Replies

There is a saying among the disgruntled here in North Dakota, especially around Congressional election time...

"If the Congress keeps saving family farms at the rate it has the past two decades, they should all be gone in a few years."

Farming is a hard life, but when you factor out the apparent wealth tied up in the means of production (land and equipment) few farmers are "rich".

I don't know many people who get up before dawn to feed the livestock and don't come to the house before sunset. Farming is a challenging unforgiving endeavor. I'm not completely confortable with the subsidies given. But I wouldn't be entirely comfortable if none were given either.

Note the subsidies given in foreign nations. It should also be noted what import/export fees are charged. Once again we come in on the business end of the farm broom handle. Folks, for all the talk, has anyone seen any evidence of FreeTrade? Our products suffer the highest import fees with other nations time and time again. Frankly this FreeTrade fraud has been the biggest heist in the history of the planet.

"If the Congress keeps saving family farms at the rate it has the past two decades, they should all be gone in a few years."

Using farming lingo, the only people who will benefit from this are the big corps that know how to get to the federal pig trough. One of the reasons small businesses are drying up is the feds (and states) are doing everything they can to help big corps at their expense.

A few big outfits are a lot easier to control than a bunch of little outfits. I'm sure, for example, that Walmart (started in Arkansas) didn't get any special breaks by having Hillary! on their board of directors.

You cannot currently produce enough off of land to pay for it. That means if it isn't already in your family, you either lease or run it as a tax break. I don't know any local farmer under 60 that isn't doing something else to actually pay the bills. Some of them are fire fighters, truck drivers, etc, and most of them live in double-wides or old houses built during the depression. Oh, there is one fancy farm in our area. Gosh, it's owned by our local Demonrat state representative who also happens to be a lawyer. I'm sure he won't get anything out of the farm bill.

BTW, read an article a while back, and over half the people on the federal board that decides who gets to grow how much citrus fruit are employees of.... Surprise!!! Sunkist!

I got in a whole lot a trouble at the Uni when we were supposed to do a paper on farming. I went out and interviewed a local farmer and he explained what all the equipment cost and how much profit he made from year to year. It's amazing -- and I wrote a glowing paper in admiration, not what they wanted for that class at all.

They work hard as hell, and not too many people want to do it anymore. What I can't figure out, when the stock market goes up, farm prices are down. When the stock market goes down, farm prices are down. When we have inflation, farm prices are down. When... Well, you get the idea. One would think these guys would make money at some point.