Tom, those who forget their history are doomed to repeat it.
Farmers could not successfully "band together" back in the 1920's on a voluntary basis. They kept getting screwed over by the grain companies. That was the whole reason for the formation of the prairie pools in the first place.
Not a whole lot different today.
Did you ask Len Penner if he could see in his crystal ball a substantial increase in grain prices in the future? I did. His answer was "No". He said that we farmers should get better at niche marketing and value adding and farming more economically. Sounds a lot like keep doing what you are doing (and you will get where you are going).
Perhaps a better plan would be to get together with all the other farmers and work out a way to manage the supply of grain on a global basis. I know that sounds impossible. I think that high energy prices will help us get there. In fact I think that seeded acres and fertilizer use are going to go way down this coming year and that will reduce the grain supply already. Too bad it is going to happen by accident.
Farmers could not successfully "band together" back in the 1920's on a voluntary basis. They kept getting screwed over by the grain companies. That was the whole reason for the formation of the prairie pools in the first place.
Not a whole lot different today.
Did you ask Len Penner if he could see in his crystal ball a substantial increase in grain prices in the future? I did. His answer was "No". He said that we farmers should get better at niche marketing and value adding and farming more economically. Sounds a lot like keep doing what you are doing (and you will get where you are going).
Perhaps a better plan would be to get together with all the other farmers and work out a way to manage the supply of grain on a global basis. I know that sounds impossible. I think that high energy prices will help us get there. In fact I think that seeded acres and fertilizer use are going to go way down this coming year and that will reduce the grain supply already. Too bad it is going to happen by accident.
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