55 Years And Counting From The Tractor Seat

 By bill whitman

We’ve enjoyed several years of prosperity on the farm. More years in a row than I can ever remember in my lifetime. That said, I fear there is a time coming when we are going to experience a year, maybe two when there’s not enough money to pay the bills at the end of harvest. I recently read a report out of Illinois that is projecting losses of $140 per acre on corn and $30-$50 per acre on soybeans. That’s a loss per acre. 

I guess one of the benefits of being older, most of us can remember when years like this were not rare but occurred often enough that we never “counted our chickens before they hatched”. So when we older farmers advise our younger brethren to watch their money and plan on years when things don’t go as planned, it’s an honest piece of advice. Agriculture is unique in that we want others within our chosen field of work to succeed. There are so few of us left that we need the younger set to stay the course of farming and ranching into the future. 

If there’s a good thing about today versus 20-30 years ago it is that the economy will not let the farmer and rancher fail long term. Less than 1% of the population farm or ranch yet the rest of the country and a significant part of the world depend on having us get up in the morning and work until dark-thirty without the guarantee of a paycheck, not to mention investing everything we have.  Some would say we aren’t too smart. I would say that we have rooted in our hearts a need to produce crops and livestock and the paycheck is secondary.  

Being an older farmer has an added advantage, to succeed we have had to learn to pay attention to the signs of the times. At least for me, it’s been a hard lesson to learn. I think we are all wondering how fertilizer prices could soar like they did 2 years ago and then fall without any reason that makes any sense? 

Most of us older guys have also been cautioning the younger generations to be careful about spending and use extra income to put against next year’s expenses rather than add debt. We do that in anticipation of a tight year. There are bigger issues at play here as well. We are being pushed and prodded in directions that are uncomfortable and often have us dependent on things that we’re uneasy with and often take decisions away from us. When we are dependent on lenders who limit the dollars that are available for inputs per acer or the equipment we would prefer to use, we are allowing ourselves to be manipulated or rather we are being manipulated for the benefit of a larger strategy. 

At the end of the day, we must think and make decisions based on what is best for our own operations. How we reason our way to these decisions is largely what we use for data and sift it to something we can understand. Those that don’t leave themselves at risk and it’s a real risk that can cost more than bargained for. 

IndianaAg@bluemarble.net