That’s what makes farming so much fun! (Spoiler: no, it’s not ; -) Here’s the one constant in ag: taxes on the farmer feeds us all. (Thx to Ry Cooder for reviving that song!) About 30 years ago I met a 40-something wheat farmer from Montana; he had 3 square miles under cultivation, about 1800 acres. He said that if he could just get three bumper crops in a row he’d be able to retire. Then he laughed and said he’d never known anyone who had done better than two. For these folks it’s a real grind – equipment is insanely expensive, rains are fickle, and land rental is a killer (renting 50%-75% of the land you cultivate for wheat or corn is not uncommon; often the rent exceeds the crop return).
(BTW, U.S. wheat is tanking, thanks to the fall of Soviet communism; the Russians – and former satellites – are finally producing close to their potential. Expect much more consolidation here in the next decade.)
My propagation friends have very low inputs – no tractors, expensive equipment, etc., just a couple of trucks; two wells; nat gas and poly to keep the greenhouses churning; four or five workers; stock; loans and taxes on the land. IF they don’t guess wrong on what species to start in spring (and if nature cooperates), net income is maybe $50,000. That’s maybe one year in three. (This year a brutal wind storm trashed all the greenhouses and starts; power was out for eight days. They maybe broke even this year, which means they start 2018 with the bank as a partner.)
OTOH, this area is replete with blueberry growers, who are in a solid marketplace. These are usually multi-generation family farms that actually own their land; the typical “big” blueberry operator owns a “section” of land (one square mile, 640 acres) with half (or less) of that in production. Almost all of them do more than berries – 40 or 80 acres in feed corn or soy, some beef or hogs, truck-garden veggies, etc. Barring disastrous late freezes, they might net $150K per section…but it’s a lot of work (trimming, new starts, laying down irrigation, weeding) and expensive (worker housing, as structures or vouchers; cultivating equip; irrigation; processing/packing structures and equip). The cash flow loans are never-ending…
Almost every farmer I know has “other work.” Landscaping, factory job, house cleaning, mechanic, goats (for yarn and scrub control), you-name-it.
That’s the other thing that kills farmers – the market (and the marketplace). The DelMontes and Birdseyes own/contract so much acreage to avoid the volatility of the futures markets; fewer farmers go broke, but none get rich (and at the cost of their independence). Small farmers who sell mostly local are reasonably safe from the futures traders, but for large crop operations, Chicago is every bit the (potential) bitch that weather can be.
Boingers in Michigan (and certain parts of WI, IL, IN, OH, KY) will recognize the Meijer brand. For decades, Meijer has been farmer-friendly, sourcing as much produce as they can from local farmers. From what I hear – don’t know anyone who supplies them – the contracts are mostly fair and profitable.
(Inside Farming tidbit: the past decade+ has seen shocked – shocked, I say! – writers decrying Monsanto for its GMO seed sales prices & policies. (And, in many ways, rightly so.) But it’s absolutely nothing new…try being an apple grower. There’s been a growing hit in the apple world lately, the Wintercrisp (Wintercrunch in Europe); over the next three years, expect this late-season apple to explode in North America. Why? Because U of Minn’s patent has expired, and they no longer control all the trees from top to bottom.
The next big apple could well be the early-season Zestar®. This is another UoMinn tree. If you want the product you must sign an agreement controlling how many trees you start with, how much land they occupy, how many you’ll buy in the future, all sorts of conditions (these are typically 15-year deals, IIRC). You buy your starts from licensed nurseries. You are closely surveilled for performance. And if you mess up… Anyway, UoMinn’s role in the apples you eat is fascinating and well worth a little googling.)
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