Last year I visited the USDA in Washington DC and, amongst other things,
had a staff member try to explain to me the support structures in place
for US grain farmers in particular.
It took me a while to cut through the bureaucrat language but in the end
I asked him
"So what you are saying is that US grain farmers are in effect supported
on price and yield. What risk is the farmer taking ?"
A no risk no reward mentality is what you get in agriculture when it is
protected and supported. The entrepreneurial effort of farmers is
channelled into extracting as much as they can from the support schemes.
Tom Mason
Canterbury
New Zealand.
Gunthorp Farms wrote:
> Rick,
> I know you've said it many times before but can you please explain to
> me how a large grazing farm can't meet nutrient regs in Wisconsin?
>
> I hate to open up this can of worms but I think one of the biggest
> reason that grass farming never really caught on big in the US is
> because crop farming in the US has a guaranteed price floor and highly
> subsidise crop insurance for a guaranteed income level. That is a
> huge factor in banks desire and ability to finance large pasture based
> operations. While grazing is low input when you add in the land cost
> it too is highly capital intensive.
>
> I'm almost ashamed to say that I've offered a lot of very, very small
> pastured pig operators advice (with virtually none that were even
> remotely close to a viable commercial size) but the only handful of
> large, very large operations that I've offered any advice are going in
> down in South America.
>
> In only a handful of years it looks like most grain and livestock will
> be controlled by the bigs and the work done under some form of
> contract production. The sad part is it sure looks like the average
> mindset in the US farmer is they don't mind being in this position of
> no risk and no reward. It sure seems puzzling to me.
> Greg
> Original Message ----- ----- From: "KV9U" <mrfarm@mwt.net>
> To: <graze-l@witt.ac.nz>
> Sent: Friday, January 20, 2006 11:26 AM
> Subject: [SPAM] - Re: [Graze-l] [SPAM] - Winter Grazing - Found
> word(s) barn farm in the Text body - Email found in subject
>
>
>
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