BTW the renegging on grain contracts

[kraft-t]

At least one of those northern Iowa coops thought it was smart to publish on the walls of their coop those customers that were alledgedly in default. As I recall the judge looked unkindly on that and delivered a pretty severe judgement against the coop.  Were many of you members of the coop and can you elaborate more on the details.

I don't want to identify the coop because it wouldn't be right to embarass them all over again.

[Red Steele]

Why should a coop feel embarrassed about that? I would give Kudo's to their manager. The local community should have a right to know who doesn't want to live up to a contract so they can file that information away for future reference.

In my business dealings, I have often thought about having a bulletin board where I would post those that never paid me and I would write them before hand to give them a chance to pay up and get off the list. Never done it, but often thought about doing so.

Public shame used to be a good tool to maintain a civil society.

BTW, Shifty, was your name on that list, or was it further north of where you have your empire?

[GreaTOne_65]

BTW, Shifty, was your name on that list, or was it further north of where you have your empire?

Don, don't answer that question, he's only baiting you. It's none of his damned business, anyway! What a sh!tty question to ask, you sir are a moron.

[hardnox]

Ah yes, the HTA fiasco, another bit of dirty laundry.

Probably some validity to the legal argument that said that there was some negligence/malfeasance on the part of elevators that were also serving in an advisory capacity and recommended the HTA/roll. Perhaps in even offering it across crop years.

Certainly negligence on the part of the managers and untimately the boards who permitted their merchandisers to accept any positions of that sort, and that size, with anyone.

But anyway, you could never convince me that most of the guys who got caught up in that were innocent lambs. In a lot of ways not too different than the guys who got caught up in the mania in the 70s- run and buy/rent everything before your neighbor did. In both cases, thought they were going to cut a fat one and managed to wriggle off the hook when it went bad.

Some of them, anyway. And like "the crisis" whether you got off the hook sometimes hinged on some small technicality- like how "good" your lawyer was, how sympathetic you might look to a jury.

Although gotta say that just like making good on other bad deals that I've made, doesn't sit real well with me, having filled my share of bad contracts.

[kraft-t]

I would urge you to do that post the names of your deadbeats and see how that works out for you. Your pretty proficient at demonizing those you think need demonizing. I would like to see how a judge would react to that.

I've never had any contention over any contract i have entered. signed or not. I farm for a lawyer for 27 years and never had a signed lease. Never had any problems either. His heirs sold me the farm a few years ago just before the values doubled. Some times luck has more to do with success than anything.

I'm sorry that you didn't get that same deal. Probably wasn't fair hunh?

[hardnox]

So as far as the "we're all good eighbors so don't say anything bad" line goes (and I don't say anything bad other than to very close friends),

Suppose that the neighbor who got off the hook for many hundreds of $thou in HTA miscalculations had been correct and ended up getting $1/bushel more for his corn than you did for yours for a couple of years.

Ya think he's going to not "talk" to your landlords with those extra dollars burning a hole in his pocket?

[Red Steele]

I have had more than one weasel come over to "talk" to one of my landlords and tell them they would pay more money than I do to farm the land.  A couple that come to mind are the types that didn't pay their debts and/or honor their contracts. When the landlord told me about their offers, I replied that its pretty easy to offer the sun, the stars, and the moon if you are the type that isn't going to pay up if you have a bad year. The landlord said not to worry anyways, his wife had told him to tell one of them that they would let the farm grow up in weeds before they ever set foot on the land, and the other one had  a drinking habit which they didn't want , either. But that is the great thing about free enterprise and capitalism, you can get your foot in the door with your good character and good looks, but you still have to ante up the cash rent to get inside and stay there. Keeps everyone honest in the long run. I had a good year last year and paid my landlords an extra bonus payment , over and above what our agreement was, and surprised them as they know how tight I am. And since the grain markets were down, they were expecting me to come with a hard luck song and dance routine.

[Samnospam]

Civil actions are a matter of public record, and in such a manner the public is informed as to who the dead beats are.

[Geniusfarms]

Well Kraft was that Renwick, Luverne or farther north. Well I think that was a great business decision on the coops part. We all well know that the farmers own the coops.I know the ceo of the local New thinks its his coop. I remember years ago a neighbor and my self went up to the coop in Hardy to find out what the ceo/grain merchandisers pay was. Always thought we should know how much pay these managers get. Well it was going to be a cold day in He$$ that they release this information. Thought us farmers were entitled to this information. Well never did get what we wanted. Since then they are merged with Gold-Eagle now and you still cant get the information. Well the bigger these coops get the less in touch they are with the farmer. Big business and a tier-layer of buffered management. I think the judge in the case Kraft let that go to his head and should let the owners/farmers of the coop know so the local landlords would know who not to rent ground to.I know the hta problem was up around titonka-algona area. Kraft never heard the story that you told in northern iowa but thats years ago and i probably was minding my own business once again !!!!

[kraft-t]

When i was on the board of directors at Renwick, one of my first tasks was to get a print out of every employees compensation package and what it cost the company. Mainly I wanted the employees to know what it cost to keep each individual on the payroll. Not shared information between employees but a clear itemization of what their individual compensation package was costing the company.

Yes, they guard that information as though it was classified information but they way i look at it if they aren't screwing up they shouldn't be embarrassed by the truth. I suppose a quarter million in manager compensation might rile a few folks but i guess it depends partly on the responsibility.