The biggest issues facing farmers ?

[the big wheel]

Rising land prices good if retire not if starting out, rent, inputs machinery parts.
Greater risk shifted to the producer and ag programs not covering that risk.

[AlbertaFarmer5]

I figured, what better way to gauge the biggest issues facing farmers, than to read through the most popular posts on an ag marketing forum.
Here is what I have concluded are the most important issues, in no specific order.
Systemic racism
Donald Trump
Renewable energy
Donald Trump
Cures for Covid
Donald Trump
Global Warming
Donald Trump
Irrigation
WHO
Donald Trump
Sea level rise (that is a big one here on the prairies)
Donald Trump
BLM
Donald Trump
Finding a husband for Blaithin
Donald Trump
UN (I get this one being on the list
Donald Trump's taxes
Demise of the CWB
Did I miss anything?

[furrowtickler]

Great post sheep. Just because one family can farm 20-40 thousand acres doesn’t mean they should. It’s great to have lots of new equipment and land but in the end what farmers need more than anything is peace of mind and some financial security. The mental toll that farming stresses puts on Some families is not good. Quality of life in the end is the most important thing. A reasonable size farm that can make a family a good living and help the next generation going is all that you really need.

Totally depends on how many are involved on that farm in most cases .

What’s reasonable??? Per person , per farm ?
Some farms have a lot of family to support
And quite frankly some farms are simply much more ambitious than others.
There is no one size fits all in Ag

[newguy]

Mother nature is by far the biggest wild card in farming.Always has been always will be.

[Sheepwheat]

Mother nature is by far the biggest wild card in farming.Always has been always will be.

That and the genetic lottery plays a pretty darn enormous role as well. In fact, it for many, completely allows an overcoming of weather!

Just the way it is. No, I ain’t jealous, I simply see things as they are.

[Dr Tone]

Since we farm extremely unforgiving wet land, I’m fine with no more rain. It hasn’t rained a significant amount in over a month and we are still working around wet holes. That’s the definition of “swamp”.

[Austrian Economics]

The biggest issue facing farmers is the serial collapse in interest rates and the rapidly escalating land prices that this brings. You will need higher and higher crop yields just to keep your profit margins from falling faster than they otherwise would.

[furrowtickler]

The biggest issue facing farmers is the serial collapse in interest rates and the rapidly escalating land prices that this brings. You will need higher and higher crop yields just to keep your profit margins from falling faster than they otherwise would.

True , but yields are 90% a function of weather ... Ag industry for some reason can’t grasp that simple concept. Adding more inputs does not automatically translate into higher yields
Ask half the farmers in Sask this year after that hot dry 3 weeks .
All the inputs in the world don’t help when Mother Nature caps yields .
I hear what your saying , but the majority of us farm in a limited environment... moisture , frost , hail and many other factors limit production every year .
1 year out of 8 Give growing conditions to remotely max yields in most of the prairies.
Swinging for home runs yearly will put you out faster than any other factor . Seen it first hand for 30 years here .
There are pockets that are very consistent, but I doubt it would represent more than 20% of western Canada.
It is a slippery slope ... and not disagreeing with you at all .

[Blaithin]

Biggest issue I see facing farmers; Old age.

Majority are aging out and through a variety of circumstances, younger aren’t coming in/staying in.

At the risk of derailing the thread - I see it as not the weather, not the prices, but punitive government policy.

The weather and prices change constantly - they have since the beginning of agriculture. So we roll with it - might get badly bruised and battered but we know what we're dealing with...

But when government creates policy that puts us at a disadvantage to producers of other countries, and create regulations that prevent us from producing to our capacity, and put barriers up to further development, then we are ALL totally screwed.

And that's what we've got in Ottawa today.

Sorry bucket, but it's becoming increasingly difficult to separate politics from food production.

You sound like the Brits I know, upset with their post Brexit government possibly allowing in “inferior” products raised with methods illegal for them to use. Coincidentally it’s our products under discussion.

[Blaithin]

I figured, what better way to gauge the biggest issues facing farmers, than to read through the most popular posts on an ag marketing forum.
Here is what I have concluded are the most important...
....
Donald Trump
Finding a husband for Blaithin
Donald Trump
UN
....

Really? That’s so popular it makes the list?!