Re: how's the agricultural outlook in your area?

Posted by Billy NY on March 05, 2010 at 11:23:54 from (74.67.3.238):

In Reply to: how's the agricultural outlook in your area? posted by phillip d on March 05, 2010 at 09:07:05:

I think this area echos what most have said or are reporting, though I am not up on the specifics, statistics, numbers, prices etc., it never appears to look good no matter how optimistic one is about it.

One of the customers of the farmer I work for on the side, has close to 2000 head in their dairy operation, they put up a new and very large barn last summer/fall, about 12-15 miles north of me, seems agriculture is continuing, hard to say how smaller operations are doing.

We have some really scenic land, vistas and views around here, you can see for 50 miles in so many places, so once that land is idle or becomes available due to failing agriculture operations, there is a lot of pressure from developers, more so where I live because of its close proximity to a tri-city area.

Our own 98 acres is in contention right now because the taxes are getting ridiculous, though I am working on some relief for that, it always seems that there is some kind of impending doom lurking over all farmers, theirs or any owners of substantial land tracts as well as their financial situations.

We deal with about 500 acres, oats, corn and hay. At best you make a paycheck out of it, you create a job for yourself and a few others, but after all the overhead, fuel, repairs, maintenance, payroll for hired help it is marginal. That and sales of these goods barely makes the equipment payments on things he's bought new in the last 2 years to keep things going a little smoother, updated etc. Right now he's trying to decide what to do, because this work is detrimental to his health, there could be an auction or selling off of equipment piece by piece, all of us who help have full time jobs, he knows how that can be tough on people to do the work after work... though I can take time when needed, it's kind of sad after close to 55 years for him, potentially an end of an era around here, as some of the ag land is slated for development.

I can't say for sure what way things are going, but I really don't have much say in it anyway, I have enjoyed the work in the last few years, sometimes the hours are long, repairs/breakdowns a pain in the @ss, that never seems to change, just glad I was able to be a part of it, even if it is in its waning years. I do wonder what kind of diversification would make agriculture more lucrative, one of the farmers relatives has gotten into organic vegetables and would like to include some more product lines relative to dairy, produce, but you have to have a strong market or it just won't take, and he's already invested quite a bit into the operation, which I hope like heck does work out for him, if he is not careful it could go bad real quick.

I have taken a ton of photos, harvesting oats, doing hay, etc. though I lost some in a phone that went into the washer, something tells me, these photos will be cherished keepsakes of our agricultural times, now if I could just find some electronic tech that could retrieve that info from my phone, darned thing was not in long, I got the battery out, took it apart, dried it down and left it in rice, still no go, had a real nice shot of the 620 JD in front of several wagons of some nice small squares we put up one saturday last summer, as well as one with my friend the farmer on it, that ole 620 has been around since before I was going to school can remember it towing double wagons from the field down the state road here.

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