Economy of scale

[dave4441]

I guess our socialist roots run deeper then I think.

[gustgd]

Great rant Dave

I see it this way, talking economies of scale.
The quality of land is very important I know that the $50,000 a quarter land will produce probably 2/3 of the crop of the $100,000 quarters.
but the variable costs are often the same, and the only difference in fixed costs is the cost of the land plus interest lets say for arguments sake $20.00 acre per year or 2 bu. canola.
plus that less expensive quarter likely has either sand, rocks,hills sloughs,is saline.............
I guess the point I would make is I would rather farm 2000 in Emerald Park rather than 5000 acres in Kyle.
Qualifier = grain farm only

As for big framers being greedy or just keeping up with the Jone's. read Dave's comments on that I agree 100%

On our farm we have never chased a farmer off land. It has always been said farmer approaching us after all their relatives declined the family farm.
The grain buyers comments about larger farmers having more dockage and farming poorer my thoughts are that yes we have had some terrible disasters. I spent the better part of two days fighting Kocia in Lentils. I spend allot more time on cost benifit and economic thresholds. Recreational tillage is something they talk about at the coffee shop.

[furrowtickler]

Good points all, their are very efficient grain farms here at 15000 ac and at 3000 ac - there is also the exact oposite. Effecient people make an effecient farm for the enviroment they live in. Mother Nature disaplins they rest.

[parsley]

<p></p>
<p class="EC_style8ptBK"><strong>[URL="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d5/Pano_Anakena_beach.jpg"](Efficient people on Easter Island)[/URL]</strong></p>

[gustgd]

Another point on scale.

I think of it as a version of the 80:20 rule where 80 percent of your effort comes from 20% of the work. I may be wrong but it's those little details that take up so much time and management that make it difficult for some people to grow larger. I've got a perfectionist uncle that shudders at the way we do things, it's just his nature.
I laughed out loud when freewheat talked about working with retards, and fully agree with macdon when he talked about availability of labour as the biggest limiting factor on western farmers. For those of you that figure on just hiring retired farmers you have to hire twice as many because most of them don't have wives that let them burn the candle at both ends anymore.
good luck all
good help is truly hard to find

[grrrr]

getting back to my "keeping up with the Jones or greedy" comment a few days ago; When I see a farmer who went broke a few years ago because he was paying way more than the going rate for renting land just so he could rent it and be a big shot, I call that greed.
When this same farmer is now doing the very same thing again so he can farm way too much land and be a big shot again, I call that greed. When I see farmers draing land onto their neighbors so they can drive right through those 20 or 80 or 600 acre sloughs and their neighbors can't even seed their land, I call that greed. When I see a farmer who thinks he is more important than anyone else because he farms more land threaten elevator agents to give him a better grade for his crap (and I saw it) or else, I call that greed.

[fjlip]

grrrr we see exactly the same situations with several huge operations in our area. They have no time to be a neighbor or a fair customer. Rush, rush, rush. True Type "A", never walk always run. Work all night! Own cat, buggy and track hoe to work on bush and sloughs. 8000 acres is still not enough. Suppliers and dealers gossip about these characters and some refuse to do business with them. Always complaining and demanding a lower price. Mechanics hate to work on their machinery. Very sad, but only themselves to blame.