Drones! Pros vs Con!

[tweety]

Canolacrazy, how did a company like viterra "write off" millions? what does that even mean?

[ALLFARMER]

Exactly mbratrud bang on comment


Tweety do you not keep a balance sheet?

[bucket]

Mbratrud

You mean slow and steady might win the race. Hope so cause I am getting slower every day. Both mentally and physically.

[errolanderson]

new guy . . . My point is cattle are not immune to global events. Rapid recent changes in copper, crude oil and the bond market point to a global slowdown.

The strong US dollar and weak Euro is now pushing Irish beef into the US. Crazy developments beyond our control.

How this plays out is unknown. But demand always trumps supply in any commodity market

[seabass]

Errol what would be "a best guess" of how long this might last? As long as the up swing since 08?
Its hard to image it staying down for too long. The reason I say this is the other day there was an auction sale that brought over 3500 an acre for canola/wheat ground. Hard for me to pencil that out unless I live to 100. They must have better financial advisors than me.

[kato]

Upswing in 08? As a cattle producer, i can say that other than immediately post BSE bombshell, 2009 was one of the worst years we ever had. For us, until just recently, there was no real good year, no upswing. Cattle are not sky high. They are just finally catching up to what they would reasonably expected to be after 11 years of little progress. We stood on the sidelines while the good times rolled right on by. It's our time to pay the bills now.

We expect some volatility in this crazy environment, and I think we will muddle through. I also see that the local auction marts are quoting feeders higher than last week.

[fjlip]

Unless you are borrowed to the max, but ya that puts you in the too big to fail category so credit is unlimited. Then use the drone to assess all prospective land to add to your base. 20000 even less chance to fail.

[farmaholic]

Pro: spying on my neighbors' wives sunbathing
Con: getting caught.

Actually I am not anywhere near that creepy. Just posted it for shits and giggles.

Scoping out your neighbors' fields even seems creepy. You might stumble across that patch of medicinal marijuana in the middle of their farm.

I suppose I could search it, but what range do they have?

[SASKFARMER3]

I'm just saying its a tool in the tool box. I believe its to high priced now.
The wing system doesn't do well in wind. So would it be a after supper thing. Out to field in 20 min do a half section and home.

[canolacrazy]

write off means write down the value of the asset on the balance sheet. it then turns into income at a lower price. but a material loss has to be reported to shareholders.
i agree the oil market may be overshooting, but commodity markets are what they are...volatile. the trick for us farmers is to try and navigate our way through to make a buck. with quality product to sell, there's still a dollar to be made, and the drop in oil is also helping my expense line as well. this year, we'll see.