What can we do about it?????????

[Horse]

Spudchucker I am glad you said that as someone had to say it.
F-S I still disagree with all this insurance, if I dont pay 10% for crop ins and dont borrow more money to put in more acres I am another 7% to the good now I would not try that in a hail belt but I have concidered my options and I believe I can handle a loss as I never have all my eggs in the same basket, I have cows that can harvest some hailed crop or weathered grain I have bought calves when the feed pile is high and low in price,there is nothing wrong with being a free trader, when the compitition knows your buisiness then he has the upper hand.
A neibour told me last month he wished he wouldnt have sold all his barley for $3 now it is $4 Yes he made a little at 3 but the buyer made more and only owned it for a month.
Any way I feel thre is still an oportunity if you are not deep in debt, and dont think you can outsmart the world, all you have to do is win a few more than you lose.

[skhadenuf]

Some very good points, however I think the industry and people left in it at least the ones that have farmed for awhile are quite a bit past the point of looking at what way to cut costs because if you haven't been cutting costs to a minimum likely would have been down the road long ago. As far as a guaranteed income there is some merit to limiting that because things shouldn't be as easy as saying well I tried it didn't work out so give me my money, but at the same time why is a car worth 50-60,000 a house worth 300,000 -500,000 it's because other people in society at different occupations are making huge amounts of money, so why is it wrong for farmers to be in that group. I just cannot understand why it is so alarming to people to worry about a few farmers that may get a little bit too much money so therefore all the rest should get none to justify it. Nobody seems to care that the fertilizer dealers etc are wined and dined in 800 dollar a night hotels complete with maid and butler service while the guys at the lower end are paying for it. Also if you look at other occupations is there any other occupation that is experiencing such a shameful event as the amount of people putting their lifetimes into their farms and now loosing them in droves, not even close. To me the agricultural and rural crisis and the way rural people are being valued in our society for that matter is this country's dark secret is at best shameful. As I said before we are not expecting handouts, just an environment where a fair expectancy of some reasonable return for our risk occurs, and that isn't the case by a long shot now.

[hayburner]

The old saying make your children mad at you "leave" them farm when you pass on.