Blacksandfarmer update on the BTO?

[kyu2852570]

It's almost June. Is the BTO farming every thing yet that was his last year or are fields still idle?

[Blacksandfarmer]

Some got farmed by the BTO, some got farmed by other operations, some is setting idle. The BTO is working on limited capital, limited employees and limited equipment. Last I heard, he was able to get $150 million and would be able to farm some of the land. I was told by a friend today that there is a line of roughly 20 late model combines sitting on a nearby John Deere lot for sale. Its a mess that will get deeper as time goes on. I believe the only reason this guy is still running at all is because Ceres Group stands to lose big if he goes down.

[ihtractortherap]

Wonder who financed the 150 million

[kyu2852570]

If they farm 100,000 acres it should only take at the most half that 150 million to put in a crop and raise it to harvest. Do you suppose they were behind on bills that bad?

[jogajr64]

The Ceres land that I saw in N.W Van Buren County hasn't been touched as of last night. On one field it looks like the  irrigation has been moved from the back of the field to across the field blocking the field.

.

[jogajr64]

Just went for a short ride. I found 2 sprayers and a tractor with some kind of a

disc. Parked on Ceres land. They were all John Deere. I have seen the sprayers going by for a few days. I don't know if it's BTO and it looks like all of the irrigation will have to be moved. Nothing has been done to the land I looked at. Must be taking the holiday off. I hope they get all of this planted.

[tractor12]

Just wondering where the BTO is based and what state is most of the farms  located , ?

[Blacksandfarmer]

Based in Michigan, but also farms in Ohio and Indiana.

[jogajr64]

Last night there was a BTO tanker and sprayer parked on Ceres land. I think that is the land they are spraying

[hardnox]

Well, the good news is that after convincing people to put big bucks in farmland, outfits like Ceres, and their investors, will be very concerned about "the farm crisis" and lobby to have their operators bailed out.

So that they can get paid, and continue to get top dollar.

That money will, for the most part, just continue to flow through the BTOs as conduits to the landowners (plus some equity in some cases) but they are a handy device to use to extract the public's money.