How do farmers make any money?

[Eaglesfate]

Taking out loans and Subsidized farm checks.

 

[etpm]

The OP made a timely post for me. I have long wondered how farmers make any money considering just how much they must spend on equipment alone. And today I was driving along the Skagit valley in WA state, taking the back roads for fun. During my drive I saw many farms and all the equipment they had. I followed a BIG tractor towing a BIG trailer loaded with something that I couldn't identify for 20 minutes. I couldn't pass safely. It was going 15 MPH on a 50 MPH road. So not only equipment costs but labor costs. I looked at the farms and saw huge operations that are probably not really huge but just looked so to me. I kept thinking about how much money was tied up in the farms I passed.
Eric

 

[Lineman North Florida]

The problem with a lot of the farm subsidies is when you go to that EWG website database you will find that many of those subsidies go to farms with a corporation title, when you click on ownership interest you will find that the corporation is made up of doctors and lawyers, people who have never sat in a tractor seat, meaning people who really don't need it and aren't depending on it to make it until next crop season. If Musk digs around there he will find mass amounts of corruption as well.

 

[hayden]

The problem with a lot of the farm subsidies is when you go to that EWG website database you will find that many of those subsidies go to farms with a corporation title, when you click on ownership interest you will find that the corporation is made up of doctors and lawyers, people who have never sat in a tractor seat, meaning people who really don't need it and aren't depending on it to make it until next crop season. If Musk digs around there he will find mass amounts of corruption as well.

Why does it matter who owns the farm?

 

[Sprinkler Fitter]

According to one neighbor, farmers just sit around cashing checks from the government.

I watch Sonne Farms, Millennial Farmer and Larson Farms oh and also Welker Farms, seems like they all work very hard especially Sonne Farms because they have cattle and crop’s. The other three are just crops and Welkers farms about 10,000 acres.

 

[Jrasband]

New documentary featuring Joel Salatin

 

[bcp]

Farmers lose money per acre but make up for it by having lots of acres.



Bruce

 

[ultrarunner]

You roll the dice and bet on favorable weather and pests kept in check and disasters don’t happen and prices hold.

Family grows/sells 3300 Christmas Trees annually… it takes about 7 years so it’s a long game.

No loans or crop subsidies… or even AG break at the California site…

Soil prep is expensive and one year with record heat most seedlings lost.

That said it has proven viable over 10 years where trees retail from $10 to $20 per foot…

 

[LHF2019]

Good point about retail vs wholesale, but I think there is more to crop pricing than some Poindexter throwing darts at a board.

And don't forget dairy. You don't know what your getting paid until a month after the milk leaves the farm.

According to one neighbor, farmers just sit around cashing checks from the government.

Then your neighbor should farm if it is that easy.


Farmed all my life. Dairy, custom work, now hay and beef sales. It is not easy and for the most part there is no money. Goes in one hand out the other. All about cash flow. Still don't own the farm. Rent it. It is dad's family ground and mom still owns it. Got my start at 20 when dad passed. not the way anybody should experience their own business. I still work outside the farm to make things easier. Thread on here on the hay portion of the business.

 

[Jstpssng]

Then your neighbor should farm if it is that easy