Posted on 05/12/2019 5:29:40 AM PDT by Kaslin
Major Major’s father was an outspoken champion of economy in government, provided it did not interfere with the sacred duty of government to pay farmers as much as they could get for all the alfalfa they produced that no one else wanted or for not producing any alfalfa at all. He was a proud and independent man who was opposed to unemployment insurance and never hesitated to whine, whimper, wheedle and extort for as much as he could get from whomever he could.
-- Joseph Heller
What does that have to do with this?
Are you a Luddite, afraid that if we actually don’t stunt investment in ag that all those illegals will be out of illegal American work — and not eating?
What does that have to do with this?
Are you a Luddite, afraid that if we actually don’t stunt investment in ag that all those illegals will be out of illegal American work — and not eating?
Oh, so now you resort to calling me ignorant.
I have studied war esp. WWII. We did retool and manufacture weapons of war in record time. We also managed to feed our people and our troops so they could do the job required of them.
And besides, you throw out a Straw Man argument. I advocate for strong defense, I just happen to know that feeding the people behind the scenes and our troops is part of a smart, powerful, military defense.
Uh. NO. The author is barking up the wrong tree. Agriculture is getting plenty of gubment help already.
We have a NRCS, used to be USDA, office here. I still can’t figure out what they do. I guess they take care of the upstream flood control lakes. I saw them go by Friday with a four wheeler which is the first time I have seen them out in ages. Once upon a time they helped build ponds and control erosion and help with pasture improvement. Now? Not sure. Their advice to me on improving bermuda pasture was to “manage for bermuda” that is all.
The gubment has given billions upon billions in support to farmers with ethanol mandates. Where do you think the money comes from for the boom in farm equipment sales we have seen or the Taj Mahal like barns and farm shops featured on the Morton and other farm building sites? What has driven the price of farm land up to stratospheric levels?
Land grant colleges all across the nation consistently and persistently do research as do private investors. Where does the author think all the GMO varieties of crops have come from?
Let’s have a conversation about the poor family farmer when we get through looking at some of the massive private farm machinery collections housed in well kept buildings scattered across the farm belt. Someones are doing pretty well with farming.
How about the billions of pounds of cheese the gubment owns that have been bought for price supports?
When I see one of these articles pining for the family farm and wanting more gubment support I see someone pining for a bucolic way of life that has been replaced by economy of scale. There is a reason for 60’ or more spread air planters and it does not fit the small family farm any more. My little slice of the world may have once supported a family but not nearly in the style we are accustomed to now. It is just not possible. My wife grew up in pretty much a shack on a large family farm that made ends meet. It would not come close to being much more than just enough and living in a shack now.
Farming does not need more money to support the family farm. That would be just another form of welfare and we have more of that than we can afford right now.
“You’re facing court-martial for what you said about the Colonel.”
“I NEVER said that about the Colonel!”
“But WHEN did you never say it?”
“I ALWAYS never said it!”
-———————JH
Amen to that. Deere is shooting itself in the foot.
I’ll start to worry when farm land starts sitting idle.
“The government is not the answer.”
More true than you know - in MD farmers cannot spread $hit (excuse me) NUTRIENTS (that’s what they call manure in Maryland) unless it is in the allowed government time frame.
How in the world do you tell that to a cow.
AND the other thing that a college lernt, book readin, never set a foot on a farm idiot came up with is the manure storage idea. So the dairy farmers are required to build a $700,000 manure storage pit, it is open and all the rain water fills to the brim.....the stench is unbearable.
Never used to be this way - STUPID PEOPLE with college degrees screw up everything.
“Investment” you say?
After the untold billions that the Ethanol industry has cost the US gasoline buyers over 20-plus years this is preposterous.
Cotton?
I think you should study up on tobacco. The US Capitol has all kinds of tobacco flowers as design elements. Where is cotton depicted as prominently?
I don’t think that’s how economic output is measured.
Bingo!
A JD 2600 GS2 display costs HOW much??
Now, for a real look at the glamorous wine/farming/industry.
We know a man, whose grandparents owned a farm/ranch/vineyards in the California Valley. His parents in their 90’s still live there and still farm/ranch/ and have producing vineyards. He grew up farming and working in a vineyard.
He went to UC Davis and was one of 3 farm kids (his joke/words) and got a degree in winemaking.
Then, a prominent early winemaker got to know him and paid for his MBA at Stanford. Again, there were 3 farm kids in his class of close to 300. He worked at the family farm/vineyard on weekends and summers.
Since then, with the help of the winemaker sponsor, his dad and grand dad, he became known as an expert of what land to plant grapes on and where/when and what grapes and the tending to and of the grapes after planting.
Also, what land not to use and what grapes not to plant.
He is not the norm in the wine industry. Below is the unfortunate norm in the wine industry.
A common joke in the Wine Industry: “How do you make a million $’s in the wine industry.”
Your parents and grandparents give you 30 to 50 Million $’s to invest it and to make wine. Then, you buy land, plant a vineyard, build a winery and a tasting room with the 30 to 50 Million $’s given to you.
If you are lucky after a 5-10 years, you then make a million $’s by selling your vineyard and winery for a million $’s.
Of course you can’t factor in the 30 to 50 million $’s you spent to get that Million $’s. It is gone forever, like 5-10 years of your life.
PS: California Dairy Farmers have the same $hitty problem thanks to the enviro legislators.
The best possible government farm policy would be no policy at all.
Mine was about folks getting upset over agricultural subsidies...your’s is valid on another level.
I can buy milk at less than $2 a gallon in central Indiana.
What's cost in California?
(I know it's CRAZY in Florida!)
With no kids or grandkids at home, we don’t buy milk except to cook with and in small containers.
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