US Co-operative

[TOM4CWB]

Agstar77;

5,000ac @ $50/ac = a commercially viable farm... 500ac would require another income source and a much different marketing/income strategy for a family to achieve a 'normal' lifestyle.

[agstar77]

You are right T4 , but it does not mean you could not profit from 500 acres. At the rate farm consolidations are occuring , 5000 acres may not be large enough soon.

[silverback]

At the rate your beloved board can lose and spend money it is no wonder farmers feel the need to go to 5000 and beyond.

How many small farmers do you think would still be around today (supporting our communities) if the board actually achieved premium prices to the rest of the world ? (At the farm gate.)

[Hopperbin]

Agstar I think you need to think outside your little box sometimes.

Mergers and business relationships are normal often one industry cannot function without the other. Big Auto and parts suppliers, steel industry, natural resourses , they all must function together.
Take a step back and look at our north american nitrogen fertilizer industry. Can they do without us? answer is no. Can we do without them?
The answer is more to yes at this point in time.
Same goes for a lot of other big business we deal with. We can merger and create large corporations and have lots of power.

[classicalliberal]

A "corporate farmer" is someone who uses the most high-tech technology and have it pay for itself, someone who uses futures and options to manage price risk, one who knows their costs down to the acre as well as a good return and sells at that price, someone who maximizes inputs to maximize output. A corporate farm is one that treats their farm operation like a business. And a corporate farm is one that is incorporated.

Family Farms from the media and left wing group means that anyone who wants to farm and has no talent to raising and marketing crops should have the right to a decent living and that they should get a higher price than the market for their products even though that exact same product can be bought elsewhere and imported for cheaper. A family farm in this context is someone who thinks that it is their god given right to be a farmer and that if they are not good at it, the market and the government should ensure that they can continue living that lifestyle. A family farm is one that just because their dad, dad's dad, dad's dad's dad's dad's dad's dad was a farmer and that they should also be able to be a farmer.