There are always exceptions, it usually boils down to being a good businessman. There are monumental piles of "old" money laying around in farm country.
https://farm.ewg.org/farms_by_state.php The most successful farmers will be at the top of the farm subsidies list for the county or counties they farm. True Grit Farms isn't on the farm subsidies list at this time, we owe no one anything and don't need government welfare to survive. My son is jealous of the welfare farmers and is starting to play the government handout game on his ground.
' Yep, farming is a business. It's about production, economies of scale, efficiency, accounting, finance, management, etc. Laura, featured in these videos, got her college degree in business. She currently has 520K subscribers to her YouTube channel. (I'm not a farmer.)
The MILLION Dollar Harvest Machine video posted to YouTube on Oct 21, 2023 YouTube channel: Laura Farms
How To Spend $1,000,000 In A Day video posted to YouTube on Nov 17, 2022 YouTube channel: Laura Farms
The Million Dollar Machine video posted to YouTube on Apr 25, 2021 "For reference.. Tractor: John Deere 8RX with tanks = $600,000 and Planter: John Deere 1775NT with tracks = $400,000. Both are pre-production models! Thank you to AKRS Equipment for the demo!" YouTube channel: Laura Farms
"Whose bright idea was it to put every idiot in the world in touch with every other idiot? It's working!" -- P. J. O'Rourke
Small scale farming is possible, but not in commodities. I have a friend who sells “micro greens” from a 18x40 greenhouse, and makes an incredible income for the effort. Of course, she has the gift of gab and loves people. Not a common skill set among farmers.
Iowa doesn't have many true small family farmers any more. By small family farmers, I mean making it on a section of land or less. If you're not farming 1000 acres, you're not going to be doing it for long. Many of the farmers I know (and it's a lot of farmers - rural Lutheran pastor) often have side gigs. Selling seed, doing custom equipment, some cattle, or their spouse also has a small business that they help her with. Farming involves a whole lot of money - sure, 275 bushel corn sound great when you have 5000 acres in corn and the price is $5/bushel. That's $6,875,000. But when you start calculating inputs of fuel, equipment, seed, rent (not many own all of the land they farm), insurance, payroll for farm employees, fertilizer, herbicide, pesticide, fungicide, etc., the inputs start eating into that profit very, very quickly - especially when rent prices have climbed along with ballooning land prices. I always consider that farming is a big gamble. It depends on a lot of good planning and preparation and all of that can be for naught with a single hail storm or stretch of 4 weeks of no rain and 90 F temps at just the wrong time. At the same time, farmers appear to be some of the wealthier members of the community because, if they own the land and are good at business, there is some serious profit happening in years with good crops and their tax accountant highly recommends the purchase of expensive, new equipment in years with high profits so that the equipment costs can help reduce their tax liability on the grain profits. There are sooooo many moving parts to running a successful farming operation that it really is a highly skilled vocation which requires constant learning and updating.
Selmer
"Daddy, can you sometime maybe please go shoot a water buffalo so we can have that for supper? Please? And can I come along? Does it taste like deer?" - my 3-year old daughter
1000 acres for $16,000,000 and produces $800,000 worth of corn sounds pretty good. 5% return to pay the interest.
Please expand your logic and where you find those figures
Iowa land according to hlg posting above goes for $16,000 an acre. Year in and year out about a 200 bushel average is to be expected. 200 bushels at $4 is $800 which is about average more or less a little. $800 on 1000 acres will gross $800,000. If you paid $16,000 per acre just add 3 zeros to that to get your price on 1000 acres. 16,000 x .05 = 800
Patriotism (and religion) is the last refuge of a scoundrel.
1000 acres for $16,000,000 and produces $800,000 worth of corn sounds pretty good. 5% return to pay the interest.
Please expand your logic and where you find those figures
Iowa land according to hlg posting above goes for $16,000 an acre. Year in and year out about a 200 bushel average is to be expected. 200 bushels at $4 is $800 which is about average more or less a little. $800 on 1000 acres will gross $800,000. If you paid $16,000 per acre just add 3 zeros to that to get your price on 1000 acres. 16,000 x .05 = 800
You forgot about the $600+/- to put in and take out that $800 corn crop.
Iowa doesn't have many true small family farmers any more. By small family farmers, I mean making it on a section of land or less. If you're not farming 1000 acres, you're not going to be doing it for long. Many of the farmers I know (and it's a lot of farmers - rural Lutheran pastor) often have side gigs. Selling seed, doing custom equipment, some cattle, or their spouse also has a small business that they help her with. Farming involves a whole lot of money - sure, 275 bushel corn sound great when you have 5000 acres in corn and the price is $5/bushel. That's $6,875,000. But when you start calculating inputs of fuel, equipment, seed, rent (not many own all of the land they farm), insurance, payroll for farm employees, fertilizer, herbicide, pesticide, fungicide, etc., the inputs start eating into that profit very, very quickly - especially when rent prices have climbed along with ballooning land prices. I always consider that farming is a big gamble. It depends on a lot of good planning and preparation and all of that can be for naught with a single hail storm or stretch of 4 weeks of no rain and 90 F temps at just the wrong time. At the same time, farmers appear to be some of the wealthier members of the community because, if they own the land and are good at business, there is some serious profit happening in years with good crops and their tax accountant highly recommends the purchase of expensive, new equipment in years with high profits so that the equipment costs can help reduce their tax liability on the grain profits. There are sooooo many moving parts to running a successful farming operation that it really is a highly skilled vocation which requires constant learning and updating.
^^^^THIS^^^^
I have said to friends that farmers and ranchers are the biggest gamblers.
~Molɔ̀ːn Labé Skýla~
“Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.” ISAIAH 41:10
1000 acres for $16,000,000 and produces $800,000 worth of corn sounds pretty good. 5% return to pay the interest.
Please expand your logic and where you find those figures
Iowa land according to hlg posting above goes for $16,000 an acre. Year in and year out about a 200 bushel average is to be expected. 200 bushels at $4 is $800 which is about average more or less a little. $800 on 1000 acres will gross $800,000. If you paid $16,000 per acre just add 3 zeros to that to get your price on 1000 acres. 16,000 x .05 = 800
Your off on your calculator Average yield on the $16000 land is well north of 240 by if your any type of good farmer The guy I help 5 yr average is 235 $4 corn,,, you will go broke Cash corn right now for fall delivery is $4.50 had opportunities last dec/jan to sell fall corn for close to $5 Your also forgetting that these progressive farmers ( which anyone can do ) buy puts/calls to make money as well The best farmers I know( my job is also in ag) spend more time behind the computer screen than in a tractor
We might have to be neighbors, but I don’t have to be neighborly. John Chisum
1000 acres for $16,000,000 and produces $800,000 worth of corn sounds pretty good. 5% return to pay the interest.
Please expand your logic and where you find those figures
Iowa land according to hlg posting above goes for $16,000 an acre. Year in and year out about a 200 bushel average is to be expected. 200 bushels at $4 is $800 which is about average more or less a little. $800 on 1000 acres will gross $800,000. If you paid $16,000 per acre just add 3 zeros to that to get your price on 1000 acres. 16,000 x .05 = 800
Your off on your calculator Average yield on the $16000 land is well north of 240 by if your any type of good farmer The guy I help 5 yr average is 235 $4 corn,,, you will go broke Cash corn right now for fall delivery is $4.50 had opportunities last dec/jan to sell fall corn for close to $5 Your also forgetting that these progressive farmers ( which anyone can do ) buy puts/calls to make money as well The best farmers I know( my job is also in ag) spend more time behind the computer screen than in a tractor
OK
Patriotism (and religion) is the last refuge of a scoundrel.
I am watching an older documentary sort of about Iowa farmers struggling to keep the family farm. It was filmed about the everyday lives of farmers including their work on the farm and home life. There is talk about depression and suicide. The small farmers are saying corporate farms are taking over. This program could be 10 plus years old. Just was interested in knowing first hand if their is any folks here that can give a “heads up” on what’s really going on in that State.
The closing of small Iowa farms actually started in the late 1960's. Corn was $1 a bushel and beans were $3. A cheap combine was $40,000. The average corn yield on good ground with the current practices was 125 bushels of corn per acre. If all you owned was 90 or 120 acres, you couldn't make it work with $1 corn or $3 beans. Then came the high interest rates of the Jimmy Carter democRAT 4 years and many lost their farms because they couldn't make the payments on property or machines.
Loans were easy to get and pretty much impossible to pay off. Throw in some greedy (predatory) bankers who had friends with money and loans would get called in even on those who were making payments. Lot's of changes helped it along. No one was picking whole ears of corn and feeding cattle. Lot's of farmers had old hammer mills and there were no more parts. The new grinders were expensive. As I understand it, there were rules about running cattle on picked corn ground so farmers got out of the cattle business. The rules on selling milk also changed and it put a lot of small milkers out of business (that was us). Wabigoon might be able to help you out with the running cattle on the corn ground.
Lot's of changes. The banks and the government played a part in that. Anyway, there was no money to be made on small farms and there was always a big guy standing there with money to buy you out. All in all, high interest rates, government regulations and predatory bankers. If you could take those 3 issues out of the equation, we would not be in this current situation.
There is an Amish farmer in Pennsylvania going through this right now. He's bucking the State and they are trying to close him down.
kwg
For liberals and anarchists, power and control is opium, selling envy is the fastest and easiest way to get it. TRR. American conservative. Never trust a white liberal. Malcom X Current NRA member.
I think it was Bloomberg that claimed farming was so easy anyone can do it….” all you have to do is make a hole, put a seed in and sprinkle it little water on it.” 🤬
NRA Life,Endowment,Patron or Benefactor since '72.
We were at a farm appreciation luncheon and the crop insurance agent and corn farmers were hoping for another hurricane to come through. The way I understood it was the farmers harvested the corn, got paid again using crop insurance and then again for disaster relief. Most have new equipment and are leveraged to the max but are living the high life.
If the only thing driving you is production, there will be no profit.
To make the "required" production, you need to give all your profit to the parasites that feed off of farming.
They have lobbied congress and you have to do it their way....which is for you to keep giving them all your money...and next years money.
Tell the parasites to get a job and concentrate on profit.
There are a bunch of those parasites. It breaks my heart to know how many laws, agencies, and companies actively work to control and limit farmers. Companies that we all know and think of as All American, are greedy and work behind the scenes to create mechanisms that prevent the small farmer from profiting. It really is a racket, and there is no place for the individual, small time operator.
If the only thing driving you is production, there will be no profit.
To make the "required" production, you need to give all your profit to the parasites that feed off of farming.
They have lobbied congress and you have to do it their way....which is for you to keep giving them all your money...and next years money.
Tell the parasites to get a job and concentrate on profit.
Very well said! I know many, many small farmers that do not have their operation broke down enough to be able to put a cost/profit to some of the practices they do. Nor are they willing to do so to be able to try new things and see how that affects the bottom line. Then you have the guy I was working with that was putting in a center pivot on some pretty good, but a bit sandy soil. He knew from his other fields that the yield increase from the irrigation would have the pivot paid off in 6yrs and with an estimated 15+ yr livespan of the pivot new how much that investment should make him.
The buyer of $16k farmland knows raising corn or soybeans will never pay for that farm Typically, farms sold are to settle an estate. There are usually several established operators interested. They are people who have several quarters,some inherited, some bought years ago on the cheap.A lot of corn in the last 15 years has been sold for $7-$8 a bushel,they got money and know how to hang onto it. So the farm across the road comes up for sale,one big guy doesn't like the other big guy,there's a bidding war.The sellers and auctioneer are smiling !!! I was watching a farm show recently, they interviewed a guy from back east who had set the national record soybean yield,216 bpa.He was asked if he made any money,he replied that the beans were contracted for $14/ bushel ,it cost $1400/acre to raise the crop. That's not bad,smart guy!
