MONETTE FARMS land parcels for sale

[AlbertaFarmer5]

Unless Aggie farms in another country, this poster (#73) seems to think it will cost us all for a very long time.


"If this was what it appears to be. Then it has done a repairable harm to Canadian Farmers balance sheets which will take decades to rectify"

Sounds like agstar is already retired. Unless he took on huge debt to buy more inflated land just before retiring, how is this costing him anything?

Edit: Given his eternal pessimism, this seems unlikely.

[bucket]

If you were not around in the 80s and watched some of the locals leave again in the early 2000 to 2010s , I am not sure people understand how this affects them.

Last time a bunch of guys overextended themselves - everyone's balance sheet got the fine tooth comb treatment. Put guys that could have hung on a couple more years out for no good reason.

Watched it happen a couple times in my time already, not sure why this type of risk isn't shared with the financial institutions and the farmer and those like former MLA DL that helped promote this.

Maybe they should take the hit , not the guys that had their heads down working everyday.

[jamesb]

Unless Aggie farms in another country, this poster (#73) seems to think it will cost us all for a very long time.


"If this was what it appears to be. Then it has done a repairable harm to Canadian Farmers balance sheets which will take decades to rectify"

I remember land bought in the early 1980's was like a millstone around our neck as farmgate returns were so poor and land prices kept dropping through the 90's and early 2000's. A couple things I see is that we can have many poor years and then hit a couple very good years that can make it all worthwhile. Secondly the best buying opportunities come when most think owning land is not worthwhile.

[sumdumguy]

There’s a proverb: Those who want everything, lose everything.

[furrowtickler]

Interesting definition view on success here

Alex … I will take a 100 year old century farm that has been through 5x what Monnette seen or dealt with .

[LEP]

In the late 80's the bank manager that was training me did a calculation that I think he was one of the few to do. He calculated earned net worth vs net worth caused by inflation. It was more relevant back then when equipment costs didn't go crazy year to year.

It looked at how much progress was made by paying down the debt taken on by the initial purchase of assets vs the change in net worth caused by inflated market value of those assets.

It is still interesting to take a look at book value of net worth vs market value. Especially when there is a potential bubble that could burst.

[AlbertaFarmer5]

Interesting definition view on success here

Alex … I will take a 100 year old century farm that has been through 5x what Monnette seen or dealt with .

Success would depend on what the initial goal was. If the goal was create a profitable viable sustainable large-scale farm, looks like they weren't successful. If the goal was to ride the land bubble up, perhaps they were very successful.

[agstar77]

The metrics of farming have changed. While at one time debt was something you paid off, now it is just an ongoing expense that will never be eliminated. Enterprises like Monettes were never meant to last. Get in scavenge what you can and get out.

[bucket]

I was once told the end game for Monette was to go public with an IPO.

Not sure if that is in the cards now.

[Old Cowzilla]

In the late 80's the bank manager that was training me did a calculation that I think he was one of the few to do. He calculated earned net worth vs net worth caused by inflation. It was more relevant back then when equipment costs didn't go crazy year to year.

It looked at how much progress was made by paying down the debt taken on by the initial purchase of assets vs the change in net worth caused by inflated market value of those assets.

It is still interesting to take a look at book value of net worth vs market value. Especially when there is a potential bubble that could burst.

Might hurt the ego a bit paid off $300/acre dirt compared to $3000/ acre valuation. But yes that's how they get the ball rolling.