Monette - WTF were they thinking?

[chuckChuck]

So the Monette family looks like they were good talkers but not really good at making plans on how to pay back $950 million to creditors.

First of all what the was the strategy and plan here? Anyone of their many farms would have been a very nice operation that would have paid more than a very good living if well managed.

Why would any normal sane person want the headaches of running multiple farms in multiple locations in an industry that is full of weather and market risk?

It looks like they were mostly motivated by ego and greed. Because from a business plan point of view, none of it makes sense. Who were their advisors, accountants and bankers because they all look like they screwed up or were mislead.

The other thing they did and other very large farms do, is they bid up land and rents to levels that are crazy making it impossible for most farmers to compete with.

They are speeding up the consolidation of land in the hands of a few large farms and beginning farmers and land short farms can't get any access to affordable land. They are driving up land costs for everyone including themselves.

This might be the start of a much needed correction in land prices.

The Monettes must have missed or forgotten the lessons of the 1980s!

[sumdumguy]

I think if Monettes would have come through the 1980’s and nineties, they may not have been so frisky. Just Sayin - BUT they saw an opportunity and the greedy bank doors flung open to them as they did to many, and they jumped in. Probably make out OK. They’ll likely have enough titles in their own names and they’ll toss this experience to history.

[blackpowder]

It's hard for a socialist to look through the glass and guess.

[farmaholic]

......what could possibly go wrong?

[farmaholic]

Is this an example of "economy of fail"? I guess no one is "too big to fail", no matter the "economy of scale"!

To a degree these types create their own land value appreciation.
Borrowing capacity increases exponentially based on balance sheets versus the cold hard reality of grain farming in Western Canada.
Thinking the high prices of 21, 22 and maybe a bit of an extension( pre sales) into 2023 were here to stay or the new normal.
??Increases in input prices coupled with lower commodity prices.
Drought in some areas. Ego and greed. Green bankers(secured, which should wear some of the responsibility instead of innocent unsecured creditors!)

So they rode the Ag wave... didn't anyone see the beach coming and the wave dying? Get ready or crash.... and it sounds like they did, or are.