And the first thing they will do is ban exports and make sure that more farmers go out of business and soon the Feds will take over and then we’ll really be in a world of hurt. Remember the USSR? There are 3 million farmers in the US and their average age is 57.
The work is hard, the risk is huge, the inputs are astronomical and growing. Nowadays you have to have the skills of an accountant, mechanic, computer techie, government regulation watcher, and environmental expert and that is before you even get into the field.
I’ve heard people say that there is land out there to be farmed, and there is, but where do you get the farmers? Where do you get the people who won’t go broke the first year? Where do you get the people who can get financed to start from scratch with land, tractors, various implements and seed, fertilizer, chemicals and supplies and who know how to use them?
On many small farms, especially dairy farms, you are correct. Most surviving farms now have adapted by becoming bigger and hiring specialists to do many of the jobs that you describe. In many areas, farmers have become, and are, becoming very well off.
Another tier of farmers are those who farm on a small scale because they love to do it. Farming brings in a little income and they are able to raise most of their own food and trade with others. They have another job that they rely on to provide most of the income for the family, an old tractor and not enough land to be commercially viable, but more than enough to provide food for several families. These are known as hobby farmers, and there are a lot of them.
“I’ve heard people say that there is land out there to be farmed, and there is, but where do you get the farmers?”
Bingo, in farming you must have 3 things:
1) The resources.
2) The know how and skill.
3) God’s providence.
Any kind of agricultural endeavor needs all three, because if you have nothing to plant, nowhere to plant it, no idea how to cultivate or process it, or the weather, vermin or diseases get to it. Then you have nothing. It’s not prudent to put all one’s eggs in one basket. Which is exactly what the government is doing, trying to break the U.S. with midnight sneaky food bill votes, and corporation subsidies.
Control the food, control the people. They can never control ALL the food, but catastrophe can hit, and providence squandered away.
They did just that in the Lame Duck Session in December. Do a little research on HR2748/S.510/HR2751 FDA Food Takeover. That bill could increase the cost of many foods here in the U.S. by 50% due to the cost of compliance. The Congress and the Senate sold us out to Global Ag for a few pieces of silver. If you are hungry this year, don't blame a farmer, blame the lying POLs.
It has been used repeatedly throughout the twentieth century. To the tune of the deaths of millions.
You can’t. It is the young farmers with enormous loans who are going broke and out of business. The older guys with equity are hanging in there, but the stress of the banker meetings and loan presentations is showing.
Non-farmers don’t understand that the price of diesel and fertilizer is killing good-sized family farms with generations of experience and infrastructure. I know some young farmers who are managing, but the irony is that their kids are all eligible for free-lunch and they could qualify for food stamps. They don’t need to, as one brother has an egg operation and the other raises hogs while the ones I know are dairy farmers, so they trade between themselves and survive. Still, they have 3 kids under 13 and when I see her grocery cart (it’s Walmart, so she has more than food in the basket), I cringe because it must add up to over $200/shopping trip.
Then, when folks think about selling out and finding something else to do, they look at the capital gains tax and there is no percentage.