

[AlbertaFarmer5]

Bought a bush 1/4 in 1989 for 18,000, banker told me its not worth it. I agreed but said i got the cat hooked to the brushcutter idling across the fenceline. Had it mostly seeded 2 years later and he never questioned me again.

Do those opportunities still exist up there?

I toured around the Valleyview are and further north at least 20 years ago, and at that time there were a lot of bush quarters, and land growing back to bush, or weeds. Have they all been put back into production since then?

[makar]

Do those opportunities still exist up there?

I toured around the Valleyview are and further north at least 20 years ago, and at that time there were a lot of bush quarters, and land growing back to bush, or weeds. Have they all been put back into production since then?

No, the rich urbanites pay for bush to camp out to drink whiskey with their buddies so they can all tell the wives they are hunting.

[newguy]

Bought a bush 1/4 in 1989 for 18,000, banker told me its not worth it. I agreed but said i got the cat hooked to the brushcutter idling across the fenceline. Had it mostly seeded 2 years later and he never questioned me again.

Bought a quarter around that time for 18 grand also.Banker told me it does not pencil out if it was free.Even when the drought broke here input money was hard to get.And you bought inputs in advance and never received full payment of your crop for 2 years after inputs were purchaced.because the way
the CWB payments worked.

[GALAXIE500]

Those that got crops and farmed with money and not for money never knew what the tough 80s were about.Your area never had grasshoppers eating evergreens and paint on the houses.

I remember those conditions from the 80's over here in SW Sask. poor crops , wind , thistles, kochia , and then it would rain a bit but always wind after that. The last three years have been mostly similar.