If a Country is as Strong as its Agriculture

It's always amazed me that Students with ID, Senior Citizens and I honor the Veterans as I say this all get discounts at restaurants along with some other retailers.
Then the farmers who produce the foods are never honored or offered a discount during planting season or harvest season for a meal when they could use it and appreciate it the most.
Don't take my comment the wrong way I just feel that the producers have been left out.
And now the Federal Government has denied the California Farmers any water for their crops. WTH is happening?

If they sent back all the illegals they probably wouldn't need all that water. Just thinking with no crops to weed or harvest look at all the lost jobs and even more people on the dole.

Well consider that most farmers are in it for the money why should we be honored? After all, we raise crops and livestock for a profit. The tax payer is already honoring some in the form of subsidies. If we were all losing money but doing it to help our country and for that reason only then we should be honored. Just my take on it.

Rick

Ya silly, you don't need farmers just need grocery stores!

Back in the 1929 my grandpa moved from Neb. to Riverside Cal. The reason was clear to all of us because he did not want any of us to forget it. I grew up in a nice small town With farms and oranges groves around me. As the years went by the farms and groves disapeared. My grand parents dream went do the drain and so did mine. What I am trying to say the farmer is very important and if it was not for them there be a big food shortage. The farmer is a hard working person and some times there day is longer than the day light. Hours are hard and demanding hard work. I some times wish my parents would had kept farming but since they where pushed off of property for the city growth they never returned to farming after that. I do agree the farmer gets little thanks for your hard work but some of you know that you are the most important thing. Brent

(quoted from post at 21:13:03 02/23/14) It's always amazed me that Students with ID, Senior Citizens and I honor the Veterans as I say this all get discounts at restaurants along with some other retailers.
Then the farmers who produce the foods are never honored or offered a discount during planting season or harvest season for a meal when they could use it and appreciate it the most.
Don't take my comment the wrong way I just feel that the producers have been left out.
And now the Federal Government has denied the California Farmers any water for their crops. WTH is happening?

Click to expand...

Yup, something is wrong with a country that honors athletes that make millions, but despises a farmer for having a good year and buying a new truck....

Some of us save a portion of our crop for our own use. In effect we take our "farmer discount" directly before the restaurant ever sees it. Me? I had some real tasty pork chops tonight.

Truth is, in a modern society, we all contribute (except for those lazy @#$ sons of &%$#@es on the public dole). Hey, we all need a place to live. Perhaps contractors should get a discount?

A few years back, I knew a fella that had a PYO blueberry farm. Well, this old codger had been out picking berries and complaining about everything imaginable. He finally went to pay his tab and asked if they gave a senior citizen discount. My friend looked him in the eye and said, "No. But we do have a 'working and raising 3 kids' discount."

Most business's buy supplies at wholesale and sell product at retail.

Farmers buy inputs at retail and sell crops wholesale.

Just doesn't seem right.

Yup, something is wrong with a country that honors athletes that make millions, but despises a farmer for having a good year and buying a new truck....

Click to expand...

Honoring someone doesn't have anything to do with how little or how much they make. You honor someone for what they've done. Athletes generally have short careers, and in some cases their athletic career shortens their lives, or causes their quality of life to be worse.

I also don't despise farmers for making money. I've never heard anyone but a farmer say that people don't like it when they make money.

Well I guess I have a different take on all of that. Being a farmer is not a major sacrifice. Nothing like serving your country can be. Being involved in farming has given me a much better standard of living than most have that are non farmers.

Also farmers get things that no other business gets. I know the government tries to control farming but we get benefits that not many other business get. Some times just something simple. If you farm you can free maps of your farm with lots of information on them. If you have some other business those maps of your business cost money to have someone do them. You can get "free" erosion control planning. Try that as a developer and see what it costs.

I am also very tired of hearing guys complain about how tough farming is. Try working a third shift job for thirty years that you hate, an then tell me how tough a job farming is????

The trite saying "Only farmers buy retail and sell whole sale" is also a self pitying and untrue statement too. Just about every business is that way.

I get tired of guys WHINING about how bad farming is. If it is so bad then why is just about everyone of us trying to be farmers on this forum??????

I am farming and I am blessed to be able to do so!!!!!!! I don't need or want any discounts or special recognition.

(quoted from post at 23:10:51 02/23/14) Most business's buy supplies at wholesale and sell product at retail.

Farmers buy inputs at retail and sell crops wholesale.

Just doesn't seem right.

Click to expand...

That sir is the farmers fault. Simply because most are so concerned about themselves that they refuse to work together. That means getting together and figuring out just how much corn to plant of beef to raise. Then telling the buyer how much they have to pay. No we send product to market based on an auction or what they are willing to pay because they know that in the long run we are going to over produce chasing the almighty dollar. But no, the average farmer plants based on last years prices. You pay a penalty for being to independent. You can't get them to work together unless someone is sick or injured.

Sorry but that is the truth. If every farmer would get on a forum and figure out just how much corn or beans teach can plant without cutting each others throats and go from there we wouldn't have this problem. This is an example of capitalism at it's worst. Do you think that Ford, GM or Fiat Chrysler over produces if

Rick they can help it? No they look at the economy and sales history. Which one of you has looked at the history of farm markets over the last 30 or 40 years to decide what to plant? Nope this past year proved you or at least most didn't. All they looked at was 7+ dollar corn last year. And now it's what? 4.50 or so? And if they get rain in South America it will dive from there.


Sorry, based on the track record of the American farmer we do not deserve anything except maybe a kick in the back side.

We do not feed the world. Not even close. So, other than stab ourselves in the back what have we, the farmers, not the AG companies, done that deserves recognition? Others, let say construction workers put in long hours too. In the military, US Army the average duty day was 11 hours. PT at 6AM and off at 5PM (maybe but the average was more like 5:30). That was 5 days a week 52 weeks a year, unless on deployments where you maybe got 4 hours of sleep a day. If you were a leader it was more than that. Yea, we as farmers put in long hours....sometimes unless you are dairy. But non dairy guys don't put in long hours year round.

When I was Platoon SGT sometimes I was also the Platoon Leader. My pay was such that my family could have drawn food stamps (we didn't).But my actions and decisions affected the careers and the very lives of my soldiers. All while drawing welfare wages. Do I deserve thanks?[b:29e2e58c79] NO! Not in the least[/b:29e2e58c79]! I made my decisions based on what I believed in. And I signed a contract with the government and swore an oath because of what I thought (that thought was that each and every one of you was worth my effort). There was no opportunity to throw in the towel. It wasn't like I'm setting now. I can call it quits anytime I want now. I'm a farmer!. I can keep my land and make money on it by renting it out! I'm debt free. I can auction off my equipment and be done with it! No more loaded guns for skunks and other critters, no worries about rain and crops, no repairs or newer equipment! I'm doing what I'm doing because I want to. So why should someone loose profit because I'm hard headed? Every other farmer I know, big and small are just like me. independent thinkers who are hard headed. I'm proud to be part of that group. But that doesn't mean I'm going to lie to myself or others about how important we are when we can't even work together.

Rick

Yep, that is just what we need - another "special interest" group to form and hold more "pity-parties" seeking more special privileges.

"Oh Godfather, I don't know what to do...
You can act like a man! What's the matter with you? Is this how you've turned out? A Hollywood finocchio who cries like a woman?"
¯Johnny Fontane and Vito Corleone

(Where is the Godfather when we need him!)

I read Friday where the average age of the US farmer is 58. This is a threat o our country's life. I believe we will not be able to feed ourselfs in the next 50 years. Not because of lack of land technologhy or knowledge. Due to lack of interest. There is no app to create food. The younger generation by majority does not want to get dirty. Food to them comes from a package. The ones who enter ag want a position in policy not production.

Read whats in the new Farm Bill?Farmers are getting far more freebies than almost any other business in Gov't handouts and 'special deals'.
Add that to farmers getting reduced truck licensing requirments in most states,reduced taxes on farm land etc etc and farmers are getting plenty of deals others don't get.So quit feeling sorry for yourself and go get a job as a mechanic,carpenter,start a business or whatever if you think you're having it so tough.No one makes anyone farm that I know of.Self pity is for the pathetic. As a farmer I feel lucky to just do pretty much what I want most days and don't feel like the Taxpayers working other jobs and professions should be forced to support my choice of occupation.

AMEN Seller!

If having a 'good year' means a big Gov't check then I can see where taxpayers might have a problem.I can choose to support/not support a ball team,a business, a movie star etc but I'm forced by the IRS to support other farmers on the Gov't dole that I'm in competition with.Its like Burger King getting 50 cents from the Gov't for evey burger they sell and McDonalds having to compete against them getting nothing.

Just a reminder, working part time in a NAPA store the often asked question is "is this farm use"? If yes that means no sales tax, a 7.25% savings.

"Farmers buy inputs at retail and sell crops wholesale"
That is such a crock of $hit

If a farmer pays pump price for fuel delivered to his farm he needs a new fuel supplier.
A farmer gets tax discounts on fuel also.
If a farmer pays for corn seed what I pay at the feed store he needs a new seed supplier.
A farmer gets discounts on truck tags; and no CDL required.
If a farmer is not getting a discount on tractors and or parts he needs a new parts supplier.
A farmer gets reduced insurance.
No one that has an employee pays him retail. Retail is what the plumber charges the home owner ($50 hr) wholesale is what the worker makes ($25 hr)
And the list goes on and on.

How the heck is that paying retail.

Haven't you heard the farmers favorite? "The only thing a shop worker has to buy is his lunch pail, the poor farmer has to buy all that equipment"

Real heroes work without recognition. Matthew 6:2

Reminds me of the older gentlemen at the barber shop. When done the barber ask him if he was old enough for senior citizen discount. His reply was, yes I am, but give it to the young guy over there with the 3 boys. He needs it a lot worse than me. Sometimes I think we have our priorities in the wrong places.

As a full-time farmer and stockman, I agree with you 100%. Farmers take a lot for granted! Plus with the way crop insurance is now structured, it is not the "gamble" everyone claims it is. Maybe years ago, but not nowadays. Many farmers complain about welfare recipients; however, most of the farmers I know act like it is their right to get farm program entitlements, and get much more than any single mom trying to feed her kids. We are not feeding the world as much as we think either, much of the corn grown in the US goes right back into our own gas tanks. Just my two cents....
Lon

Not having any farmers would mean that there'd be more citidiots out here foraging for food. I'd rather ship it to the city so they don't have to come out here looking for it. That way, I haven't got to put up with the azzholes roaming around here...

It was actually the state government that cut off the water supplies to centeral valley farmers, not the feds. Why care ? Who cares if we grow cotten in the desert ? California agriculture uses 80 % on the states water, it is less than 2% of the states GDP. Also the state and federal taxpayers pay for about 90 % of that water, not the users. The FSA payment stuff, NRCS, almost free water, tax payer crop insurence ect. Talking welfare child US agriculture is it. I drive a import car and would gladly eat imported food.

Clearly farmers are the scum of the earth, and should get weekly beatings as a matter of course.

Paul

Glad I'm not the only one that was getting that feeling from this thread.

Funny how the subject got changed in this conversation. Now we are looking at farmers as though they were among the masses that get the most out of the farm bill. Does anyone remember the largest slice of the farm bill pie and what it represents? Me thinks the gov has made it way to easy to sit on their thumb and collect for doing nothing.

Join AAA for $50/year or AARP for $15/year and you can get the same discounts when you present a membership card (10 percent or more?). Have you tried asking for a discount with a Farm Bureau card? You might get it.

Supposedly real farm income is now at the highest in decades. I don't think large farmers are being left out compared to other comparable sized businesses. I also think most farmers receive far more income than the people cooking and serving their food in restaurants make.

Farm program accounting.

Paul

What does a cook or a food server have invested in his job as compared to a farmer? Do they know ahead of time what their paycheck will be? What risk factor do they have?
Do you think insurance pays for everything in putting a crop in if there is a failure?
What has been the average income in the last 40 years? lots of years it was a pittance reward but the last few years are better. Ever notice what happened to machinery prices, fertilizer prices and other inputs when the grain prices went up?
Its funny when times were tough farmers were considered dumb for staying in the business and now when it turned profitable they are considered greedy.
I would trust a farmer 100 times before a politician.

(quoted from post at 23:06:07 02/24/14) What does a cook or a food server have invested in his job as compared to a farmer? Do they know ahead of time what their paycheck will be? What risk factor do they have?
Do you think insurance pays for everything in putting a crop in if there is a failure?
What has been the average income in the last 40 years? lots of years it was a pittance reward but the last few years are better. Ever notice what happened to machinery prices, fertilizer prices and other inputs when the grain prices went up?
Its funny when times were tough farmers were considered dumb for staying in the business and now when it turned profitable they are considered greedy.
I would trust a farmer 100 times before a politician.

Click to expand...

I may have missed it, but where was it posted that farmers are greedy if they make a profit?
Food servers don't have any risk so they don't get much reward. The owners of the restaurants often have huge investments.....that sometimes pay off, sometimes not.
It's not just machinery and fertilizer prices that have gone up. Everything has gone up. A lot of that is due to fuel and insurance prices going up.

So what are you saying Paul ? $200 billion or so is not enough ? Should that number not be zero ?

So why do famrers get subsidies and not restaurant onwers? Thats the point if you choose to run a business you should be on your own with no Gov't handout and that includes farmers as well as restautant owners.

I agree.

It would be interesting to know what the true cost of food would be without the Farm Bill. And how many less people could afford to eat out.

There are many programs from the govt that assist in building, parking lots, street infrastructure, small business loans and grants, TIF, govt subsidies for hiring disadvantaged help, and so forth that are available to the resturant owner.

The large amount of snap benefits allow folk to eat out once in a while, while not a direct resturant subsidy that big amount of money put in the ecconomy spills over into spending at restaurants.

Public transportation. Is heavily subsidized and allows folk to go restaurants for low cost.

All in all, if we take an honest look, the resturant fella probably has a bigger percent of subsidy towards him than a farmer does.

I realize this thread is full of people who simpley don't want to acknowledge that, and not worth beating myself up trying to prove something to those who just don't want to know. But if you a really are interested in your question, take a bit of a look at it, and you will be surprised at how every segment of the ecconomy is heavily subsidied.

The safety net offered to farms creates a stable food supply, with excess ecconomic spending on all the other things people buy, such as resturant visits. If we were like other countries and spend 20-30% of our income on food, instead of the 10% we do, many other businesses on main street would just fold up.

Believe what you want tho.

Paul

It's true that some restaurants get some form of subsidy. Restaurants don't typically get some the types of aid you mentioned though. Those things are usually reserved for industrial or large retail complexes. And some of them are primarily done by state, county and municipal governments, not the feds.

The free market system is a wonderful thing. Too bad we don't use it any more.

I agree a free market society appeals to me.

That was ended in agriculture by presidents Nixon and Carter
when they got mad at other countries and put up grain
embargoes, which brutally hammered the American farmer,
took away any hope of a free market system, and made
buyers of our ag products suspicious of relying upon our
grains to this day....

You can't fix that in a year or a decade or a lifetime....

We just can't repair the damage those actions did to the free
market.

I appreciate your goal, if we could do it, if it would apply to all
businesses not just farming.

Paul