little readng from the Sioux Falls paper
- Thread starter onpoint
- Start date
onpoint
Active member
Too many want the free money but then go into the, they don't want big government, they don't want anybody telling them what to do on their land, socialism...Blah, Blah, Blah.
Dog Gun Time
Member
Taking money from the government is not exactly the best way to keep them out of your business.
onpoint
Active member
You are correct Sir but for far too many. The temptation is just too great. But then those same people want to complain about others on the government dole. Hypocrite at their best.
moellermd
Super Moderator
That is a pretty big generalization.
I have not seen the free money. It all comes with strings attached. Then it becomes a question of if the money is worth the strings. In the case of crop insurance, unless you have all your operating money sitting under your mattress the banker will make you insure your crops. It is not as simple as you see it in your mind.
My personal preference is that the government get out of agriculture. Mostly I raise cattle. I do farm enough to enhance the pheasant habitat for the hunting side of my business. I have two sons that rent some of my farmland. I do have some CRP so if you count that as government money it is part of the program but hardly free money as it is a rent payment that is less than I could rent it out for on the open market. My direct payments are so insignificant that I don't even know how much they are, maybe $500. My position is that unless I am independently wealthy my banker will make me carry crop insurance on cropland as the imput costs are rather extreme. I honestly believe that I would be operating on more acres if the goverment would leave us alone. You are correct that some grain farmers work the crop insurance program. If the Feds would put somebody besides professors in charge of things that could bring real world experience that would improve. Ultimately my position is that all farmers are not alike and until you have walked a mile in our shoes don't judge us.
As Haymaker says with implanting corn these days it will take $300.00, on your own land, and if you cash rent, probably around $450.00-500.00. No bank will lend input costs without crop insurance. It's an easy sell, the government subsidizes it at around 13% of the premium. When the crop goes down the drain, you will recieve a percentage of damage claim, or more or else a coverage of the input costs. Bottom line, you will recoup your loss, but not much income. The ground has to be "in line" with government programs, but nobody checks. One of the crop insursance program which is a paradox to me, and maddening, is a public/private co-opperation, that the salesman a private employee for a private insurance company, writes the insurance, then if there is a claim, goes out and "negotiates the amount", if it is less, than the government/private insurance company expects, he recieves 50% of the "savings" as a bonus. The best claims are partial losses, lets say the field is 160@, insured as one unit, there was a flood ruined 1/2 of the field, but because it rained, that other half had a bumper crop, of 200 bushels an acre, the crop insurer settles the claim by virtue of the production records on the property, so if it averages 100 bushels an acre over the 160@, and half produces that much, the farmer might recieve input costs on the 80@ that was destroyed, not the "value" of what the crop was. So the insurance industry really likes the program, probably designed it too! More skim off agriculture profits, to outside industries. I could go on and on. Like the beef checkoff, look at beef prices today on the internet, then go to the store? Where did your money go, not to some farmer. Crop insurance, government programs, have made land prices soar, make it impossible to farm without it. These are all espoused by financial forces, who like it this way, farm chemical companies, farm machinery companies, insurance industries, seed companies, irrigation drillers, heavy machinery manufacturers. When your grandpa was a pup, and even your dad, a whole lot of farm families did O.K. on a quarter of a section, they worked to buy it, or inherited it, with a house it cost somewhere between 24,000-32,000. It had tillable ground, rough pasture, orchard and grape vines if you were lucky. Neighbors sold it when they got old, on a contract for deed, payments annually for 10 years to provide income to the sellers. No d@%n bank required. My family had a 200@, it raised a family of 6, not luxurious, we always had indoor plumbing and water, because my Grandma would not go if it didn't! As I say not plush but with out want. They owed nothing on the ground, used manure for fertilizer, used horse machinery, a John Deere 60 tractor, 4 row equipment, We paid 5.00 for open pollinated seed corn. No operating loan. They raised all their own food, except Lorne Dunes and Nabisco Vanilla Wafers. They actually made money. Hey, we had a clean water stream, to wade in, and fish in, and we had quail too! What do we have now.
moellermd
Super Moderator
I wish it was that cheap. Our non-land cost of production is $480. Add in rent and you are well over $800 depending on rental rates.
No it would not be tough. Even if you take away the crop insurance at current rates you could make a go of it. I believe rental rates would offset the increase in crop insurance as bids for crop ground would go down.
We would farm more as some ground in buffer strips and other Crp programs would be taken out along with some spots that we would then tile.
Most definatly would still farm.
AtTheMurph
Well-known member
Central Planning has never worked anywhere it has ever been tried.
When bureaucrats decide eventually the system crashes and our will too.
When bureaucrats decide eventually the system crashes and our will too.