One local

[Iowastudent]

Hobby
I think you are misinformed again.  Small farms account for ninety percent of all farms in the United States.  Small family farms accounted for 57% of production for poultry and egg production.  And as a whole in agriculture related products, small family farms accounted for 24% of production. 

There is more research out there then just the opinion articles.  Your tax dollars are funding that reseach.  It's called the USDA.

[sw363535]

That is not what you said...... maybe it is what you meant but not what you said.

You said ------"This just proves that all of you who comment on here about how mega farms are taking over all agriculture, are wrong. The failure of one farm does not change history.  Are you denying that the number of farm entities has gone down steadily since the 1960's as usda says it has?  And no one on here has said that mega farms are taking over "all" agriculture.... There will always be a place for farmers market size farms.  

And this time you said -- "Large farms can still fail....This farm in ND is proof."   And no one has ever stated that large farms cannot fail...  I certainly have stated that they have advantage driven by technology.  The five small farms in my county last year that stopped doing business didn't get too be poster children.  All business can fail.

Two totally different statements.....   There are areas in the US that still support some small farms.... but most are not surviving without outside subsidization such as off farm employment (being one of many possibilities.)   And proximity to market is key.

Are you denying that large farms (grossing $5M+ per year and above) produce an increasing percentage of the total Ag. production over the last several decades?

it is just a function of technology and usda has produced a lot of data that supports it.

[sw363535]

keep in mind that usda has redefined Family farms to be up to 100,000 acres ------------- Family farm designation and farm size are not related.  We have 8-10 farms in the county that produced 80% of the production ..... the other 230 produce the other 20% and those large farms are all considered family farms by usda.

[sw363535]

Since 1991, agricultural production has shifted to million-dollar farms—those with gross cash farm income (GCFI) of $1,000,000 or more—including both family and nonfamily farms. Million-dollar farms now account for half of farm production, up from a third in 1991.

That is a quote from your family farm attachment....

[booked]

iowa

you say your a full time bussiness anaylst ?

I think you might want to analyze your following statement.

"I'm sure no one could enter the car market and succeed.......Oh wait Tesla has been proving that for years."

if you had you would never made that statement. here is a link or two for your analsys.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hy-musk-subsidies-20150531-story.html

http://www.breitbart.com/2016-presidential-race/2016/06/29/elon-musk-wins-by-gaming-the-subsidy-game...

it is easy if you can get the government to pays your way it is called ??well..... you can anaylize it better than an old coot like me.

[Hobbyfarmer]

"Hobby
I think you are misinformed again.  Small farms account for ninety percent of all farms in the United States.  Small family farms accounted for 57% of production for poultry and egg production.  And as a whole in agriculture related products, small family farms accounted for 24% of production"

Just so you know my gross puts me in that small farm category, many times my net would simply amaze most.

Now you said it all in that post  90% of of farms produce 24% of the total. Do you really think 24% does anything other than depress prices for the professional farmers/growers that produce the other 76%? 

You might also want to check on acres % controlled by the bto' s .

The small farms may be romantic to a citidiot but the real job is actually getting done by the large farmers.

Now go and look at the statistics on the growth of the large farm trend and contributing to the % of the total.

[JimMeade]

Well, we haven't had this much fun in a long time, have we?  As more and more people leave this forum, you can't wait to jump on a new member and pulverize him.  Don't worry about the fact that you spend most of your time on here whining about how bad things are, it's great fun to have a new target.

When this forum dies entirlely, don't look to far for the blame.  Look in a mirror.

[Hobbyfarmer]

Your right Jim we have become our fathers or grand fathers, a young well schooled newbie showed up, put up criticisms and half truths/ assumptions.

With his credentials should /could have known to show just a little more caution and respect.

My welcome was met with a call out....

With his multiple degrees, his communication and debating skills should be better.

[Hobbyfarmer]

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-02-16/ag-paradox-farm-incomes-an...

"Warning and disclaimer: this is from an unauthorized news source that may be associated with fake news. The source may be associated with Russian propaganda. It contains few facts and is strewn with opinions. Any facts stated therein may be alternative facts. Those with weak minds averse to thought and discernment should not click on the link. Or if they choose to, against advice, be in their designated safe space for protection from unwanted anxiety attacks.     

The charts alone are worth the trip. Gives an overall picture of current ag debt compared to historic levels."  (John Burns)

[BA Deere]

Isn`t that funny, all through this wonderful run up where seemed everyone was buying $15,000 land and driving to the next county to rent $500 land, we were told "oh no, this time is different, the lenders learnt their lesson from the 80`s and the bank examiners won`t let `em git in trouble!".   I would hear of people I thought were maybe had been  a little hard up, bidding with both hands on $12,15,000 land, buying new machinery, building shops, new pickups, planting Channel seedcorn and other crazy stuff. 

Smart people said "Bankers only lend 3 grand on land, so these high rollers are paying cash!".  There`s only about 2 ways they could`ve had the dough to do that, they won the lottery or they hadn`t been borrowing a opperating note then started and used that "cash" to buy land.  Then went to Case IH financing and bought machinery with that easy, cheap financing, leaving the conservative country banker out of it. 

Also about 10 yrs ago, before the glory days in farming, the was a minor story in a farm magazine about "farmers credit card debt", well I think alot of family living expense has been and is put on credit cards.   That might be the other shoe to drop.

But with John Deere stock going up, I just wonder if the smart people see inflation coming and John Deere is a global company, someone, somewhere in the world will be buying green and inflation is good for stocks.  Look at 2007 Zimbabwe.