Productivity

[GALAXIE500]

Down here in the southwest where I live , my yields are directly proportionate to the amount of rain we get, period !

I have grown 50 plus bpa of triticale , rye and wheat. However , 25 bpa of all of the mentioned crops has been way more commonplace.

Down here , the big crops are the exception to the rule. The land prices are great if you are in the selling side of things. Hoping in about 10 years I can cash in on some of the " greed" that has been going on around our part of the country.

[Sheepwheat]

I’m small and diversified. I and I alone put prices on my products. My own prices. And people pay happily. I fail to see how that is bad. Adapting to change is changing. Not doing the same thing as we have for a hundred years. Grow more more more, for less, less, less? That is the furthest thing from change as I can see. Farmers have zero control over their destiny in this big commodity ag.

I don’t get how this is positive change. I also fail to see how more small farms would be bad for our communities, our rinks, our stores, our tire shops, our hospitals, our schools.

This change you speak of, has in my opinion been nothing short of disastrous.

Final note. On my farm, my yields have been trending sharply downwards due to weather related garbage. I used to grow way better, way bigger crops in the late nineties and early 2000’s.

If my grain yields doubled, I would be getting 180 to 200 bushel barley, 130 wheat, 120 canola, 70 flax, 280 oats, 130 peas, and so on.

[farmaholic]

In my opinion, productivity and efficiency gains are definitely real but another cold reality is those gains have also been stolen by Industry always taking more and in some cases the market paying less and our commodity prices definitely not keeping up with the increase in input prices.

To me productivity gains would be making more money with the same amount of land you farmed 40 year's ago. Not farming multiple times more, getting paid marginally higher now for what we grew then, and substantially more for inputs now.

For some people it is nothing more than a treadmill.

Oh, and the risk! We bare it. Most of it.

Open the check book, max the credit card(s), max the op loan and LOC, max FCC credit and take the cash advance....because the more you spend-the more you grow-the more you make...right?!?!? It's just that easy.

[furrowtickler]

In my opinion, productivity and efficiency gains are definitely real but another cold reality is those gains have also been stolen by Industry always taking more and in some cases the market paying less and our commodity prices definitely not keeping up with the increase in input prices.

To me productivity gains would be making more money with the same amount of land you farmed 40 year's ago. Not farming multiple times more, getting paid marginally higher now for what we grew then, and substantially more for inputs now.

For some people it is nothing more than a treadmill.

Oh, and the risk! We bare it. Most of it.

Open the check book, max the credit card(s), max the op loan and LOC, max FCC credit and take the cash advance....because the more you spend-the more you grow-the more you make...right?!?!? It's just that easy.

Unless you own 4 businesses can lecture others and don’t rely solely on farm income . Just saying

[bucket]

I don't think some guys understand what the word index means nor can they correlate the value of the worth of farmers to the economy...

If you indexed the price of grain over history to expenses and then to production....

They only thing indexed is inputs and production...

Grain prices are lower ...

In the 70s the old man would buy a half ton truck with a load of grain from a 3 ton delivered 2 miles from the farm...

Today the trucking bill to buy a half ton would be more than that half ton cost and it would take 6 super Bs minimum to buy a half ton.


As an example. ..

I am reminded when people talk change in farming is good...of this...

From SNL the change bank ....

We lose on every transaction but we make it up on volume....

In farming ....we lose on every bushel but guys make it on on volume. ...

The economy gains but farmers lose. ..

And the guys spouting the nonsense represent us obviously with somewhat idiotic statements at the start of the thread ....what happens when 100 bpa doesn't pay the bills ....then what?

Here is something to keep in mind ....the large irrigation districts in Saskatchewan who had their infrastructure built by taxpayers and now have the ability to grow that 100bpa need 40 bucks an acre for 5 years (and that won't end) to be able to irrigate...

They say they can't afford the infrastructure costs...

Same thing will happen to the guy that doubled his production in 40 years...it's a no win ...

And farmers have not extracted their value to the economy....

more rambling ....was it agvocate nonsense that said 1 in 8 jobs in Canada are ag related. ...with the current pandemic my guess is it's 1 in 5 now...

Agriculture is a driving force to the economy right now and is totally ignored....

Air Canada will receive more than farmers...and they will go buy other entities or reduce their debt....

Meanwhile farmers are told to find it in the marketplace...

The sad part to my dribbling here is that even voting conservative won't fix farmers problems....the vision of the last conservative government for agriculture is now coming home to roost...

Liberals thought we enjoyed the conservative ideas for farmers and they are more than happy to run with it...

If you look at last year when it was dry and how the government ignored ranchers until it rained....you pretty much know government wait for a crisis in order to act....there is no proactive thinking just reactive...

[macdon02]

Totally agree with you Bucket, imo there's a price crunch coming before we turn back up long term. Velocity of $ is deader then roadkill, the Central banks need to amp it up closer to 10x to repair the 6weeks of damage. There's no possibility of inflation for commods in this environment. We need an "extinction event" to get a turn around of the cycle from 2012, since '16 it's merely been a reaction. Keep your head on and buckle up. The negative crude prices was our early warning.

[bucket]

What really puzzles me is Bibeau said to basically collapse agri-invest accounts before any help will come...

Odd because it has tax implications ....good for government....and the guys with large accounts are holding it tightly...they have been waiting patiently to jump on the downed neighbour...you guys know the guy thats been licking his lips to take advantage.....

And while there may be 2 billion in accounts ...the CFA recently asked for 2.6 billion as a start...

Still leaves 600 million short ....doesnt it?

I don't think the general population went out and re-mortgaged their house , used up all their savings and sold their toys and extra vehicles before the government started handing out money to watch Netflix....or Kijiji would be swamped...

[bucket]

BTW ...where are the farm groups....shouldn't they be on the radio every day during seeding explaining to the public what the value is to the economy....the billion dollar project....

The farm groups current methods of extracting help for farmers isn't and hasn't been working for quite a while...

When are they going to get serious about action????

Saskatchewan increased capital spending by 2 billion and had not a penny for agriculture through the last year ...whether is be the poor pastures ranchers faced last year or the shit harvest of last fall...

Marit told Bibeau they didn't have the money for any agri-recovery program....but the government found 300 million for cities and municipalities...