This is how I see it in simplistic terms.
Farmers will not co-operate unless they are desperate. Your support
structures are there to stop agriculture reaching the level of
desperation needed for farmers to work together.
Where you have protected and supported agriculture the co-ops are weak
and have a political focus rather than a commercial focus. This means
rather than trying to control as much of the supply chain as possible to
cut costs and add value they would rather just go to DC and lobby
politicians.
Where you have agriculture that is protected and supported farmers are
too far removed from the market, the signals they get are unclear and
received far too late. Just compare a dairy farmer supplying DFA with a
farmer selling at FW Owens produce market.
Your biggest dairy co-op does not control enough of the market to be
able to "set" a price.
Has grazing failed to take off in the US because distortions in the
agricultural economy created by government policies favour other ways of
farming ? i.e. cheap fuel and cheap grain.
One thing I overlooked while in the US was the taxation system, how is
expenditure on new buildings and machinery treated ?
Tom Mason
Canterbury
NZ
>
>
> First of all, this "no risk" stuff is bull pucky. There are
all
> kinds of risks involved with weather being the biggest factor. If
> you decide to cover some of the downside risk in contracts, puts,
> hedges, etc., you still must have the crop to meet your obligations.
> And currently, the futures for corn or soybeans is about as attractive
> as sHrillary Clinton in a nightee. Crop insurance only pays to have
> in 2 out of every 10 years, so it is a loser 80% of the time.
>
> Now, Cargill-ADM-Bunge monopolies controling the world grain supply
> are posting record profits while grain farmers lost their backsides
> last fall with record low prices for their crops and huge increases
> in harvest fuel, harvest drying and harvest transportation costs.
> Okay wise guy, what alternative "entrepreneurial" opportunities
> exist? The problem is the market monopolies in grain, livestock and
> dairy, not the farmers themselves. And as you and I discussed over
> several fine beers and our pasture raised steaks, our co-ops have
> failed to set price.
>
> Dave G.
>
