Video on rents not being paid

[steveholifield]

Let the games begin.  Alot of this is Farm managers.  We all knew this would not last. Now is the time to sit back and take advantage of some excellent business oppurtunities that will be coming up this spring and even more this fall. No one gave me a break when I started out so why would I help these kids out?  Let them learn to work instead of using computers and auto steer so they can talk on thier phones to thier friends.

[ncwinn54]

The point about feeding people makes me mindful that SNAP is a large part of the USDA budget.  I cannot recall percentages, but doesn't the EBT card at the checkout cost more than all ag program support to producers? 

As for " cheap" food...that is only partially true anymore.  You can pick up some decent sales prices on protein, if you watch the adds and stock up on their loss leaders, or can handle bulk purchases, like at warehouse clubs.  

We are still pulling out ribeyes from the freezer, bought on the Valentine's Day specials. I had to have the meat department manager bring out the trays from the back, because he says too many of them are simply stolen if left in the case..this by a customer base that is largely already given free food.  

That means everyone else is subsidizing every price, when they actually ring up their daily bread, as well as paying taxes.  

 Do not know the answer as to how you guys keep growing cheap grain.  I saw this coming five years ago, but it was inevitable...inputs and rents ratchetting up, then the bottom line turning red, when commodities go cheap again.  Back to " farming the programs." 

 ARC and PLC paid us a bit of cash in Va, but not a cent in NC, and the crop bases are virtually identical for us between the two.  That says food policy - or at least ag polcy - is inconsistent to me. 

[sw363535]

289,,,,,, those two wars are pretty much a worn out phrase...... compare those costs to the debt incured(economic stimulus, bank and labor jobs savings etc.) handing out favors since 2008 and those wars become a distant dot of expense..

and don't forget other countries paid a lot of those expenses included middle east countries.  No politician will ever mention that...

But I like your thought about veterans.  Last fall I was reading some VA data and researching data on the Vietnam War service.....  Sometime if you get a chance look for the total number of active service deployed and compare it to the number of americans who have claimed to be V vets...... filing federal forms...  

Sometimes I just think lying politicians are our problem.  Then I see data that spreads the stink around...

[smokeyjay]

Apparently, there are nuances in figuring payments that requires more analysis. Perhaps the basis levels are better in one area than the other.  Shouldn't one be happy the trigger was not hit, rather than sad?

That said, the current farm program is not intended to encourage "farming" the program, unlike earlier programs before the "freedom to farm" initiative began to decouple payments from specific crops. Unfortunately, the PLC component was included because Southern commodity groups wanted to return to that old era of price protection and guarantee. People like capitalism and choice until markets head south, apparently.  And politics makes for strange bedfellows when the legislative brew is made. 

Even so, you will not get rich farming for the program. Crop insurance is the safety net for really bad weather-induced years. It also doesn't make one rich either. 

A few few years back when the Missouri and Mississippi rivers flooded, previously outspoken critics of the crop insurance program had a change of heart after they were faced with huge financial losses. One said he was very appreciative that he at least could get back on his feet, thanks to insurance payouts. 

Just think about it. During the last five years, not one special disaster aid package was needed to bail out farmers, thanks to the crop insurance program. And we have had a wide swing in weather related events. The only exception was a livestock disaster amendment to the farm bill, and money paid to them. My hope is this would temper livestock producers' criticism of commodity programs. So far, it doesn't appear to be so. 

[smokeyjay]

Farm programs make up approximately 17% of the total ag budget. And that is less than 1% of the entire US budget. 

SNAP and other food items are part of the budget, like school lunches, meals for elderly, etc..  This is the bipartisan approach that enables us to pass a farm bill. Without cooperation, the ag side of the budget would be zero. 

So, critics of ag spending should focus on other areas to impact total spending, if they are really serious about it. 

[ncwinn54]

My statement is simply one of confusion.  You am little dependent upon program payments, fortunately...they covered property taxes in VA I n 2015, on corn and beans...same base paid zero in NC, but that county covered cotton...and we have no base. 

The livestock program is one I will look to for our cattle, if we have a disastrous weather event.  Meanwhile, we carry what minute coverage we can get for our forages ( NAP via USDA only). 

After PED, PRRS 174, and now PED again, all in under 20 months, believe me...I don't wish anyone bad luck! 

[ncwinn54]

I am well aware that we only get helped farming, because so many others need help eating.  

I will admit, though...it irks the tar out of me to hear prople steal steaks.  That isn't hunger at work...it is trifling, entitled people taking a luxury they haven't earned.  

[k-289]

The vet's I'm aware of including Korea ,Vietnam , Desert Storm 1 & 2 etc. , Dominican Rep. , Panama .  Having classmates and relatives endured the post action baggage I have personally witnessed gives me the opinion I currently have --- What is the  R O I on these expendatures is a debate that will churn on --- Depending on what the  ROI would be for the Korean adventure of police action of  5 decades is an interesting dicussion --- COLLATERAL DAMAGE damage can be another INTERSTING subject ---       

[smokeyjay]

Agree, and you may be surprised to discover the ones stealing steaks are not necessarily poor people, but well off and do it, because they like to take advantage of others.  A doctor's worst deadbeats in delinquent accounts were wealthy people. In another state, when I was in high school, a farmer boasted to my dad that he never paid a fertilizer bill in decades.  He took advantage of a business owner's lack of financial control. 

[k-289]

Stealing has many compleXtions on various fronts - Panama Papers and Icelandic revalations being oneof the new exposure ---