Farmers work is never done!

Yeah cause they never do,it unless they can set thier -on there tractor or new pickup. At least around here and it may not be all of them but there's A bunch

Don't complain with your mouth full !!!!!

Someone is raiding the liquor cabinet.

Nate,
Dont look up how much each US farmer gets annually in government subsidies.

...hint: search agricultural subsidies....

Each farmer and how much he/she received is listed by state...county..

Here ya go:
https://farm.ewg.org/

Nate I hope you hunt and trap on public land because after all the farmers read this you won't be welcome on their land. Just saying

I’ve never seen a lazy farmer. If they aren’t planting, fertilizing, irrigating, doing weed or pest control, harvesting, or trucking crops, they’re fixing the equipment they broke while they were doing it. Besides marketing their crops, managing a crop schedule, overseeing labor, buying parts, seed, etc.

Anyone who thinks farmers are lazy, never ran a farm or even worked for one. The subsidies they get keeps the cost to you down at the grocery store. They couldn’t afford to grow crops at today’s prices without them.

Love how ppl think it's all sitting on a tractor.....I work (for a farm/ranch). ....so please tell me more about how I don't bust my feeding cattle at first light after I take my kids to school in town an run my line to turn around and make sure maintenance is up on all machinery cause it grease/change oil/ operates around idiots in to big of a hurry on the Rd all by itself...... an that's the slow time I'd the yr. Just to feed folks like the op who don't appreciate the food at their fingertips. Have a lil respect. Farmers are needed big and small

Appreciate that

Several different programs listed under the ag assistance program including product subsidies, disaster payments, and conservation payments.

In 25 years, approx 1/3 of Ga farmers received payments. Nearly 10 billion $$.

X2
I grew up working on farm surrounded by other farms and I have never known any of them to be lazy. Another thing is anyone that thinks setting on a tractor from day light to dark is easy has never done it. IMO.

Farmers around here start harvest at 2 am, cause that’s when temp and humidity are right. Then when it gets too hot to harvest they get on a rake and rake what they harvested the day before. When that’s done they get on the baler and bale what they raked the day before. Then if they’re lucky they get in bed by ten or eleven after dealing with whatever needs fixing to be ready for tomorrow, to get up at 1 am to be in the field again at 2am. No lunch breaks. No osha mandated 15 minute breaks every two hours. They work from well before sunup to well after sundown. When I was on the farm I worked 12 hour days, 15 days on and one day off all summer long and my only job was irrigation.

Farmers have to be good business managers or they wont last long....

Exactly Hoyt. Running a tractor isn’t just sitting behind a steering wheel. It’s exhausting, not to mention hard on your back.

i am sure glade we have farmers to keep those who cant or dont have thier own gardens fed.

I wish our farmers were lazier. With these mild winters they are waging war on anything made of wood. Grown up fencerows, wooded ditches, woodlots and old barns are all being wiped out. Have to keep the grassy ditch banks mowed like a golf course too.

Wow! Wish I hadn’t looked. But it does explain the nice houses they have and the houses their college going kids with no jobs are building. Four brothers who farm together and over $8 million in subsidies goes a long way I guess.

Wanna be, you really have no idea how much it costs to operate a farm, do you?

No sir I do not. But I do know what nice houses, fancy Ford Raptors, and those fancy John Deere’s they drive cost. I know when in public, they pull out a WAD of $100’s and pay for everything in cash. I know they can fly folks out to Las Vegas for their daughter wedding.
So...please enlighten me on what it cost to operate a farm

I raise my own,so thanks but know thanks.

It is the gubernment "fixin" a problem they created. While anyone producing a commodity should have access to the open market, embargos, tarifs (pre- Trump), and political whims shut down some of the best markets for any of us to export those goods.

This sword cuts both ways- maybe if we could sell to anybody countries like Australia would not have ramped up beef production (for McDonalds) and Argentina would have stayed out of row crops. These things an a lot others have taken a big toll on grain, meat, and fur prices).

Russia prolly wont make near as many AK47s since we cannot import them dropping the price per unit and upping supply that make
them even more plentiful for the cartels like the one that killed Kiki Cameron or the Border Patrol agents shot buy guns provided by Obama and Holder.

Seeing a pattern yet?

Farmers are people just like everyone. As a tax payer im not a fan of government welfare. And before anyone starts preaching to me ill say I've been involved in agriculture my entire life.

None Here

I raise my own,so thanks but know thanks.

Tax write off. And big equipment know manual labor.

If you feel it is easy and not time consuming there are many dairy farmers around here with a family milking 100-250 cows and running 300 to 700 acres that would let you do the physical work while they sat in their pickup and watched you.

Bryce

I said in my first post not sl farmer's dairy and beef farmer's put in there share of manual labor.

I agree that this country couldnt survive without food grown by our farmers but goodness some farmers get propped up by the government........to the tune of millions of dollars. And it just isnt the big farmers.

No need for any of those farmers to complain about welfare and other forms of government assistance to others.

That would be the kettle calling the pot black!!!!!

I raise my own,so thanks but know thanks.
So you never purchase any food?? You raise your own. sure

And you hunt public ground

Fightin' words mister. You wouldn't want a day in our shoes.

You all gripping about what the farmers get from the government, but I bet you cashed you stimulus check didn't you.

Couldn't put in 1 days work in your shoes

What size shoes y’all wear? For 2 million I could make them fit or go barefoot.

And I’d bet they got the same stimulus check I got.

And for the record...I enjoy eating and the clothes I wear. I just now understand how they live the extravagant lifestyles they live. Not knocking them, I’d take the money too if I could figure out a way to get it.

I’d love to see subsidies go away for a while, just to see the reaction of the idiots that complain about them. If you don’t understand how they work, probably best to keep your mouth shut. Subsidies exist because most people couldn’t afford groceries without them.

Do you know for a fact that those farmers get millions in subsidies? And do you know for a fact that farming is their only source of income?

You couldn’t afford a pound of ground beef without the subsidies the hay farmers get. Farmers work their tails off, and pay for everything themselves. You couldn’t even imagine the insurance premiums a farmer has to carry for a year, let alone the equipment, diesel, seed, water, labor, fences, I could go on for pages on expenses farmers have. I don’t know a single farmer who drives a pickup less than two years old, very few who have a full fleet of brand new tractors. The ones who do are corporate farms. Beside that, as hard as they work, they ought to be able to live comfortable.

You can come help me this summer, when it’s 112. I have a few miles of fence line to clean!

There are several types of farmers, likely everyone on this post is correct in their opinion of the ones they know. I know some that work like dogs year around and others that plant crops for a month, harvest them for a couple weeks, and spend the summer in the casinos and winters somewhere down south.

It costs around $500 an acre to produce alfalfa hay. An acre will produce on average 8 tons per year, current price is 200 per ton. So a farmer net profits 1,100 per acre. Now that’s just covering what it cost to plant, water, harvest and stack the alfalfa. Add to that the cost of the equipment to do it, which will cost in excess of $500,000, and the upkeep and maintenance on those machines. Now add to that the price of an acre of tillable land with water, minimum $15,000 per acre. Also the cost of insurance you have to pay for. Now imagine that a hailstorm comes through and wrecks your crop, or a dry year reduces your 8 ton per acre to 4, and your insurance will only partly cover the difference.

Now imagine some yahoo on the internet who works half as many hours as you do complaining about greedy farmers getting crop subsidies.

Nailed it ADC! That is what I see too. The guys that have the party lifestyle attract a lot of attention while the guy who probably doesn’t have Daddy’s money struggles

Maybe you should take a look at the website and see for yourself. Look up a farmer in your area. See for yourself how much groceries you could buy for several 100 grand a year.

It is expensive to grow alfalfa in Nevada.....

It is like saying, all a trapper has to do is trap the animal. That's all there is to it. There is a lot to running a farm beside manual labor.
They put in LONG day's. 7 days a week. If I was you the next time I see a farmer, stop and thank him or her.. JMO

Swamp wolf, I used a study from UC Davis to come up with those numbers. Every region will differ slightly, but the premise remains the same.

If it's so easy why arent you guys that are complaining lined up to do it . Heck all you need is several million in equipment and a thousand acres of land at $2500 an acre here. Then you can sit on you butt and watch all the money roll in. I watched my brother and brother in law fight mud all last winter to feed their cows they planted most of their corn and soybeans 2 or 3 times because they got flooded . What did come up was full of weeds because the spray didnt work. Then during the summer our area had one of the worst droughts in recent memory. When it was time to harvest the rain came again. As.for the subsidies if it wasn't for them you wouldnt have farmers. By the way I am not a farmer.

Do you know for a fact that those farmers get millions in subsidies? And do you know for a fact that farming is their only source of income?
You couldn’t afford a pound of ground beef without the subsidies the hay farmers get. Farmers work their tails off, and pay for everything themselves. You couldn’t even imagine the insurance premiums a farmer has to carry for a year, let alone the equipment, diesel, seed, water, labor, fences, I could go on for pages on expenses farmers have. I don’t know a single farmer who drives a pickup less than two years old, very few who have a full fleet of brand new tractors. The ones who do are corporate farms. Beside that, as hard as they work, they ought to be able to live comfortable. [/quote]

True words Bob. Those that have never grown up on a farm or farmed really don't know or understand. Many people see farming equipment and just see it as a piece of machinery. They don't realize that USED combine alone cost $300,000 >++ or to just fertilize a 100 acres may cost $18,000 + . . . and that's just the beginning. The labor involved to farm is exhausting and you're at the mercy of the weather, supply and demand for what the market wants and can bear and the "middleman", tax man, etc. take their cut too. Sometimes you get ahead, other times you take a loss :-(

Post y’all’s names and we can look y’all up also. It’s pretty simple, put in your name and we can see how much money y’all get.
I’m not knocking any farmer, but you can’t hide what I typed and see for myself. If you’re not that type of farmer then good for you. If you don’t take subsidies then good for you. But, there are farmers that do and farmers that live a VERY extravagant lifestyle.

Same here ......and it isnt just a Ga thing.

There was a beekeeper that had about 100 hives that got 7 grand.

I farm for a living. Lots of what’s said is true. Most farmers are taking govt subsidies including myself. I don’t live an extravagant lifestyle but my brother send I farm a 5th generation cattle a d crop operation and we have no hired help. It’s hard to make it lots of times cause it’s almost impossible to expand. Lots of our neighbors could take all our land and not even have to buy another tractor. As far as work ethic I really don’t know a lazy farmer. Even the ones that do live extravagantly are very hard working, almost to the point of insanity in some cases I’d say. At what point does working 14 he days 350 days a year so you can keep getting more land become enough? Back to the subsidies, I’d love not to take em, fact is I have to to make it, especially when all my neighbors are taking em to. What gets me is that large farms not only take em but they’re big enough to have several “entities” and full time bookkeepers who can stay on top of the regulations and paperwork so that their one farm actually is multiple farms on paper and therefore gets some of the payments 3 or four times over. It’s all classic govt nonsense, the more they try and help the more it distorts the true market. Add in the PPP and now I have neighbors who pulled in hundreds of thousands of dollars cause they have lots of employees and us sole proprietors with no hired hands got nothing. They didn’t see any downturn in “busniness” cause of COVID but they got a free quarter million or more to use to bid against me at the next land auction. Sorry I’m rambling, long post short, yes some frames live very extravagantly, but they’re still not lazy.

At least not around here, your location may very.

So you use no flour either or u grow your own wheat and mill it yourself ? BS !!

I reread the original post and there was no statement regarding livestock or dairy being excluded. Therefore I took your comments to be very general in nature. There are greater differences in farms and farming then there are in trappers for sure.
The use of subsidies allows farmers to produce commodities and livestock and livestock products at lower costs which allows the food and fiber prices to be lower for consumers to buy and also for us to compete in the export market. We have been doing this for generations in some form or other. There are arguments on many sides as to what would be a better system or if there should be government involvement at all. Most other nations have some to considerable subsidies for food related products as many have been hungry in the past and if we want to export a significant portion of our production we need to manage to be competitive.
Yes there are some extremely wealthy farmers in our country. Here in WI we have lead the nation in farm bankruptcies for many years as of late, which is showing us that small and medium sized family farms have a real uphill battle and due to small size, subsidies are welcomed but in many cases not nearly enough to stay competitive. As in almost all industry those who are successful will choose to grow and expand and buy and utilize all the available resources they can obtain and manage. When I started working in the county I live in 1975 there were 1,216 licensed dairy farms milking 54,000 cows. Today there are roughly 280 farms milking 55,500 cows. We have lost an average of over 40 farms a year over the last 40 years.
Bryce

One of the saddest parts about farming is that most farmers have several children. When a parent(s) pass, many times the siblings can't get along and due to such bickering among themselves, the farm is, or has to be, sold to developers or other non-farming industries sometimes because of debt. The other reason generally that the children have no interest in carrying on the family tradition. It's hard work and not much of an easy life for young people in today's world. Even the Amish are losing the kids at higher numbers than before. Sad.

I realize this has been replied to alot already but, here's my 2 cents worth.
I am 15yrs old, I've been farming cattle with my money (an occasional loan from dad the first year or 2 but all paid off now) by my self since I was 10. When I was 13 I started working for a beef and dairy goat farmer 5 miles down the road. He's sold me some cattle in the past at a fair market price, and loaned me his equipment to put up hay on fields I rented. I finally bought a old 460 farmall last year, and a skidsteer. In the summer between working for the farmer down the road and for myself I sleep 4 or 5 hrs a night and crash on the couch when I can. Now that's winter there's still lots of work to do but I also have school on top of that. Call me lazy if you want. But I know no farmer around here that's got there fancy equipment paid off, and yeah some of them take subsidies from the government but you can't grow crops and can barely grow livestock without it. And sometimes it cost more to fix then replace, or somtimes its cheaper to replace. Yes its fancy but don't let your jealousy get the best of you, you'll never outwork a farmer.

There you go

I was talking to a farmer the other day, they were actively losing 200,000 a year dispite their government subsidies of x amount of millions. Until you outwork a famer, and lose 200,000 a year doing it, shut up.

As I've stated before I've worked and been involved in agriculture my whole life. I've had the debate about agriculture subsidies with others in agriculture probably over 20 times. Its a very touchy subject when you make your living in agriculture and your debating the topic with another who's got his hand in the cookie jar. I won't get into a full fledged debate on here because I would probably upset some people. To my knowledge in all my previous debates the person defending subsidies in the end always could only say 2 things, one was if they are handing it out im going to take it or if I dont take it someone else will. Not justifiable reasoning for subsidies in my opinion. Two things ill say and then I'm done. The first I would point out the amount farmers are paying for land,both purchase $ and rent$. They continue to pay more and more but keep saying the need subsidies to keep going. In other words they will keep cutting into there margins without giving themselves enough room for the lean years. Second main argument is we couldn't afford the food costs if subsidies weren't in play, the cost of the wheat in a loaf of bread is somewhere around 5% of the cost of a loaf of bread. If the cost of wheat doubled I think we could still buy bread

Just to be clear I make my living raising cattle, wheat, corn and soybeans.

Swamp wolf: You said there was a beekeeper that got 7 grand. I do not know how he got it. But do you know how much money it cost to run 100 bee hive. I am running about that number at this point and I wish I could do it for 7000 a year.

Why don't the government subsidies everything that way it would all be cheaper

Don't know, so I'll ask. Are bees a vital necessity for the pollination of Georgia Pecans and Peach crops? I know they are for other crops. That may be a reason for the 7k?

Back when I was lowly Ag major I had a farm economics class where the prof once stated (this was 1976) that farming was the only business he knew of that took a million dollars of investment to make an annual return of $30,000. You only do it if you love the lifestyle.

If you're losing 200,000 a year, no matter what it is, you're doing it wrong.

Yep we are all lazy no good gubment Ne'er-do-wells. I was thinking this morning at 5am on my 1/4 mile walk from the silo to the feed truck in -9 wind chill. I shouldn’t even feed these cattle and just go to town and sit at the post office and wait for that big ol check. Good grief!! Nate I hope you trap all public ground. If you don’t it’s probably owned by a farmer and or a landowner making money off what the farmer raises. Not quite sure the government check will cover my employees families needs for the month. Maybe we should focus our efforts to keep this great way of life and tradition from being banned in states like New Mexico. I did my part today and joined their state association plus a donation.

By the way I went ahead and fed the cattle just in case that check didn’t show up.

nate,
Can you spell? Most Farmers know how to. You know? No kidding.

The ignorance of these “anti subsidy” post reminds me a lot of many anti trapping activists statements regarding trapping. If you’re going to pass judgement and paint everything with such a broad swath, you should at least take the time to educate yourself on the topic, rather than base it on the pickup one drives or how many tractors someone has. The sheer ignorance that gets spewed on this site daily gives me very great concern for the future of trapping, if that indeed is the extent of the intellect of many of our trapping brethren.

As a teenager I worked several farms. Even into my 20's I still worked a few. I worked for ONE, what I would call lazy, farmer. Ironically his brother and his dad worked like dogs to farm the same amount of land. If not for the one guys wife, who didn't know what stop meant, he would have never made it. I told everyone I worked for her, not her husband.

while in Tn. I worked a few tobacco farms. Nothing easy about it. Hard, hot, nasty work. One was my cousins farm. He was eligible for the subsidies but never took them. Just didn't seem right to him. To each their own. He also had row crops and after the tobacco was no longer profitable he got into cattle. For you nay sayers, go work a few hundred head of cattle for a few days. You will really app. that beef you buy at the store!!

The only problem I have with the Gov assisting farmers is the so called farmers who don't farm. That is folks who buy land, and claim to farm it. I am not even sure they get away with it anymore, but I do know back some years they did.

ADC made the comment about different types of farmers, and it's true. Livestock farmers, especially cattle and dairy, work their tails off. And then there is the big grain operations around here that have the biggest and newest of everything, and collect a crap load of subsidies. They also often rent more and more land, pushing the smaller operators out who can't compete on rental rates. And forget getting permission from most of these guys.

Pawnee it will be worth it when you get all those millions from the government, won’t it?

Nobody gets rich farming. Some do better than others. I’ve been around agriculture all my life, pitched a million pitchforks full of hay and worked sunup to sundown on farms. Built fence by hand cause you couldn’t get a four wheeler to it let alone a tractor. If it were as easy and lucrative as some of you seem to think I’d be at the bank tomorrow getting a 2 million dollar loan for the 780 acres of alfalfa for sale just down the road from me.

As for the huge house, brand new raptor, all that lucrative stuff someone keeps mentioning, how do you know those farmers aren’t 3 or 10 million in debt to have those things? I know lots of people with fancy vehicles that don’t make jack for money, they just finance it. Just cause you live like you have money doesn’t mean you actually have money.

You got that right. People see what you have showing, . . . but they don't see those debt bills at the end of the month, do they? HA!

I don’t know of any other “business” in the world that can remain open losing $200K a year. Sounds like a new owner or CEO needs to take the reins. Heck, I could do that bad and I’m not a farmer.

Still haven’t seen any names mentioned and it’s all public record. As far as their debt is concerned, they’ve lived this lifestyle ever since I’ve known them 20+ years. You’d think over that period of time something would have to give.

I do know some hard working farmers that don’t “flaunt” their money and yeah, they work from sun up until sun down. I’ve even helped a few during harvest season for no pay just to help.

All I did is click on that website and picked the state and typed in the name. It shows everyone. So if you’re a farmer that collects subsidies then your name will be there also.

Very true. Our farm operating note floats from a million to around 7. We personally don’t have fancy equipment like they do back east. I bought dad a new pickup last month. 2nd one he has had in 40 years. I worked the farm with a 1978 JD 4440?and a 1998 4960 JD until 2012 or so. Dad has always said the farms job was to pay our bills and provide the employees and their families a good living.

I will also say that these Covid payments the government has sent out to farmers are substantial and we think they are ridiculous. I haven’t missed a day of work since this crap started and don’t understand why some waitress that has been out of work the last nine months isn’t getting it. We had a meeting a few weeks ago and are in agreement that we will start a scholarship for local seniors in high school with the money. I do however understand how it looks from the outside.

7 grand was his gov subsidy.

I dont know what it costs to keep 100 hives going but should taxpayers pay your operations cost?

Your post seems like you would be OK with that.

You guys sound like salt of the earth type of people

If you would like to see what your farmer neighbor has received in the last few years just go here https://farm.ewg.org/index.php

Farmers are not the only ones asking advantage of the government. Go to http://ppprecipients.com/ to see what businesses in your area applied for “loans”. In my area there were some very successful businesses that were granted “loans” and these people are worth millions.

nate,
Can you spell? Most Farmers know how to. You
330 I would have to agree w/ you on that I verily passed English. But I can put a heck of week in on the trapline, catch anything or not uncle Sam ain't got the tab. Lol

Nate, come on over and spend a week or 2 here. Mid to late May will really let you see how lazy we can be but the work never ends here. I easily avg 60 hrs a week yr round and I bet I my salary is 1/3 or more less than the majority of people. Milking 2x a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Rain, shine, 110 degrees or -10, doesn’t matter. Cows have to be fed and milked regardless of weather or how bad I feel. I injured knee yesterday and barely got out of bed this morning because it’s so swelled up, but started milking at 3 am this morning. Not to mention I had to pull a calf at 10 pm last night.



As said above, no matter the commodity there’s a ton of planning in the off-season on top of all of the regular daily chores. Fertilizer and spraying plans, variety selection , grain hauling, repairs, daily feeding health checks and chores for the livestock folks and list goes on and on.

Some people say I’m nuts for managing a dairy and think it’s dumb to put in this amount of time and work for the pay. But you know what? It’s a way of life and once it gets blood there’s no going back, no different than trapping in that regard. It’s definitely not for the lazy folks or weak of heart. In the end, it supports my family, and this is part of what it’s all about.
I hope that my son wants to continue farming with me in the future, but this way of life will teach him work ethic and respect that is lacking in today’s society.

Trapperbless,

The 0p never learned life lessons on a farm...and it shows.

Many Blessings with your herd!

Trapperbless
You should back up and read my post. My hats off to the dairy and beef producers. I milk as well just not as large scale as you. My main reason for this post is because all the baloni fixated with farming. We should be thanking plumbers, brick layers, electricians list can go on and on. I have trouble with hand outs and even more when they think they deserve them.
Saying that if I could afford it I would love to come down and throw.in a hand to see your operation. Loved the picture's thanks for sharing. I'm sure my spelling is off but not all of us are perfect.

Ok so you NEVER buy bread you grind your own flour?
You never buy any cooking oil(soybean or corn)?
You never buy any kind of wiring (coating made from soy beans) ?
You NEVER buy any burger, pork , chicken, from the store?
YOU NEVER BUY GASOLINE , because 10- 15 % of it is alchohol.
You NEVER buy beer, wine, whiskey, ? Raised by a farmer?
You never buy potatoes or other veggies from a store

By your words you "grow your own"
Man you must have a big farm and several factories !! You raise corn, soy beans, wheat, barley, Malt, grapes and veggies . PLUS have processing plants all over your land . You are the true American hero !!!!!!!!!

Or someone that wants to mouth off about something he hasn't a clue about

Trapperbless
You should back up and read my post. My hats off to the dairy and beef producers. I milk as well just not as large scale as you. My main reason for this post is because all the baloni fixated with farming. We should be thanking plumbers, brick layers, electricians list can go on and on. I have trouble with hand outs and even more when they think they deserve them.
Saying that if I could afford it I would love to come down and throw.in a hand to see your operation. Loved the picture's thanks for sharing. I'm sure my spelling is off but not all of us are perfect.

wheres my trappin subsidies?

Nothing but respect for farmers here, never heard of lazy ones, bit of farming in my ancestry.

Biden is working on that! That grouchy old McConnell is holding them up ....LOL

Thank you jbyrd63.
I try

I figured that 'Turtle" had something to do with it !

I don't know where in MO nate is from or exactly who he is talking about, but from the perspective of someone who grew up on a farm, and we still have 500 acres in the north part of the state, he may not be entirely wrong.

There is a huge difference between cash grain farmers and anyone who is not. Cash grain farmers are extremely busy for about two months out of the year, and have a lot of free time otherwise. I have relatives who farm thousands of acres, yet have time and money to travel the world.....and do. And one lives in a $1M home and has many millions more invested in machinery. If land comes up for sale, he buys it. He is not lazy......far from it, but is living large. Very large.

Going back in time, my dad farmed same acres as my uncle. They were both cash grain but we also had livestock. We were dusk to dawn 365 and he spent time loafing in coffee shops, traveling to Vegas and joined the country club to play golf.....and that was 40 years ago.

I know at least one professional farm management firm that markets their services to the big farmers and landowners......and have winter meetings for them at their winter vacation homes in Florida and Arizona.

As for subsidies, we get very few. We plant, we harvest, we sell what we get for what we can get for it. Crop insurance, which we pay for, is the big safety net.

It is also my belief that the better the land, the less subsidies are required. Poor marginal land needs the subsidies. Live there, and you better know how to farm the government if you want to survive. The guys who are really good at it thrive.

I have took help from the Gov. 1 time to help put a well down on my farm. And the paper work was a pain in the butt. I would rather see a family farm get money from the government to help improve the farm than spend billions a year on some lazy SOB's cell phone and housing and food stamps. The farmer is trying to better himself the SOB will always be dependent on the government.

I agree. Much better use of our tax $$.

I've helped farmers all my life. there not lazy things have changed. you don't have as many small farms like you did 50 years ago.we baled small square bales of hay and straw. cleaned gutters and calve pens with a pitchfork .there was a lot more manual labor back then. now its big round bales of hay, milking parlors with robot milkers in the bigger operations.they farm more acres and have bigger equipment. the small farmer is a dying breed.

Anybody remember a column in some of the Ag magazines back in the 60's and 70's called "The Lazy Farmer". I used to see it in the Oregon Farmer-Stockman. It was a hoot. I'll see if I can find one and put it on.

Yeah and everyone thinks those tractors just run on unicorn poop! They don’t realize all the maintenance and service that goes into owning all that equipment. A lot of hard work just to keep everything in operation!!

I think the problem here is some of you are talking family farms and some are talking about corporate farms.

That's what I said long ago in this post.

There's those guys, yes, then there are the other farmers who trade for new equipment every year or two that have AC, air ride seats, and computer that does dang near all the driving for them.

They have had AC and comfy seats for over 40 years. GPS guidance systems are new. Get to the end of the row, turn around, line her up and hit the buttton.......then go back to playing on your cell phone.

Since a sack of seed corn now costs about $250 a bag, the bigger planters even have GPS monitors on each row unit. That way when you get into point rows, it knows where everybody has been and will turn off each unit as it crosses the margin of planted rows. That way you don't waste seed corn doubling up. Also why a planter like that costs $200,000. But it will also plant 200 acres a day. Run a couple of those and you can get all your planting done in 2 to 3 weeks. Took us 2 to 3 months.

Yes if you plant several thousand acres a year of corn or beans and you pay the extra money for the auto shutoff for seed you can save thousands of dollars per year. The major implement companies finance much of the equipment today and many are done on leases etc. The overall cost may be a tad higher over time but then replacing expensive equipment that is high maintenance makes sense as 3-4 days or breakdowns during the small window can be costly. Also it is geographic to a certain extent. Farmers in southern MO, AR, and similar areas have a much longer planting window for optimum yield and dryness then do say central MN, WI, SD etc. You can use a much smaller planter if the window is longer if you choose to. Here near Lake Michigan our planting window is very small so even small to medium size farms have relatively large equipment to deal with all the other choes and the climate.

Bryce

Many of the farmers around me do all you mentioned. They plumb, lay brick, concrete, run electric, mechanic, weld , drive trucks, run a business, pay laborers and raise families. I would say a farmer is one of the most skilled folks around. I think you need to spend some time on a farm.

Good one haha
I would have to agree most of them have enough time to. But there going to hire it done. Haha

I usually don't respond to threads like this but I'll make an exception that might help the original poster.

Farming is a business for the most part. So look at it like any other business , some take advantage of it some work hard, some own the business , land equipment and buildings and let others run it and set back and collect money. If there are loop holes that can work to their benefit that's the people making the rules fault. If i could find a loop hole that would let me stop my tax dollars from paying for someone's abortion i would use it.

Their are 2 owners that own the business i work at, one owns 70% and showes up a few times a year and one that owns 30% and works in the building most of the time. If it wasn't for the money of the one that owns 70% there would be no job there for me to have. I don't think less of him because he just sets back and collects the profits because like I said if not for him I wouldn't have that opportunity to make my money. He drives a Mercedes while I drive a hyundai to work and I'm ok with that.

It sounds as if your jealous of the one's that have. If so your missing life. My advice to you is make as much as you can as long as you can and try to find joy in the life you have or do the best you can to improve your life every single day until you reach that point.
Everyone wants more money but don't hate on people with more than you, have a wonderful day.

I hope to God this isn’t copied and pasted on a Ag forum

You don’t know any farmers. You’ve lost all credibility

Thanks, beeman. That is pretty interesting.

To be consistent, I'd think there would be one or two guys on here hollering about welfare.

Attached below is a link that talks about the size and scope of the farm subsidies with discussion on pros and cons.

Bryce

https://www.thebalance.com/farm-subsidies-4173885#:~:text=The%20top%20five%20states%20receiving%20subsidies%20are%20Texas%2C,are%20smaller%20subsidies%20for%20peanuts%2C%20sorghum%2C%20and%20mohair.

Loopholes a fancy word for tax fraud.

No, “loophole” is a term coined by a liberal because “lawful exception” doesn’t sound criminal enough.

Nate, what you should do is go to the bank, borrow 5 million dollars to start farming, and then revisit this thread in five years to tell us all about how many millions you’ve made. Anyone can do it, if you’re to be believed