John Deere Green

[ovrszd]

In my area (South Western BC) farmland sells for over $100K per acre. That’s down from pre 2008 when it was north of $130K.

No one can afford to get into farming with mortgage payments on that. Not many mechanized crops would command enough dollars per acre to make a living wage. Even marijuana is grown in greenhouses on cheaper non arable land.

I agree.

Doug says you must have land paid for. Then the profits off that acre will support the newly purchased acre that has debt against it. When it's paid for then both of those acres will buy the next one. Once you get this process started it's perpetual. Completely cuts out the beginning buyer. So in the end we'll have fewer, bigger farmers.

 

[Diggin It]

That's just insane!

No, but:

In my area (South Western BC) farmland sells for over $100K per acre.

That is.

 

[ovrszd]

The Selling Price for any property is exactly the same as the buyer is able to pay.

 

[Big Barn]

No, but:



That is.

But then the benchmark value for a single family home selling in my area is almost $900K. Down 2.5% from 2018.

This makes it virtually impossible for young people to get into the real estate market.

 

[bridge4]

No Ethanol subsidies here. In Iowa there are some. Doug is 66 years old. He's a multi-millionaire. He didn't do that from subsidies. He did it from long hours and stress beyond our ability to comprehend. Wake up in the middle of the night puking up blood. Surviving on minimal sleep. Cell Phone ringing every 15 minutes. Multi-tasking at a level above our understanding.

I am not at all envious of him. I am extremely proud of him. For anyone that thinks farming is easy I suggest Monday morning go to the bank and state your case for borrowing mulit-millions of dollars. Doug borrowed 5.2 Million to put in his crops this year. Go for it.

I wasn't trying to say he has it easy, and I certainly have no interest in that type of chaos in my life. Was just curious, happy to hear he is doing well.

 

[two_bit_score]

Today, King Ranch sprawls across 825,000 acres of South Texas land, an area larger than the state of Rhode Island.
As the home of 35,000 cattle and over 200 Quarter Horses, King Ranch is one of the largest ranches in the world today. In addition to the properties in South Texas, King Ranch also owns and maintains farming land in Florida.

In addition to King Ranch’s significant South Texas operations, the ranch has extensive operations in Florida.

First established in 1961, the main South Florida farm is in the Everglades Agricultural Area, a highly productive farming zone characterized by organic soils, abundant rainfall and mild winters. Originally developed as a cattle operation, the farm covered some 42,000 acres. Over the years, the land holdings have been pared down to 20,000 acres and converted entirely to farming activities.

Today, King Ranch – Florida is involved in sugar cane, sod, sweet corn, green bean and specialty lettuce production. Additionally, King Ranch is the largest juice orange producer in the United States. Additionally, the early and ongoing commitment to growing quality rangeland grasses has a modern counterpart in King Ranch’s highly productive sod operations in Florida and Texas.

 

[ovrszd]

I wasn't trying to say he has it easy, and I certainly have no interest in that type of chaos in my life. Was just curious, happy to hear he is doing well.

The Agriculture business has a lot of subsidies. That's the government's intent. You play by the rules or lose your subsidies. It's intended to protect us the consumers. That's easily debatable.

 

[bridge4]

The Agriculture business has a lot of subsidies. That's the government's intent. You play by the rules or lose your subsidies. It's intended to protect us the consumers. That's easily debatable.

Good to know. We have some smaller farms around us, nothing over 1k acres and most of them realistically more like 1-200, so I only know a very little bit about the industry. The more I learn the more impressive things get though. If I ever comment and it seems like I'm being aggressive about something, its usually I just don't know how to frame the question correctly, so I appreciate you guys explaining things. :thumbsup:

 

[ovrszd]

Good to know. We have some smaller farms around us, nothing over 1k acres and most of them realistically more like 1-200, so I only know a very little bit about the industry. The more I learn the more impressive things get though. If I ever comment and it seems like I'm being aggressive about something, its usually I just don't know how to frame the question correctly, so I appreciate you guys explaining things. :thumbsup:

And I often don't know how to frame the answer correctly. No worries.

 

[murphy1244]

And I often don't know how to frame the answer correctly. No worries.

Thanks for the pictures Richard! I and my Mrs enjoyed them. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!

 

[ovrszd]

Thanks for the pictures Richard! I and my Mrs enjoyed them.

Your welcome Murph. Hope you have a good Thanksgiving Day my friend. Having Turkey dinner in the shop today. Guests are already arriving.....

 

[turnkey4099]

My how times have changed since I herded that old 14' Gleaner around the wheat fields in Kansas. Open cab; eat the dust and chaff, water was a (dirty) canvas water bag. Ah, those were the days!

You're just a youngster. My last harvest was on the crawler ( no cab) tractor pulling a 14' header combine.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

You're just a youngster. My last harvest was on the crawler ( no cab) tractor pulling a 14' header combine.

I'm betting were not far apart in age. I remember my Grand dad's old pull behind Gleaner; I carried water for him one year. There were a lot of them around when I went on the harvest in Kansas, but the custom cutters all had self propelled machines; this was 1959. I actually got to see a threshing machine in action in SW Missouri, ca. 1950. It was belt driven by a tractor, and they brought the bundles of wheat to the thresher in wagons, and used pitch forks to feed it.

 

[bunyip]

There are some huge 'stations' here but the reality is the further north you go the less useful it is and doesn't support a lot of stock and certainly no crops, cattle stations can run one head per 5 acres or so and round up time is done with helicopters and now drones.
A lot of farms down our way are 40-100 acres with a decent rainfall most years.

 

[shovelmike]

Those pictures of the harvesting operation are beautiful, thanks for posting those.

 

[ovrszd]

There are some huge 'stations' here but the reality is the further north you go the less useful it is and doesn't support a lot of stock and certainly no crops, cattle stations can run one head per 5 acres or so and round up time is done with helicopters and now drones.
A lot of farms down our way are 40-100 acres with a decent rainfall most years.

I think the grazing rule here is 1.5 acres per cow/calf unit. We have a lot of cattle here. Good grass growth season. Excellent hay quality for winter feed.

 

[ovrszd]

Those pictures of the harvesting operation are beautiful, thanks for posting those.

You are welcome Mike.