Not much grows in a dry powder. Hopefully it will be many years before we have another drought like that.

I suspect some land that is marginal will be dropped this year and upcoming years. Some ground is not worth the wear and tear on equipment

I talked to a rice farmer in arkie a few years ago. Dad was retiring and the 2 sons were selling out but keeping the land. They were making bank on the duck hunters. I asked one of the sons why and emphatically stated. It’s not worth the risk. Everything is paid for and in good shape but one bad year and they’d lose it all. No more subsidies he said so it’s risky. He kept the trucking side of the farm and his brother took on another job outside of farming.

There is so much money in play

I’m afraid this is the tip of the iceberg as far as the economy
Farming is on of the main foundations for a strong economy. Trump is on the manufacturing so we will we see

I called the fsa office last week to see if farmers were getting a drought relief check. They told me they were still waiting on the determination.

I promise you it won’t be that much.

Like the guy that helps us some. He’s been around farming all of his life. Back in the 90s made bank for 2 years. He lost it all and then some the next two years. He even had full crop insurance because the bank wouldn’t loan the money to plant the crop and that check didn’t cover much more than he paid in. There’s a lot more to it

Like our guy that handles our planting said last week. Cotton is the only making money right now

Down here duck hunting leases and crawfish if what’s making the money. Most rice farmers here plant rice for the crawfish. A good year on crawfish will offset the horrible rice prices.

The inputs, debt, risk don’t match the compensation. I’m fighting my way through it right now. Tyson foods making record profits while we struggle to stay afloat. My focus is to try and stay positive but not blind to reality.

When my tractor blew up last year i bought a new one. Might have been better to just sale out. Hopefully do enough for hunters to make the payment

Any way for you to make more selling direct to consumer? I know the direct to consumer cattle market is growing rapidly.

I know a guy that quit farming and buys corn and then sales it to deer hunters. He’s making more than he did farming lol.

Anyone price grain bins lately. There’s some gov money to assist with it but you better be ready.

Price out a combine, tractors, sprayers, planters and maybe a cotton picker 😝
Then look at Brazil and other countries on the world market. Some of those farmers in Brazil order 300 tractors at a time but they’re farming 50,000 acres or more. They still have folks will to work for here as gamers here struggle to find good help

These threads crack me up. Farmers “never make any money” yet they keep on farming year after year🤔

Yep....... and they all drive new trucks.

They deserve it for what they go through. Long hours uncertain markets. You are at the mercy of the weather. I don't envy them. If everyone thinks they got it made I would go for it lol

A truck is a tool and get abused on a farm. Lots of miles get out on them in a short period of time. The truck is just like every other piece of equipment on the farm. It’s added to the equipment loan. If a farmer doesn’t have a good truck to get to and from his farms, it would be hard for him to farm. Most farmers I know get new trucks every 4-5yrs. Not because they want to but because they have to.
Most farmers make enough to live a decent lifestyle. But by the time all the expenses for fuel, seed, fertilizer, herbicide, pesticides, labor, equipment repair, maintenance and payments, harvesting, hauling, drying and handling fees, marketing fees, TAXES, loan payments, and monthly living expenses, there’s not much of the pie left. Most farmers, if they were lucky in the strong years were able to set themselves up financially where they could use their own money to finance the operation. They still have to pay themselves back at the end of the year. Some years just take a chunk out of that pie also. Only ones making the big bucks is the major corporations that farmers have to depend on to make a crop. Just like loggers and timber companies. The mills are the ones making the money. The loggers and some timber companies get just enough to be able to keep going.

I tell people that hunt to look at what it cost to plant a 1/2ac food plot if you’re going to try to get the max out of it. Once the figure what this few bags of fertilizer cost and that $20-$30 bag of seed costs they are probably close to $100. Depending on the price of fertilizer of course. I then tell them to look up 1 unit of hybrid corn, soybean and cotton seed and compare the price. I always use 500ac as an example and tell them to do the math just on seed costs to plant those acres 1 time. Sometimes you have to replant because nature is cruel sometimes. I tell them look at the price of the 2.5gal jug of gly they bought which is one of the cheaper herbicides on the market. Same formula. Nothing about growing crops for a living is cheap. Heck if I’d keep track of what is costs me each year for my gardening, I’d probably puke and never do it again. It’s in my blood and something I love to do. I wish 007 would chime in and explain the fertilizer and chemicals side of farming. It would make some of y’all choke if y’all would know the size of the checks farmers pay out during planting and growing season.

Farmers are the top 1% when you get to the Midwest. And the kids don't hide the money like their parents and grandparents did.

I think our peach orchard costs us close to $1000/acre per year by the time its all said and done. Then you have to consider the first two years cost, you work all year and dont make a dime. That is taking no consideration for labor because we are the labor. But the profit margin is much greater than an acre of rowcrops, unless youre growing poppy or marijuana.

Yup and ignorance is bliss.

Cash flowing and making money are two different things.
They have assets for the most part and not much liquidity. Of course it all depends on the year and the last 8 or so have been boom except the last two. Last year did several decent size operations around here in. Some are reconsidering their jobs right now because the projections aren’t looking good except for cotton. To get into cotton those new pickers are running 800,000 to a million so there’s that

Y'all orta try buying beef calves in this market and then feeding them to finished beef.

Did you get a drought check in the cattle business this year

Don’t get us started on loggers . It really is a pitiful business to be in my area now . It dead on winter time and all mills have everyone on quotas a some companies laying crews off because lack of demand a lumber prices . Even white oak logs is bad now . We are like farmers just on a different scale . At least they can sell their products . No where to sell pulp or logs now . An no subsidies or crop insurance for us