Used Value vs Age

[ning]

People look at nuclear power through they eyes of 5̶0̶70 year old technology

FTFY

 

[Cougsfan]

Thanks for that uplifting, positive information. Lol
I totally disagree. People are getting away from large “corporation foods”. They want more organically grown foods from smaller farmers. I am not really small for my area and I am growing each year. With my son coming along, I have more help.
For me, profits are rising and as long as I keep my faith in God, I think this country will turn around and become a place where a man or woman can still call America “The Land of Opportunity”.

As much as I would love to agree with your assessment of things, it is unfortunately incorrect. A growing number of people people indeed are wanting to go organic (whatever than means) and go back to buying all their food at a farmer's market, bypassing corporate farms. But they are still a very small fraction of the people. The vast majority of people have no idea nor do they particularly care where their food comes from, who grows it, or how it is grown.

The US and Canada have the largest farms in the world, and they just keep getting larger and larger. At the same time the number of private farm owners are going down. Many of the private farm owners are getting so large so that they are morphing themselves into corporate farms. Many of the remaining farm property owners are turning into landlords and just lease their property to large farmers.

I don't particularly like the direction farming is going. I think it ties directly into the growing gap between the haves and the have nots. The "haves" have the lobbying power to set the rules that favor themselves. I think it will eventually change, but unfortunately not until the "haves", not purposefully but unwittingly, created an overwhelming number of "have nots".

 

[mo1]

As much as I would love to agree with your assessment of things, it is unfortunately incorrect. A growing number of people people indeed are wanting to go organic (whatever than means) and go back to buying all their food at a farmer's market, bypassing corporate farms. But they are still a very small fraction of the people. The vast majority of people have no idea nor do they particularly care where their food comes from, who grows it, or how it is grown.

The US and Canada have the largest farms in the world, and they just keep getting larger and larger. At the same time the number of private farm owners are going down. Many of the private farm owners are getting so large so that they are morphing themselves into corporate farms. Many of the remaining farm property owners are turning into landlords and just lease their property to large farmers.

I agree with this. While the interest in locally grown/organic stuff is growing, it is growing from a very tiny fraction of the market to a slightly less tiny but still very tiny fraction of the market. The only two things most people care about with their food is convenience and price. A very distant third and fourth would be variety/selection and quality although most give those up for more convenience and lower prices. Very few people care about anything else. Both of those first two are putting heavy pressure to continue the consolidation and conglomeration of agriculture and the food supply which is exactly why we are seeing this happen.

The fact that a tiny number of people care about something other than price and convenience will keep a little bit of agriculture non-consolidated, but it will never move beyond a tiny niche unless there is some major external factor that massively and consistently disrupts the current system for many years. This has been proven in the last two years when there have been major supply disruptions of specific things for periods of time. There was some talk about people doing more things themselves and perhaps a decentralization of agriculture and the supply chains to better deal with major disruptions, but nothing actually came of it as the significant disruptions only lasted a handful of months. You just can't compete with the giant conglomerates in a market with such tiny margins.

 

[Hay Dude]

You all can hypothesize all you want. I have a good business model and all the buyers I could ever want.
'sides, if it all goes to crap in 30 years, Ill be taking a dirt nap by then anyway.

 

[Hay Dude]

I agree with this. While the interest in locally grown/organic stuff is growing, it is growing from a very tiny fraction of the market to a slightly less tiny but still very tiny fraction of the market. The only two things most people care about with their food is convenience and price. A very distant third and fourth would be variety/selection and quality although most give those up for more convenience and lower prices. Very few people care about anything else. Both of those first two are putting heavy pressure to continue the consolidation and conglomeration of agriculture and the food supply which is exactly why we are seeing this happen.

The fact that a tiny number of people care about something other than price and convenience will keep a little bit of agriculture non-consolidated, but it will never move beyond a tiny niche unless there is some major external factor that massively and consistently disrupts the current system for many years. This has been proven in the last two years when there have been major supply disruptions of specific things for periods of time. There was some talk about people doing more things themselves and perhaps a decentralization of agriculture and the supply chains to better deal with major disruptions, but nothing actually came of it as the significant disruptions only lasted a handful of months. You just can't compete with the giant conglomerates in a market with such tiny margins.

Watch me

 

[Hay Dude]

Chris, I think we agree on more than you think. I wasn't insinuating that there aren't people that will still work hard. But in most areas I have seen, there are job postings all over the place, and the people who will work hard are already working. If you can still find people willing to work in Arkansas to fill new jobs, good for you, but I will assure you it is not that way in many areas of our country, and not just in the big cities.

And I too think nuclear power is the way to go, People look at nuclear power through they eyes of 50 year old technology. We have much better ways of doing it today if we just would get over the prejudice against it. (MHarryE, this is a place where technology fits well!) And I am certainly not a fan of windmills either. Solar panels have their place, but aren't a total answer. I am of the opinion we need to ween ourselves off fossil fuels but we need to do it intelligently. I am also certain we will certainly make numerous mistakes along the way.

The extreme environmentalist I was referring to were your mention of tree huggers and spotted owl defenders.

I also think those robotic tractors will be commonplace in 50 years, like it or not. But I think a person would be a fool to invest in one for practical use today.

1. We have the government paying people to stay home. That is direct competition to employers who need lower wage hard work employees. Low wages and hard work are more difficult than low wages easy work, hence the appearance of less available workers.
2. We have theft up to $500-$1000 now legal in some big cities. This means someone digging ditches for $15/hour can now walk into a department store, walk into the aisles and fill up a hefty trash bag with merchandise, then go sell it. Thats a lot easier money than ditch digging.
3. We have a massive free flow of low paid immigrant labor flooding our country through our recently opened borders. This tempts many employers to hire them and pay them under the table to dig ditches for $10-$15/hour instead of creating a US citizen employment spot and paying $15/hour for a proper hard working employee with workmans comp and other expenses like payroll
4. Fuel now costs more than it has in the last SEVEN YEARS. This inhibits the ability of the $15/hour hard working employee to drive more than a few miles each way to work compared to when fuel prices were lower.
5. Taxes are now going higher. Especially on corporatations. This makes employers less likely to hire workers, even the ones that work hard.
6. The cost of everything has gone up. This is also known as inflation. This demoralizes even hard workers, knowing that the few dollars they earn will not go very far. This also works at the employer level since rising fuel and hard/soft goods rising in cost causes employers to cut back on all but the most essential employees.

 

[Steppenwolfe]

Did I just tune into Fox News by mistake? Or is this crap a commercial while I wait for the regular tractor show to return?

 

[IndyJay]

Did I just tune into Fox News by mistake? Or is this crap a commercial while I wait for the regular tractor show to return?

Wow, really? Anything stated that isn't true?

 

[Steppenwolfe]

Wow, really?

Yup...

 

[MoKelly]

If it can’t be refuted, call it names.

Yep.

MoKelly